Sichuan-Style Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

• 1 leek, cleaned, ends trimmed, hard green parts discarded, and thinly sliced
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, thinly sliced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 whole star anise
• 1 teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces Chinese noodles
• ¼ pound roasted chicken, shredded
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped

Directions

1. Set a large pot of water over high heat and bring it to a boil. While that gets going, warm the oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the leeks and mushrooms, and cook until the leeks have softened, about 4 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine, cinnamon, star anise, Sichuan pepper, and black pepper. Raise the heat to high and let it come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and let the broth simmer for 5 minutes.
2. While the broth simmers, drop the noodles into the large pot of boiling water and cook them for exactly 1 minute less than the package directions. When the timer rings, drain the noodles and move them into the saucepan. Stir in the shredded roast chicken and cook for 1 minute.
3. Ladle the soup into large bowls, then add chopped jalapenos to taste.