Abercrombie & Feast

You know how they say that chicken soup is Jewish penicillin?  Well this soup (yes!  another soup… I know!) could be considered Thai penicillin.  Warm and aromatic and full of things that are guaranteed to make you feel better if you’ve got a bit of the sniffles, this soup is spicy medicine in a bowl.

Thai food has to be some of my favourite food ever.  I love the chillis and garlic and piles of coriander that are used to flavour the food.  I adore the scent of fresh ginger and lemongrass.  When this soup is bubbling away my house smells like a restaurant in Bangkok, rather than a little flat in rainy, cold England. 

Some of the ingredients in this soup may be a bit hard to find for people (like me!) who live in smaller towns.  I made a trip to the nearest city over the holiday break and went to the Chinese grocery store.  I found almost everything I needed to whip up authentic Thai flavours at home.  So, to get my Thai food-fix I can either drive 20 minutes and cook for myself, or take an 11 hour flight.  I know which I’d rather do (frequent flyer points!), but this soup makes it bearable on days when all I can manage is the drive. 

Thai chicken noodle soup
The measurements I’m giving you for this soup are the ones that I use, but you might not want your soup to be exactly the same.  The key to this soup is to include more of what you like and less of what you don’t. 

Serves 3-4

For the soup:
2 smallish chicken breasts
1 inch of ginger, peeled and left whole
1 stalk of lemongrass, cut into pieces
3 kaffir lime leaves, torn to release their oils
1 handful of coriander (cilantro) roots and stalks
1 birds eye chilli
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs chilli oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 chicken flavoured stock cube
2 carrots, cut into thick strips
2 handfuls of snow peas or sugar snap peas, cut into matchsticks
2 large button mushrooms, thinly sliced across
1/2 package of rice noodles

For the garnish
fresh ginger, cut into very fine matchsticks
fresh chillis, chopped
4 small radishes, sliced very finely into rounds
one large handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves, roughly chopped

Start by placing the chicken breast into a large stock pot and covering with plenty of cold water- enough to almost fill the pot.  Then add the ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, coriander stalks, chilli, soy sauce, chilli oil and sesame oil to the water.  Bring this mixture to a gentle simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes. 

Remove the chicken breasts and bring the broth to a rapid boil.  Crumble in the stock cube and allow to dissolve.  Taste the broth.  You want it to be very flavourful.  If you think it needs more salt, add soy sauce.  More heat?  Add more chilli oil.  Once the broth tastes great to you, drain it into a large bowl to remove all of the ginger, lemongrass, etc.  Then pour the broth back into the stock pot and return to a medium heat.

Cut the chicken into thin strips.  Add the chicken, the carrot strips and the snow pea strips to the broth.  Allow to cook for 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are just cooked through.  Then add the mushrooms for another 2 minutes.

While the chicken and veg are cooking, prepare the rice noodles according to the instructions on the package.  I have to pour boiling water over mine and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, until soft. 

Once the noodles are cooked and the veg is ready, you can layer up your soup. 

In a large soup bowl, place a dash of chilli oil at the bottom of the bowl.  Then add some noodles.  Top the noodles with strips of chicken and some of the vegetables from the broth (I pull the veg out of the broth and add them to the bowl first, but Andy thinks I’m crazy for doing this.)  Ladle in broth to fill the bowl.  Then top each bowl with the sliced radishes, strips of ginger, a sprinkling of fresh chilli and a handful of coriander leaves. 

Last weekend we joined our friends and neighbours, the lovely and talented Paul and Ali, with a large group of their friends in a huge house in Derbyshire to celebrate Ali’s 30th.  Everyone brought food and we organised big, delicious communal meals.  Which, obviously, included a communal breakfast (brekkie) or two.  Bacon, toast and… ugh… eggs. 

The lovely (and festive!) birthday girl!  Happy birthday, Ali!

It is well documented that I do NOT like eggs.  I just don’t like them and you can’t make me.  This does make the idea of a group breakfast a bit of a bummer for me.  We often go away for weekends with groups of friends and the same thing always happens.  Everyone wakes up, a tiny bit hungover and sleepy from all the wine and laughs and SingStar the night before, and starts frying eggs.  I don’t want to be boring or a pain in the bum, but bacon and toast alone does get old after a while. 

