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Chicken soup

On July 5, 2011 in chicken, comfort food, dairy-free, dinner, egg-free, gluten-free, healthy recipes, recipes, wheat-free, winter warmers

There’s two types of eaters in this world – those who live to eat and those who eat to live. No prizes for guessing which camp I fall into. What type of eater are you? Is your relationship with food based on passion or necessity?

Sometimes I wish I was one of those people who regard food as fuel and regularly forget to eat. It would save me from having to constantly think about food. It would probably save my waistline too. But on the downside, it would mean the death of this blog. A food blog written by a food hater? Forget it.

A surefire sign of a food lover is a healthy preoccupation with comfort food. In other words, eating when you’re not hungry. Comfort eaters are masters of the art of eating for the sake of it. They’ll find any excuse to put food in their mouths. The most frequently cited reasons being boredom, sickness, procrastination, heartache, depression, joy and tiredness.

Ice-cream, biscuits and chocolate are popular forms of sweet comfort food. Hot chips, pizza, burgers, bangers and mash, anything involving carbs are highly sought after in the savoury department. A common misconception with comfort food is that it has to be unhealthy. This is not the case. Take chicken soup, for example. It’s one of the best comfort foods around and happens to be very good for you. Some even go as far as saying it cures sickness.

In the interests of curbing my reliance on unhealthy comfort foods, I decided to soothe my soul with a big pot of homemade chicken soup. I made the whole thing from scratch, including the broth. This isn’t a mid-week meal as you need to leave the soup in the fridge overnight so you can skim the solidified fat off the surface the next day. It’s really worth the effort. I’ve never tasted soup this delicious.

chicken soup

Classic chicken soup adapted from Taste

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 x 1.4kg (size 14) chicken (make sure it’s free-range)
2 large brown onions, finely chopped
2 cups loosely packed fresh continental parsley leaves
4 garlic cloves, crushed
60 mls (1/4 cup) fresh lemon juice
2 tbs soy sauce
5 celery sticks, cut into l cm pieces
5 medium carrots, cut into l cm pieces
2 medium tomatoes, halved
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1.5L (6 cups) water

Method:

Rinse the inside of the chicken. Remove the tail and neck, and as much skin as possible from the chicken.
Combine the onions, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and soy sauce in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes or until the onions are soft. Add the chicken, celery, carrots and tomatoes and season with pepper. Add the water and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 1 hour or until the chicken is tender and comes away from the bones easily.
Remove from heat, cool for 10 minutes and place the soup in the fridge to chill overnight. (This allows the fat to rise to the surface and set.)
Next day, remove the soup from the fridge and use a large metal spoon to remove the layer of solidified fat from the surface.
Remove the chicken from the soup and place in a large bowl. Use your fingers to remove the meat from the bones and shred into pieces.
Discard the bones. Return the chicken meat to the soup.
Bring the soup to the boil over medium heat and simmer until the chicken and vegetables are heated through. Remove the soup from the heat and skim a piece of paper towel over the surface to absorb any excess fat.
Season with salt and ladle the soup into deep soup bowls. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

 

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Fish pie

On November 25, 2010 in Baking, comfort food, dinner, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, seafood, spicy food, winter warmers

What’s your favourite comfort food? Hot chips, chocolate, peanut butter on toast, sticky date pudding, Tim Tams. For me, nothing defines comfort food better than fish pie. It’s hot, fishy, creamy, fattening and encased in golden pastry. Give me a glass of wine and a piping hot ramekin filled with fish pie and all my worries just fade away.

Fish pies

Fish pies are the quintessence of comfort food.

We’re on the crest of summer here in the southern hemisphere, so this recipe goes out to all my readers in the northern hemisphere. As well as warming the cockles of your heart, fish pie is economical to make as you can get away with using cheaper cuts of fish, such as cod or ling. Just don’t make the mistake I once made and use snapper fillets as it turns out to be a very expensive exercise!

This recipe is yet another winner from the English chef with a really long surname, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. We’ve been cooking up a few of his recipes lately and they all work out perfectly.

We gave the dish an Aussie twist by using ling fillets and smoked trout in place of the rather odd-sounding fish suggested in the recipe. I’ve never heard of pollack… wasn’t he a painter? As for the curry paste, we cheated and used one from our grocer rather than making it from scratch. Instead of making one big pie, we opted for ramekins so we could have individual servings. We served the beloved pies with steamed green beans and jacket potatoes, but I would give the potatoes a miss as the pie is really filling.

