Chicken Stock

 Chicken stock, an important ingredient in many dishes and a really useful thing to have saved up. You use it in soups, risotto's, stews, cous cous, casserole, sauces, pretty much anything really

1-2 Chicken carcasses
2 sticks of celery roughly chopped
2 medium onions quartered
1 leek roughly chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 bouquet garni
3-4 cloves garlic, bashed or roughly crushed
6 litres cold water

Step 1
Put the carcasses into a large stock pot with all the other ingredients. Bring to the boil and turn down the heat to simmer for about 4 hours. Allow the stock to cool a little before putting seiving into a container, and put in the fridge or freezer. Skim any dirt/scum from the top of the stock during the cooking.

At it's heart you only need the chicken carcass for this, but just the carcass gets you something really simple. for added verve you need to have the vegetables. If you do not have a bouquet garni use a selection of herbs including thyme, rosemary, basil, bay leaves, and oregano. The stock will keep best in the freezer, for a few months, but in the fridge is best kept for only a few days. With the stock try and think what you'll be using it for, and you can try to add extras to it for the best effect. For example, if you plan to use the stock in a curry or thai dish you may want to include chilli pepper in with the vegetables to add that flavour. Reducing the stock will concentrate the flavour, and help reduce the amount of space needed to store it.

Minestrone Soup

This soup is an excellent dish to make if you have lots of different vegetables to use up and can be made with most cold meats, although ham is usually used. If you've made your own pasta with the Pasta Dough you can cut it into strips and then make small diamond shapes to put into the soup instead of the dried spaghetti or pasta shapes that the recipe calls for.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 carrots, chopped
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes
1L stock, chicken or vegetable
3 celery sticks, chopped
1/2 medium cabbage, shredded
3 medium potatoes, chopped
1 leek, chopped
120g frozen peas
120g pearl barley
100g  pasta shapes or small pieces of dried spaghetti
1 bay leaf
2-3 sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper to season


Step 1
Prepare the pearl barley as instructed on the packet. In a large saucepan heat the oil then add the onion, garlic, leek, celery and carrot and cook for five minutes on a medium heat, stirring to prevent any browning.
Add the stock, tomatoes, cabbage, bay leaf, thyme and potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Step 2
Add the pasta and pearl barley and season to taste before cooking for another 5 minutes. Add the peas and simmer for a final two minutes. Throughout the cooking stir to prevent the ingredients settling at the bottom and sticking.




This soup is a real winter-warmer. You don't have to use all the vegetables stated in the ingredients list, you can swap out some for others or even add some if you like. If you make this soup after christmas you could swap out the cabbage for brussel sprouts for example, and don't be afraid to add any vegetables. The main veg to make this dish are the ones down to celery, anything else you can change. If you'e made your own pasta I highly reccomend you use it in this dish, homemade pasta makes a difference you can taste.

Pasta Dough

A staple for any aspiring chef who likes to make, or try making, everything at least once. I've only made a few batches so far, but this is the recipe i think works the best for me.

275g pasta flour
3 medium eggs

Step 1
Place the pasta flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre for the eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing them into the flour with a fork. Stir the well with the fork until all the dough is smooth and shiny, adding more flour from the sides if needed.

Step 2
Using your hands, incorperate the rest of the flour until it becomes solid enough to turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic adding more flour if needed, especially f the dough becomes sticky or too pliable. Cover the dough with cling film, and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Step 3
Make 4 portions of the dough and then use the following method if you have no pasta roller. On a lightly floured surface roll out the portions of pasta until you get to your desired thickness, usually around 1mm, and cut into the desired shape.



I have used this method to make tagniatelli by cutting the rolled dough into thin strips, Ravioli by cutting into squares (though you can have them round) and filling them, and small pasta shapes for minestrone soup. This recipe can be used for ANY pasta you like, so long as you can make the shape for it. One thing you an do to add a little variety to it would be coloured pasta, which can be achieved with different foods. Drained, boiled spinach is generally used for green pasta, red pasta can be made with tomato puree, black with squid ink, or you can make a more yellow pasta with more egg yolks. All of these coloured pastas will need more flour, so be sure to adjust accordingly. Adding more egg yolks doesn't just make the flour more yellow, it enriches the pasta, and makes it richer, ideal for impressing someone.

