Sunday Roast Leftovers: Chicken Noodle Soup

There's a chill in the air as Autumn is settling in which means it's time to start up the great British tradition of the Sunday Roast. As much as I love a roast dinner, there is always loads of meat leftover and, personally, I am not a fan of cold roast meat sandwiches so here is my alternative use for leftovers:

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• Leftover chicken meat
• Chestnut mushrooms
• Dried noodles (Tip: to save money, I use one pack of cheap super noodles)
• 1 Small tin of sweetcorn
• Spring onions
• Savoy Cabbage
• 1 Chili
• 1 Small piece of fresh ginger
• 2-3 Garlic cloves
• Sesame or peanut oil
• Soy sauce
• Fish sauce
• ½ Lime

To Make Stock:

• Chicken bones and leftover skin
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Onion
• 2-3 Garlic cloves
• Boiling Water

All you need for delicious Chicken Noodle Soup after a roast dinner.

Recipe:

1. Chicken stock is the base of your soup and always tastes one hundred times better when it is made from scratch, rather than shop bought or stock cubes. To make your stock, remove all the meat from the roast chicken carcass and set it to one side.
2. Place the bones, any left over chicken skin and meat juices into a pan and cover in boiling water so that the whole carcass is submerged.
3. Roughly chop up a carrot and an onion and add these to the water along with some peeled and crushed garlic cloves.
4. Leave the stock to simmer for about 40 minutes, if necessary, add more water.
5. Once the stock is ready, drain the liquid through a colander into a separate pan and discard the carcass and vegetables.
6. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add the chopped ginger, chili, garlic and some of the spring onion.
7. Add the chicken meat and fry it for a few minutes so it picks up the flavours, splash in some soy sauce and fish sauce, then add the whole lot into the chicken stock.
   
   
   
8. Leave the soup to simmer for 10 minutes so that the stock develops the heat from the chili and all the flavours.
9. Give the soup a stir and add the chestnut mushrooms, sweetcorn and the rest of the spring onion.
   
   
   
10. Leave to simmer, until the mushrooms have reduced in size, then add the strips of savoy cabbage.
11. Add the noodles a few minutes before you are ready to serve. Taste the soup, it may need a little more soy sauce and fish sauce or if it doesn't have much of a heat to it, add a little more chili.
12. Serve with a wedge of lime to squeeze into the soup and Enjoy!
    
    

    

    This is a great recipe for winter as the garlic and
    chili will help fight off any colds!

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Chic on the Go: Make Your Own Breakfast Croissants

When you have to leave early for your morning commute, time seems to fly by and it's hard to fit breakfast in. So why not take it with you? When it comes to a chic breakfast, Parisians do it best with the delicious croissant (or pain au chocolat for sweetooths). Croissants are so easy to make and taste miles better when you make them yourself, rather than buy them from the supermarket or Starbucks. They are also incredibly cheap to make, you are being ripped off if you're paying more than £1 for them. I read this recipe in the Primrose Bakery Book and it has been a favourite of mine, my friends and family so why not give it a go?

Ingredients:

• 300ml warm water
• 1½ tsp active dried yeast
• 500g strong white bread flour
• 45g granulated sugar
• 2tsp salt
• 20g skimmed milk powder
• 250g unsalted butter

This is all you need to make delicious croissants.

Recipe:

1. Measure the water into a jug and stir in the yeast, set it to one side until the yeast rises to the top and goes foamy on top. (Tip: You should be able to comfortably places your hands in the water, if it is too hot the yeast will die.

   

   The yeast should start to foam on top like this.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, milk powder, sugar and salt). Sift them and then stir to make sure they are well mixed. Cut the butter into small chunks and mix it through the dry ingredients, be careful not to over mix. (Tip: If there are still chunks of butter, this doesn't matter as they will melt during the cooking process.)

   

   
   

3. Stir in the yeast mixture and stir until the dough starts to form, it should have an elasticated and quite wet texture. When the dough is formed, wrap it in clingfilm and place it in the fridge overnight. (Tip: If you are making these in the day, I find a few hours is enough time for the dough to expand.)

