The Simple Way Emeril Lagasse Elevates Chicken Noodle Soup Is A Flavor Game Changer

Emeril Lagasse may have left Food Network in his rearview mirror, but he's not the kind of guy we'll easily forget. Even though he wasn't born and bred in New Orleans, he'll forever be linked to his favorite American Food city, so you almost expect every recipe he's created to be Cajun food at its finest. His simple chicken noodle soup recipe, however, doesn't contain any Cajun or Creole seasoning and only includes two-thirds of the holy trinity (it has celery and onions, but no bell peppers). Instead, another vegetable is used to give the soup its flavor: He kicks things up a notch with basic button mushrooms.

Why mushrooms? They're inexpensive and nutritious (rich in Vitamin D, potassium, and antioxidants), but best of all, they can be super-tasty when cooked the right way. Here, they're browned in oil before being sautéed in butter, a technique that adds the "ooh, mami!" to the umami. When Business Insider put Lagasse's simple chicken noodle soup head-to-head against a Rachael Ray's chicken noodle recipe made with root vegetables, leeks, lemon juice, dill, and her favorite EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), the reviewer found his soup to be far more flavorful despite containing fewer ingredients.

Emeril Lagasse does have another mushroom-free chicken noodle soup recipe. However, the "get well" chicken soup tries to make up for any lost flavor by using a generous amount of Creole seasoning along with vegetables such as spinach, beans, and summer squash. As the choice of vegetables is left up to the cook, though, there's no reason you couldn't sneak in a few fungi. Emeril probably wouldn't mind — as well as being a pretty fun guy himself, he also seems to be mad about mushrooms.

The Big E's mushroom recipes include a simple dish of sauteed 'shrooms with shallots, garlic, and herbs, along with one for mushrooms marinated in lemon juice and olive oil. He also has a cayenne and brandy-spiked cream of wild mushroom soup, made with button, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms, as well as a recipe for mushroom risotto flavored with parmesan, prosciutto, truffle oil, and white wine. A few of his other mushroom-centric main courses include pasta dishes, such as angel hair in cream sauce with Tasso ham and Creole-spiced smoked mushrooms, and orrechiette pasta with wild mushrooms cooked in heavy cream and parmesan.

Mr. Bam even gives some love to lesser-known fungi. One episode of "The Essence of Emeril" was even titled "Wild and Exotic Mushrooms." His seemingly straightforward recipe for mushrooms roasted in olive oil calls for a few you're unlikely to find in the supermarket: French horn, shemeji, and hen of the woods (the latter is an entirely different variety than chicken of the woods). While Lagasse has never declared a favorite vegetable, he must be a major mycophile, judging by how often he finds a use for this vegetable.