Japanese Chicken Noodle Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

Preparation

Somen noodles, Maitake mushrooms, and a delicate homemade chicken broth create a comforting bowl of Japanese Chicken Noodle Soup. For a heartier version, add cooked greens and a soft boiled egg to each bowl right before serving.  

*This recipe originally ran in Japan on HexClad.jp.

1. In a HexClad 5 QT/4.7 L Hybrid Dutch Oven, combine the chicken, 7 ½ cups/1.8 L water, ginger, negi, kombu, peppercorns and sake and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes, skimming the surface of the broth from time to time if impurities arise.
2. Meanwhile, fill a separate HexClad 3QT/3 L Hybrid Saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Cook the noodles, following package instructions. Drain, rinse under running water to cool and drain again.
3. Strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve, reserving the chicken on a plate. Return the broth to the Dutch oven. You will have 5 cups/1.2 L broth. 
4. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the chicken from the bone and discard the bone and skin. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and return to the Dutch oven along with the mushrooms. Add soy sauce and mirin. Season with salt. 
5. Return to a boil over medium-high heat  and cook until chicken is warmed and mushrooms are tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Add the cooked noodles and simmer just to reheat, about 1 minute. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with shichimi pepper, toasted sesame seeds, crumbled nori and thinly sliced yuzu, if desired.

NOTE: The chicken broth can be prepared in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months.