Yesterday was the last harvest of the year at Corner Cottage. My Chili plants which had done so well finally gave up during the cold weather and I had to strip them before they froze completely.

Though I have the smallest plot of land it is such a joy to grow anything which you then eat. Still I hope that when the days lengthen, there will be the odd piece of food from the garden

The photo here gives you some idea of how cold it has been this weekend, though no snow as of yet.

On Wednesday I shall begin my countdown to Christmas. Every food writer and celeb chef has written a problem free guide to the festivities so I'm not going to try and re-hash that idea. The period around Christmas should naturally be a stress free time - you shouldn't need some TV personality to tell you how to reduce your stress! If you find the whole idea of cooking a big meal stressful then perhaps you should try eating out this Christmas? Let's get real, if you are cooking for your friends and family, are they really going to complain about the main course being 10 minutes late? If they do, don't invite them next year!

Silly chilli chicken Thai noodle soup.

So there I was, supping my lunch, and the PE boy came and demanded a spoonful. Then there was raving and lots of yummy yummy noises closely followed by a demand for the recipe. This is one which I made for the Beautiful Wife a while ago and have developed ever since. This is not a soup for polite gentle eating, its a slurpy sloppy conversational dish for in front of the telly - I was following the "Love food, Hate waste " (www.lovefoodhatewaste.com) mantra of taking left over dinner for lunch the next day.

Silly chilli chicken Thai noodle soup

2 Chicken thighs (boned, skinned and cut up into nuggets)
2 pints of chicken stock (made with oxo is fine)
Thumb of Root Ginger
Couple of Garlic cloves
Two or three hot chillies
Soy sauce
Fish sauce (Nam Pla)
Sesame oil
Sweet chilli sauce
Spring onions and carrots, finely sliced
Noodles (I use Wellspring Udon, but whatever you like will do)

Mix a large dollop of the chilli sauce with a serious splash of soy, a less serious splash of the sesame oil and a few drops of the fish sauce. Pop the chicken into this and allow to mingle for a couple of hours.
Boil the stock with the chopped chilli, slices of the ginger and the roughly chopped garlic. This should simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile make sure that your noodles have been cooked and cooled down (follow the instructions on the packet!!)
Fry the Chicken in its marinade - it needs to be cooked through and the marinade should go all sticky and gooey.
Pop some noodles in a bowl, pop the spring onion and carrot on top, pour over some of broth and place a few bits of the chuck on top.
Serve with soy sauce.

Enjoy, Smithy!

Tales from the veg box

The weekend just gone was one of much activity in the kitchen. The beautiful wife decided that, if we were to have a roast then there would be stuffing - she sold it as a trial run for Christmas. Incidentally: buy your chestnuts now as foraging around for them on Christmas eve is very undignified (I speak from experience). A roast was also the opportunity to use up a lot of the veggies from my Abel and Cole box.
So we had a beautiful Roast chicken with...Stuffing (Chestnuts, breadcrumbs, sausage meat from Newitt's Oxford sausage, onions and sage from the garden), roast potatoes, roast parsnip, roast onion, roast garlic, boiled cabbage, boiled carrots, Brussels sprouts and gravy.
Now my favourite thing about roast chicken is all the left over bits! I made a stock from the bones and a pie (with leeks and mushrooms) from the leftover flesh.
The stock was strained and then just about every veg I had left was thrown in (Squash, parsnip, spud, onion, leek, a little bit of celeriac and three rather sorry looking spring onions. This was boiled and blitzed and then some finely shredded cabbage added. This became lunch today with just a sprinkling of Parmesan and breadcrumbs over the top.
I now have enough space for this evening's box. I just need to come up with an idea for all the apples I have!

Chicken Stock

A bowl of chicken stock in the fridge or the freezer makes me think of exciting beginnings and starts. It provides the basis for so much good cooking. Many of the great soups and sauces begin as a bowl of slightly gelatinous opaque liquid quivering in the fridge. Every Celebrity Chef’s cookbook will have a complex recipe which involves skimming, straining and clarifying one hundred and thirty vegetables and bits of chicken. This is fine if you want to cook in a restaurant with three Michelin Stars but we’re just making ourselves some supper!

Ingredients 1 Selection of Chicken Bones (from a single roast bird will be enough)
1 Carrot
1 Onion
5 Black pepper corns
Enough water to cover the bones and vegetables

Put all the ingredients in a large pan and bring to the boil. Boil vigorously for 40 minutes. Allow the stock to cool, perhaps overnight. Bring the stock to the boil once more and boil hard for 10 minutes. Let the stock cool and refrigerate or freeze.