MY SPICY CHICKEN SOUP

As you might not know, my family and I lived for a few years in Japan. It was a wonderful experience, however Japanese apartments do not have central heating meaning temperatures dramatically dropped INSIDE our apartment. With enough fleeces to clotheAQ an army, a blocked nose and a cold creeping inside my bones, I stared at my stove wondering what could a/ help me get rid of this cold, b/ warm up the whole family. That's when I remembered something very useful about Japanese cuisine: ginger heats you up from the inside, chillies unblock your nose and make you sweat which eventually helps regulate your temperature and fight the hellish Japanese Summer. Since I had a bit of a fever and really needed to warm up I thought I could get the best of both ginger and chillies in a yummy soup. It's inspired by Thai pastes and Italian pesto. It's fast, easy and ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! Perfect to enjot in both Summer AND Winter!

Things you need:                        Ingredients:

Big deep thick bottom pan         400g chicken
Medium deep pan                      1 can of coconut milk
Blender or hand blender            Same amount of chicken stock (use the coconut milk can to measure)
Chopping board                        10cm ginger
Knife                                         6 cloves garlic
                                                  2 bunch of flat parsley or coriander
                                                  1 onion
                                                  1 tbsp turmeric
                                                  1/2 tsp chilli pepper
                                                  1 branch celery
                                                  1 carrot
                                                  2 portions of ramen noodles
                                                  2 handfuls of grated cheddar
                                                  Salt & pepper

Chop onions, dice your chicken breast. Blend the parsley with the
ginger and garlic into a paste. Dice your carrot and slice your
celery.

In a deep thick bottom pan put a little olive oil, heat it on medium
heat with the chilli & tumeric and onions, salt, pepper. Cook until
translucent,  put the chicken with the onions and seal them, then add
your green paste and let it heat up for a 1 or 2 minutes. Add the
veggies, coconut milk, stock and let it simmer on a low heat for at
least 45 mins.

Cook the noodles or pasta as instructed on the pack. I added Japanese noodles but italian pasta or dumplings work, too.
In two large bowls put at the bottom your pasta with a bit of cheese and put
the soup on top!

You're done! Bon appétit !

Read More

RAMEN SOUP

Ramen soup is a Chinese inspired dish Japanese mastered and love to eat. It certainly is one of my all time favourites ! My love for pasta knows no bound, in Japan some ramen restaurants even make their own ramen noodles and it gives you the silkiest, smoothest yet firm bite ever! I could eat it everyday! I am a home cook who loves to eat but I have no formal training, so I won't ask you to make the ramen noodles yourselves. I urge you to try them if you're lucky enough to go to Japan though. My ramen recipe is simple but tasty, inspired by the tantanmen recipe. I love to make it as most of the components are made in advance and it only takes 5 mins to put everything together. This recipe is serving two people.

Things you need:                            Ingredients

1 small pan                                     ramen noodles
1 medium pan                                 200 gr pork belly
meshed strainer                              250 ml chicken stock
2 big soup bowls                            150 ml milk or unsweetened rice milk
1 tablespoon                                   1 egg 6 mins
chopsticks                                      1 pak choy
                                                       2 spring onions
                                                       2 tbsp Rice vinegar
                                                       1 tbsp  Black or White sesame paste
                                                       1 tbsp of Japanese soy sauce

Pork belly

I buy from the supermarket or butcher what I need and cut the piece in rectangles approximately 15cm long.
In a deep sauce pan add 100ml japanese soy sauce, with 100ml water, a cinnamon stick broken in two. You need to cover your meat with the liquid, cover the pan and put it on a low heat for 2h. It will salt your meat and let it soak up all the soy and spice. Check on it once in a while to make sure your meat is still covered all through its cooking time, with a tablespoon take out any impurity and grease on the surface. Let the meat cool down. Once it's cooled, put some soyu and part of the cooking liquid into a ziplock with the meat. Put it into a bowl or tupperware, seal the bag and let the meat rest for at least 24h. It will boost your pork flavour and it will ferm up, making it easier to cut.

When it's time to assemble the dish, pre-heat a pan on medium-high, slice off 3 mm thick slices of pork (usually 2  slices per person). When the pan is hot, add your pork to the pan and let it sizzle. If you are in Ireland, and happen to have a grill, use it to toast your pork nicely as you would do with bacon.

Marinated Egg

Let it cook for 6 mins to have a soft boiled egg, as soon as the time is up, put it into a bowl of icy water, it will make the egg easier to peel off. Be gentle, do it in the icy water, you're less likely to damage it. Put some soyu into a ziplock bag, put the soft boiled egg with the sauce and forget it for 2 days. The soyu will flavour your egg white and you'll have a delicious egg just like the ones you have in ramen restaurants. It can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge.

Pak Choy

In a deep pan bring water to the boil, add a pinch of salt to it and a drizzle of sesame oil. Chop the pak choy in three and let it cook in boiling water for 4 mins. Drain it before serving.

Ramen noodles

Very easy, follow the pack's instructions and cooking time.

ASSEMBLE THE DISH

Finely chop the spring onion
In your serving soup bowl put the sesame paste, vinegar, soyu, mix well until smooth with a fork or a small whisk. Add a drizzle of chilli sesame oil and the 1/4 of your spring onions.
In a small deep pan heat up your stock and milk until it fumes a little but do not boil it.
Once your ramen are cooked, add them to your bowl, cover the noodles with the chicken stock and milk. On the side put on top of the noodles the pak choy on the left hand side. in the centre the grilled pork belly, slice in two the egg and sprinkle on top the spring onion. Repeat the same for the second bowl.