The amazing old house we all stayed in.  Proper British, right??

This time, I was determined not to miss out on the group brekkie experience.  So I took matters into my own hands… and my own casserole dish.  I made a brekkie dish that would satisfy me, satisfy a crowd and not contain any eggs.  It was easy, too tasty and smelled TOO good while it was cooking. 

A side view of the casserole on Saturday morning… see the yummy layers of potatoes, cheese and spinach??

This dish has a lot of traditional brekkie components- bacon, milk, potatoes- all layered up and baked until golden and bubbly.  Served hot with a piece of toast, you won’t even miss the eggs.  I know I didn’t!

Brekkie dauphinois
This is a version of a recipe that I’ve posted previously.  I just added a few little bits to make it better for brekkie! 

Serves about 10-12 as part of a brekkie spread

1 kilo (about 2 lbs) potatoes
6 pieces of streaky bacon
3 cups baby spinach
3 spring onions (shallots) chopped finely
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup double cream
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 170C or about 325F. 

Chop the bacon into lardons or medium sized dice.  You don’t want the bacon chopped too small, you want to be able to see it and taste it in the casserole.  Fry the bacon until it is almost crispy and remove from the pan.  Drain on a plate lined with papertowels.

Drain most of the fat off from the pan you used to cook the bacon and return it to a low heat.  Wash the spinach well, but don’t drain it completely.  Leaving a little water on the leaves will allow them to steam.  Place the spinach in the pan and put a top on it.  Allow the spinach to steam down, tossing frequently to help out.  Once the spinach has shrunken down and steamed, remove it from the pan and place in a strainer.  Squeeze as much moisture as possible out of the spinach.  You don’t want water in the casserole.  Once the spinach is almost dry, toss it to separate the leaves.  Set aside. 

You can peel the potatoes or leave the peel on, either way.  Thinly slice the potatoes.  I used my mandoline and it was much easier, but you could simply slice the potatoes by hand.  You’re aiming for really thin slices. 

Butter a 9 x 6 1/2 inch ovenproof dish.  Layer the potatoes in the dish, adding a bit of cheese, spinach, bacon and spring onions between each layer.  When you’ve layered all the potatoes, pour the cream and milk on top.  Then top the whole thing with the rest of the grated cheese.

Bake for about 45mins to 1 hour.  Test with a knife to make sure the potatoes are completely cooked and the liquid is absorbed.  If the top starts to get too brown, cover loosely with tin foil for the rest of the baking time. 

Let rest for 10 mins before serving.

Baby, it’s cold outside.  The 6 inches of snow that we got on Tuesday night is rapidly turning into frozen slush and slicks of ice on the sidewalk.  It was -7 when we woke up this morning and there was ice on the inside of our bedroom windows.  The inside, people. 

Despite the fact that I can’t feel the tips of my thumbs for most of the day, I’m kind of loving this weather.  After 4 “winters” in Australia, during which I could generally wear my flip flops whenever I wanted, this feels like a proper winter.  I just want to cuddle and be near fire places.  I want to wear fleece and drink hot tea and eat soup. 

Oh, the soup.  I love soup all the time, every day in every season, but I adore soup when it’s cold.  Having a batch of soup bubbling away in my big red cast iron pot makes me feel warm all over. 

Last night I got my hair cut.  That has nothing to do with the soup, but I thought you might want to know.  As soon as I got home, before pouring a glass of red wine but after taking 37 minutes to get all of my dripping winter gear off in the hall, I put the cast iron pot on the hob.  I chopped some bacon, chopped some onions, boiled some stock and in less than an hour had a sunny yellow cauldron of Corn and Cheddar Chow-dah (Hi, mom!) ready for dinner. 

This soup is ideal for a weekday dinner because it’s fast, it makes enough for leftovers for lunch and it will warm you all the way down to your fleece covered toes.  Enjoy it with a blanket and a fireplace on the side. 