Without further ado, I hereby present you with Hugh’s recipe for fish pie.

If you like pie, why not try my chicken pie recipe?

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Chicken pie

On September 19, 2010 in chicken, comfort food, cooking, dinner, pies, recipes, winter warmers

Spring may have sprung, but don’t put your pie dishes away just yet. That’s right, people, winter cooking is alive and well at Food Crush. I have a pie recipe that will not only float your boat, but will have you eating hot toasty pies all the way through spring and summer.

This tasty treat comes to you all the way from the pie capital of the world, England. Paul’s mum, Jill happens to be a great cook, and she kindly agreed to share her beloved pie recipe with us. The basic recipe has stayed true to form throughout the years, but has seen a few incarnations in recent times, such as the addition of mushrooms, peas, wine, lemon and tarragon. On this note, I declare the best chicken pie in the world. Enjoy.

Chicken pie

Chicken pie is good for the soul.

Ingredients:
8oz (225 g) shortcrust pastry
2 chicken breasts
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 tbs butter or margarine, melted
1 tbs flour
150-200ml milk
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp fresh thyme
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Defrost frozen pastry and set aside.

Melt 1 tbs of butter in a fry pan and cook the chicken breast until browned (you can bake the chicken in lemon and herbs, if you prefer). Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.

Make a small roux sauce using the juices, some more butter if needed and 1 tbs flour. Gradually add approximately 150 -200 ml milk plus 1 tbs lemon juice, a good teaspoon of fresh thyme, salt and pepper. You want the sauce to be thick.

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and place in pyrex plate or pie dish. Stir sauce into the dish and top with sliced eggs and more pepper. Cover with pastry and cook in a hot oven 200c for 10-15 mins then reduce temp for a further 20-25.

Remove pie from oven and serve with jacket baked potatoes and some greens.

In the mood for more pie? Why not try this tasty fish pie recipe?

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Paultatoes

On September 5, 2010 in cooking, dinner, potatoes, recipes, vegetarian, winter warmers

I can proudly boast that Paul makes the best roast potatoes on the planet. Golden and crispy on the outside, soft and smooth on the inside. So, what’s the secret to these roasted gems? Well, I asked Paul to give me the low down.

Roast potatoes

Crispy, golden and oh-so-good!

First choose the right potatoes for roasting. You’re best to opt for a floury potato like King Edward, Maris Piper or Desiree as they are perfect for roasts. Peel and cut the potatoes into sections (3-4 per potato) the flatter the cuts, the crispier the potatoes, but less healthy. Bring the potatoes to the boil in almost enough water to cover then par boil for 5 mins.

Put the baking tray in the pre-heated oven (the temperature is normally set by what the potatoes are accompanying but around 200 C is normal). Once the oil is hot (about 10 mins), carefully add the potatoes making sure they get coated in the oil. Cook the potatoes for 50 mins or until crispy turning once after 30 minutes.

Paul’s special tip: Cooking it in goose fat makes it taste better.

Looking for a nice meat recipe to go with your potatoes? Look no further than dinner party menu that contains a delicious BBQ leg of lamb recipe by Jamie Oliver.

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Pea, lettuce and tarragon soup

On August 23, 2010 in cooking, dinner, healthy recipes, recipes, soup, vegetarian, winter warmers

I felt like a trailblazer when I cooked this recipe. Lettuce soup. I mean, come on, it’s not something you see every day, is it? Lettuce is an ingredient I usually save for sandwiches and salads and stuff, not warm things like soup. Unconvinced? I don’t blame you, but trust me, this soup is good.

Pea, lettuce and tarragon soup

Who knew that lettuce could be so comforting?

This winter warmer is reminiscent of my Mum’s pea and ham soup (minus the ham). And it’s green, my favourite colour! What more could a girl ask for?

I added some chopped pork sausage for extra oomph, but vegetarians can skip this step. Oh, and I ran out of cos lettuce so I added a couple of cups of trusty iceberg lettuce in its place. Who would have thought that lettuce could make such tasty soup?!

Lastly, I used thyme instead of tarragon ‘cos that’s all I had in the fridge. Tasted good to me! Serve with parmesan and lots of cracked black pepper. Here’s the recipe!

If you like this recipe, you might also like Kylie Kwong’s chicken soup.

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