Chicken Soba Soup with Poached Egg

I love soba and usually eat it cold during the hot summer months (such a perfect summer dish) but whenever I crave it during the cold winter months, I like to cook it up with a nice hot savory broth.  This dish is essentially various things I love thrown together - soba, broth, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, ginger!  And what the hell, I'll throw in a poached egg!  I added the poached egg because I love them, but let me tell you this totally made the dish! I wish I had cooked up more because when I went back for seconds (and maybe thirds), I was really wishing I had a poached egg for each bowl.  

If you're making this for multiple meals, then I'd advise dividing the ingredients per day and cook fresh as soba is best cooked fresh and it doesn't take that much time.  The pictures below are for me making half of the recipe and I also kinda wing it when it comes to the ingredients at times, depending on what I have available or am craving (this includes the amount of mushrooms, chicken, and spices).  This is definitely a recipe you can tweak according to your preferences.

Servings: 4 (but really for me, it's more like 2)

Ingredients:

12 ounces mushrooms (I used baby bella and shiitake), sliced

4 scallions, chopped and with white/light green and dark green parts separated

5 oz shredded chicken

4 eggs, poached (one per serving - so it depends on how much you're eating per serving)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 cups water

3 cups baby leaf spinach

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2 bundles of soba

Salt, pepper, red pepper (gochugaru), and shichimi (Japanese spice blend) to taste

Instructions:

• Cook two bundles of soba according to packet instructions.  Rinse cooked soba in cold water, drain, and set aside.
• In a large pot, spray with a cooking spray and heat over medium heat.  
• Add 12 oz sliced mushrooms, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, white/light green chopped parts of 4 green onions.  Cook until mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally, about 5-6 minutes.

• Add 4 cups chicken broth, 2 cups water, and 5 oz shredded chicken.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 7-10 minutes.  

• While broth is simmering, poach 4 eggs (or more!).  To poach each egg, bring about 1 inch of water to a boil and then reduce heat.  Crack an egg in a small bowl/ramekin and splash some vinegar into the water (the vinegar helps the egg white hold together).  Once bubbles have stopped rising to the top, use a large spoon to gently circle the water a few times and then slip in the egg.  Cover and then after 3 minutes spoon out the egg and lay on a plate covered with a paper towel to absorb the water. 
• Stir in 3 cups fresh spinach until leaves are soft, about 1 minute.  
• Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar.
• You can either add the soba to the pot, or you can do what I like to do and prepare the bowls for serving with a handful of soba, a poached egg on top, and a handful of dark green chopped parts of 4 green onions.

• I also like to add a sprinkling of gochugaru and shichimi.  You can get these at an Asian market, or you can do what I do, which is mooch some off of my mom.

• Pour the broth mixture over the noodles and egg, and enjoy!

Ignore any pleading looks you get from begging pugs.

I LOVE the poached egg in this soup.  The runny yolk makes the broth so savory and delicious!