   

   As you can see, there are still quite visible chunks of
    butter in the dough, this is perfectly normal.

4. When the dough is chilled, remove it from the fridge and place on a well floured surface and begin to roll the dough into a large rectangular shape. At this point put the oven on to 200°C.

   

   The dough should be quite elasticy and it will try and spring back
   to its original shape so you have to be quite vigorous.

5. When the dough is rolled out, fold it over three ways like you would fold a letter. Then roll it out again and repeat this process three times.

   

   Layering the dough helps to add the airy lightness to the pastry.

6. Cut the dough into long rectangular strips and then cut them from corner to corner to make long triangles.
   
   
   

   

   
   

                                .
   
7. Roll the triangles up, startling from the wide end.

   

8. Once rolled, place the croissants on a baking tray and glaze them with either milk or whisked eggs.

   

   Egg glazing will give them a shine but if you
   don't have any milk works too.

9. Cook for up to 30 minutes, check on them halfway through but be sure not to leave the oven door open long. Once they are golden brown and crispy on top, remove them from the oven and enjoy!

   

   Washed down with an americano,
    a truly Parisian chic breakfast.

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Another Wagamamas Favourite: Raisukaree

I'm going on holiday tomorrow so I needed to use up as many perishable ingredients in my fridge as possible. Luckily, the ingredients that I had were almost perfect for making Raisukaree (another Wagamamas dish that I love). Raisukaree is a delicious coconut and lime Thai curry that I highly recommend you try and this recipe is a brilliant imitation of the Wagamamas dish.

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 250g King prawns (or chicken if preferred - one fillet per person)
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp thai red curry paste
• 2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• chopped root ginger
• selection of vegetables (this recipe: 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1/2 cauliflower)
• 1 chopped onion 
• coconut milk (or creamed coconut but you will need to add milk/soy milk)
• 1 red chilli (or chilli powder/flakes but this is less potent)
• 1 chicken stock cube
• ground coriander
• garam masala
• 1 lime
• rice
• peanut and sesame oil (not essential but adds a lovely, subtle Asian flavour)

Recipe:

1. Prep the vegetables, cutting them into bite-sized chunks and strips to add some texture. Also finely chop the garlic cloves and fresh ginger root.
   

   
   

   

2. Heat the peanut oil and sesame oil in a pan until very hot and add the onion, garlic and ginger. They should sizzle as they hit the pan. I managed to get both the sesame and peanut oil from Lidl very cheaply for £1.19 per bottle recently and you only need to use a small amount.
   
   
   
3. After a few minutes, add the rest of the chopped vegetables. (If you are using chicken, this is the point to add it) Once the vegetables start to cook, add the Thai red curry paste, soy sauce and fish sauce.
   
   
   
4. Turn the heat down to simmer and add the coconut milk, along with any spices you are using (eg, garam masala, ground coriander, chilli powder). Simmer on a low heat and start cooking the rice.


5. Once the rice is almost cooked, add the king prawns. These only need to cook for 3-5 minutes as they start to go tough if they are overcooked.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Once the prawns are cooked, serve with rice and naan bread. Garnish with a wedge of lime and enjoy!
   
   
   
   
   

Wagamamas Cost (per person): £11.75
C-I-Y Cost (per person): £1.65

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Ditch Supermarket Salads, Make your Own!

Summer is here and we all start to worry about our beach bodies and perhaps shaving off a few pounds. So that means salads, right?

M&S bring out their summer of food range and Sainsbury's pick up their game with couscous salads, etc. but if you actually look at the calorie and fat content in these salads, they're still not very healthy... To make matters worse, they cost a fortune. You will be looking to spend at least £3 on one of these salad pots and you will end up feeling quite disappointed in the taste department.

I went to my Mum's house the other evening and I prepared a salad for us both, using the lemon & mint dressing from my previous blog post, and here is how you can recreate it.