ENJOY!!

Read More

FARCIS

In my youth our little village used to celebrate our National Day with a giant BBQ, wine, beer and fireworks. We had a méchoui: a whole barbecued lamb stuffed with rice, veggies and lots of herbs. It’s delicious, cheap and a total crowd pleaser. This year, like the year before and the year before that, and the year before…you got the idea, I am not in France. My little village, lost in the deep Southern French countryside, doesn’t organise a big méchoui anymore so here’s an alternative recipe that keeps the festive spirit of our village gatherings: Farcis or in English stuffed veggies.

I love this recipe because it's cheap, you can make it all year round, stuffing whatever seasonal vegetable as long as it’s big enough to be stuffed. It can be fancy or very cheap depending on the type of meat you’re using: lamb, veal, beef, pork, sausage meat. The beauty of this recipe is that it works with almost everything! It can also make a wonderful vegetarian alternative, if you switch the meat to bread crumbs! I’ll let you in my mother’s recipes and hope you’ll like these simple family recipes! Happy Bastille day everyone!

SUMMER FARCIS

Things you need:                Ingredients:

a deep gratin dish               4 big aubergines or 4 big courgettes or 4 red bell peppers

big bowl                             300g of mince meat

chopping board                 1 onion

knife                                  1 carrot

tablespoon                         1 branch of celery

Wooden spoon                  1 tomato

 Frying pan                       4 cloves of garlic

                                         1 bunch of parsley or basil or thym

                                         Parmesan or gruyere or emmental or cheddar cheese

                                         Salt & pepper



Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C

In a gratin dish, drizzle some olive oil. Hollow your aubergines/courgettes, make sure there’s still enough flesh in them to keep their shape while cooking but it also has to be hallow enough to hold a generous amount of stuffing. If you want to stuff bell peppers, just take the seeds out and add 1 red bell pepper to your stuffing. Put your hollowed veggies into the dish, drizzle a little bit of olive oil on them and season (salt and pepper) to taste. That way, your aubergines/courgettes/ red bell peppers won’t be blend.

Then cut their flesh into cubes, dice the celery, the carrot, the onion and the garlic. Preheat a pan on medium heat, once it’s hot put 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pan. Then the diced veggies, and let them cook for 5 mins. You’re actually pre-cooking them to make them tastier. Let your veggie mix cool down, put your mince meat into a big bowl and add the vegetables to it. Chop one bunch of parsley (basil or thym works well, too), season well with salt and pepper. Mix your stuffing well by hand or using a big spoon if you prefer. With a tablespoon, scoop the stuffing into the veggies, and form a dome. Repeat the operation until all of your hollowed vegetables are stuffed. Put some cheese on top, once your oven is hot put stuffed veggies into the oven for 30-40 mins.

Bon appétit !

Read More

NOUGATINE DE NONO - NONO'S ALMOND BRITTLE

I think it is quite fitting that the recipe I shared the most with my friends around the world is also the first recipe I put on this blog. It is my uncle's take on nougatine or almond brittle if you prefer. It is a French classic and a crowd pleaser, often used to compliment show stoppers like croque-en-bouche at French weddings or christenings. The vinegar makes the caramel more flexible, ideal to give your brittle a more impressive look, for example shape it as a bowl to put treats or ice cream into. What I love about nougatine is that you only need a handful of ingredients to make a yummy versatile treat. Feel free to break it in shards or crush it on top of your ice cream, or enjoy a piece with your coffee. It will also make a great eatable gift. Without further ado, here's the recipe.

Things you need:                          Ingredients

thick bottom pan                         400g of caster sugar

parchment paper                         200g flaked almonds

rolling pin                                   8 tbsp of water

bowl                                            4 tbsp of white wine or rice vinegar

wooden spoon                             1 knob of melted butter

First things first, you need to prepare your work surface, this recipe is not complicated but the key to success is to work fast and therefore to be organised. Working with sugar is a bit dangerous as caramel is very hot so beware and never make caramel with your little ones running around in the kitchen. You need two 30 cm long pieces of parchment paper, lightly buttered on the side up on a flat surface. Put your flaked almonds into a medium sized bowl.

In a thick bottom pan put the sugar, water and vinegar together. Heat everything up on a medium heat, don't stir your caramel as it might cristalise and your caramel will be ruined. Making caramel is a patience game, it takes a while, you need to keep an eye and your nose on it as it can burn very quickly. What you want is a beautiful golden caramel. Do not panic it will smell very vinegary however you won't taste it, it's all good! You have to trust me on this one. When the caramel is ready pour it on the flaked almonds, you need to work quickly and stir, stir, stir to cover your almonds evenly. It will look as if you have too much almond to your caramel but it's actually not the case. As soon as your flaked almonds are covered, toss the hot mixture on the greased parchment paper, put the second piece of parchment paper on top and start rolling with your rolling pin like you would do with a hot dough until it's evenly flat. Work fast and flatten the brittle well. Now you can let it set.

If you feel like showing-off a bit, feel free to shape it. As soon as you flattened your brittle, put your nougatine on the outside of a bowl (by the way, it's still between the sheets of parchment paper), making sure it is closely fitted. Let it cool for at least 40 mins. 

Voila! You can store your brittle in a air tight container for up to 3 weeks if it lasts that long. It is mostly sugar, do not put it directly in the fridge, its moisture will ruin your nougatine. Enjoy!

Read More