Porridge

A great start to the day, porridge is really easy to prepare, the only deciding factor is the attention you give it.

40g porridge oats
1/2 pint milk or water
pinch of salt
toppings

Step 1
Warm the milk/water in a saucepan before adding the porridge oats, then stir coninuously with a wooden spoon to avoid the oats sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. After 2 minutes remove the heat and stir in the salt, taste and add smore salt if needed. Add more milk/water if the porridge becomes too thick, or heat for longer if the porridge is not thick enough.

Step 2
Add the toppings and eat.



With porridge it is such a simple dish that so many things can go wrong if you don't pay attention. The best thing to do is to make sure you can attend to the porridge without interruption, as if the porridge burns on the bottom of the saucepan it will impair the taste. However, because porridge is such a simple dish you can enhance it in so many different ways. my most recent favourite has been adding half a teaspoon of vanilla extract to really change the taste, as it makes a much more flavoursome dish. Another way i used was to core and chop an apple and slowly cook it with some sugar and a tablespoon or two of water to make a sweet apple topping. Then, of course, there's always the sugar topping, of which i think brown goes best. Finally, if you want sweet porridge without adding the sugar topping you could always add a tablespoon of golden syrup to it while cooking.

A half teaspoon of this will make the porridge taste even nicer

Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes

A slight variation of the classic roast potato

3-4 medium potatoes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium sprigs of rosemary
vegetable oil
20g salted butter


Step 1
Peel and chop the potatoes, place into slightly salted boiling water until par-boiled. Drain the potatoes well and return to the pan, adding the butter a lid before shaking vigorously for 3 seconds.

Step 2
Meanwhile heat the vegetable oil in a roasting dish in the oven at about 220°C . Turn out the potatoes into the roasting dish and place into the oven for about 40-50 minutes. Check regularly on the potatoes to turn them to ensure they get coated with oil and that they get crispy all over. About halfway through the cooking time add the rosemary and garlic.


This recipe is a great variation of the classic roast potato and well worth trying out. The rosemary in them makes them a great accompaniment to dishes involving lamb and ham/gammon.

Spiced Gammon

A good bit of ham is really nice, and can last you a few meals if you plan sensibly. The joint I'm making will be going into a roast, with a cous cous salad, and into a soup. Even then there should be more left over for sandwiches and wraps.


1 gammon joint
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
 8-10 cloves
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped


Step 1
Using a pestle and mortar grind up the fennel, peppercorns, cumin, cloves, and coriander. Once as fine as you can manage add the olive oil and mix well, smear the gammon joint well with the paste, and put the joint into a preheated oven at 240°C for 30 minutes.

Step 2
Remove the joint from the oven, and allow to cool slightly. Using a sharp knife, score the top of the joint and put the chopped garlic in the cuts and rub the rest of the paste into the cuts before returning to the oven for 1 hour, testing the joint by inserting a skewer to the centre of the joint to test if the juices run clear.

Step 3
Cover the gammon and leave to stand for 20-30 minutes to allow for the juices to settle. Then carve and enjoy.



This mkes an exceedingly tasty piece of gammon. Adding herbs and spices to meats enriches the flavour, and lets you try out different things with the meat. A large joint will take longer to cook, while a small one will take less time. This goes very well with the roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes and fries egg.

Gammon with the Garlic and rosemary potatoes, fried egg and peas and sweetcorn

Pasta with Three Herb Sauce

This recipe calls for spaghetti, but you can use whatever pasta you have lying around instead. it's quite a light dish, so you may want a side of something with it, perhaps a bit of garlic bread.

3 tablespoons parsley
1tablespoon taragon
2 tablespoons basil
30ml chicken stock
juice of half a lemon
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
salt and pepper to season
100g pasta per person

Step 1
Chop the herbs and add to a food processor with the oil, wine, garlic, stock and seasoning. Puree until smooth. Meanwhile boil some lightly salted water and add the pasta and cook until tender.

Step 2
Drain the pasta well and set aside, add the sauce to an empty saucepan and cook on a high heat for just about 1 minute. Add the pasta, shake or mix to coat well, and serve.

The pasta with Garlic Bread