Avocado & Prawn Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 200g shelled prawns
• 1 avocado
• 1 bag of rocket & watercress salad leaves
• 1 stick of celery
• 1/2 a punnet of cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 pack of feta cheese
• 1 red pepper
• lemon & mint dressing

Recipe:

1. Put the two eggs on to boil and start prepping the ingredients. You will need to wash the salad and leave it to drain in a colander, scoop and pit the avocado and then slice it thinly, chop the celery; tomatoes; cucumber; feta cheese and pepper.
2. Once the eggs are cooked, place them in the fridge to cool down. When they have cooled, peel the shells off and cut them into quarters.
3. Toss the rocket and watercress in the lemon & mint dressing, this is the base for the salad so layer it on to the plate when ready.
4. When all the other ingredients are ready, add them to the leaves. Try and spread everything out so you will get a little bit of everything in each bite. Alternatively, you can add all the ingredients to a bowl and toss them together but I would recommend leaving the egg out for this bit.
5. When your salad is plated up, splash some more of the dressing on top and enjoy!

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Make Your Own: Infused Oils

Making your own infused oils and dressings is a great idea. They make cute little gifts for your friends and family, you know exactly what has gone into them so you don't have to worry about harmful additives and the stylishly decorated bottles can really jazz up your kitchen.

You Will Need:

• 1 bottle for each type of oil you intend to make.
• Masking tape
• Spray paint
• Permanent marker pens

Instructions:

1. Purchase a swing stopper bottle to keep your oil in. These bottles are best as they make for easy pouring, they're cheap and they have that great vintage look. I bought mine for £3ea from Cargo.
2. For my first attempt, I have gone for a simple design. I have decided I want it to have a gold bottom and that's about it. So I have masking taped up the parts of the bottle that I don't want to get paint on.
   
3. Take the bottle to a well ventilated area and lay some newspaper or rags around it for protection. Hold the bottle as far away from the area you intend  to spray as possible and spray the desired area from a distance of about 30cm until you have an even coverage. If you spray to near to the bottle you may get drip marks, if this happens, dab the area with kitchen towel asap and respray the area from further away.
4. Leave the paint to dry, spray paint tends to dry quite quickly and you will know when it is because the smell of solvents will be distinctly reduced.
5. Once the paint has dried, slowly peel off the masking tape to reveal the finished pattern.

   

   The masking tape should leave
    a clean straight line.

6. Use your marker pens to write on the bottle if you wish to label it with what's inside. Remember you can get some great typography examples on Pinterest.

Now that you've got a beautiful bottle to keep your oils and dressings in, you'll need some recipes to fill them up. So I have listed a few of my favourites below.

Lemon & Mint Salad Dressing:

Ingredients:

• 100ml olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Garlic (1 clove or 1 tsp granules)
• Handful of fresh mint

Recipe:

1. Pour olive oil into a measuring jug and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into it and give it a good whisk.
2. Chop the fresh mint leaves roughly, scrunch them up a bit to help release the flavour and add them to the oil.
3. If using garlic cloves, finely chop the clove and add it to the oil. If using garlic granules, measure out 1 tsp and add it along with the sugar and salt.
4. Be sure to give it another good whisk so that the ingredients are well combined.
5. Pour the mixture into a storage bottle with a tight lid.
6. Add the teaspoon of mustard to the bottle, secure the lid tightly and shake it until the mustard has combined with the mixture.
7. Keep refrigerated.

Balsamic Vinaigrette 

Ingredients:

• 30ml Balsamic vinegar
• 100ml Olive oil

Recipe:

1. This one is nice and easy, you just have to add the balsamic vinegar to the olive oil. No need to shake it, the vinegar will sink to the bottom as it is denser than oil.

Oriental Dressing 

Courtesy of Leon cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 1 clove of garlic
• 1cm piece of ginger
• 1 spring onion
• 1/2 a red chilli
• 2 tbsp soy/fish sauce
• Juice from 1 lime
• 100ml Peanut oil

Recipe:

1. Grate or finely chop the garlic and ginger.
2. Finely slice the spring onion and chilli, be sure to remove all chilli seeds.
3. Add the soy/fish sauce and lime juice to the peanut oil and give it a good shake.
4. Add the fresh ingredients to the oil.

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