Corn and Cheddar Chowder
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Serves 4-6

 5-6 slices of streaky bacon, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 chilli, seeds removed, chopped
2 tbs butter
3 tbs plain flour
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 litre chicken stock
2 cups white potatoes, unpeeled and diced
2 1/2 cups corn kernels
1/2 cup sharp cheddar, grated, plus extra for serving. 

Place a large, heavy stock pan on medium high heat.  Cook the bacon in the olive oil until the bacon is crisp.  Remove the bacon and place it on a plate lined with paper towel (kitchen roll.) 

Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter, onion and chilli.  Cook for about 7-8 minuted, or until the onion is translucent. 

Stir in the flour, turmeric, salt and pepper.  Cook for about 3 minutes. 

Add the chicken stock and the potatoes.  Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. 

Add 2 cups of the corn to the soup.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  Then, using an immersion blender or a regular blender, working in batches, blend the soup until smooth.

Once the soup is smooth add the remaining 1/2 cup of the corn and the cheddar.  Stir these into the soup and allow to cook for about 5-7 mins, until the cheese is all melted and the soup is very hot.

Serve in large bowls with extra cheddar and some of the reserved bacon sprinkled on top. 

I think your New Years resolution should be to improve your spaghetti sauce. 

Think about it.  This makes WAY more sense than starting a diet that you are going to quit on January 23, which will make you feel bad about yourself.  It also makes more sense than vowing to improve your French or Spanish, which means you’ll spend a lot of money on those CD’s you listen to in your car, but you’ll get bored on your drive to the grocery store on Feb 11, switch the language discs for the newest Jay-Z CD and you’ll never put los discos back into rotation. 

But, improving your spaghetti sauce is the perfect New Years resolution.  It will enhance your life in a number of ways; such as:

1.  You will be more popular… everyone loves spaghetti sauce. 
2.  You will be happier… because YOU love spaghetti sauce.
3.  You will eat more tomatoes, which may help you avoid cancer.
4.  You will feel a sense of achievement for having kept a New Years resolution for the first time ever (or is that just me?)

So, if you do choose to make this your resolution, I ask that you let me be your guide. 

Spaghetti sauce (or spaghetti bolognaise- spag bog- in England) is one of my very favourite comfort foods.  I have refined my recipe over the past few years and have learned, through trial and error, several little tricks that make a huge difference. 

You can apply these tips to whatever recipe you currently use to make your spaghetti sauce even better!  Ring in the new decade with spaghetti!

1.  Add some carrots
Tomatoes can be very acidic, so some people add sugar to their sauce to balance this.  However, I think carrots work even better.  Carrots are high in natural sugars, so you get the same effect whilst adding a vegetable and losing the extra sugar.  Cut one medium carrot up into a very fine dice and add it in when you brown your onion at the beginning. 

2.  Don’t add water!
I know that a lot of people add a can of chopped tomatoes, then fill the can with water to “rinse out the bits left in the can” and pour that into the pot.  Don’t do that!  Water doesn’t add any flavour and you don’t want to add anything that doesn’t have flavour.  Instead, add beef stock or red wine.  They will increase the liquid amount AND the flavour. 

3.  Use a mix of meats.
Don’t just use ground beef, that’s boring!  Mix it up and add a few different meats.  This will make your sauce more flavourful and complex.  I usually use lean ground beef, ground pork and a few Italian sausages removed from their casings. 

4.  Dried herbs are best. 
I am usually a big fan of fresh herbs, but for spaghetti and meat sauce, dried is best.  This is because dried herbs are stronger.  You won’t need as much and you can adjust as needed.  I usually use dried basil and dried oregano.  I’m sure this isn’t traditional, but it tastes great to me!

5.  Brown your meatballs first.
If you’re making meatballs, you want to use them to add flavour to the sauce.  You also want them to taste good.  This is why it’s important to brown your meatballs in a frying pan first.  You’ll get those delicious brown bits on the meatballs, which will add flavour to the sauce.  Once the meatballs are browned on 2 sides (don’t cook them all the way through!), you can add them to the sauce, where they will finish cooking, flavour the sauce and get soft and delicious.