Cold and manflu cure

I've always been a firm believer that what you eat impacts on your mood and health more than almost any other factor - and when faced with mopey ill partner, my thoughts immediately turn to comforting, soothing, healing food. J woke up yesterday with the beginnings of a cold. As both of us were sneezing like... well, sneezy people, what with all the dust yesterday I thought I'd give it 24 hours to check he was actually ill before food-ministry.

I spent a while googling chicken soup recipes that took less than three hours to cook (seriously, who has three hours to cook after work?) and for which I had most of the ingredients for in the house. I found something perfect on BBC Recipes, not a particular favourite of mine (I generally find All Recipes a bit more useful). I was looking for something with a little spice which to clear out his head-cold and be nourishing, pique a diminished appetite and be generally life-affirming.

If you make Thai or Malaysian on a regular-ish basis, the ingredients for Spicy Chicken Dumpling Soup should be mostly to hand with just a couple of fresh ingredients to buy on the way home from work. I'm not posting the link directly as I made a few amendments (some of the quantities were really odd) and this turned out delicious.

Here's a picture someone else made earlier (notice that you can also use udon noodles apparently as well as rice ones, although the delicacy of the rice noodles is nice with the lumpiness of the dumplings).Mine didn't quite end up looking like this but not far off - the aim is a fragrant coconutty broth with bite-sized dumplings.

For the chicken dumplings

- 2 medium-sized chicken breasts, minced (no, nowhere sells chicken mince, as I found out this afternoon. Putting them through the cheese grater function on a food processor does a pretty good job; equally dicing it very, very finely should do the trick too)
- Half a small can of bamboo shoots, drained, chopped finely
- 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, chopped finely
- 2 tsps freshly grated ginger
- 2 tbsps chopped coriander leaves
- 2 tsps nam pla (fish sauce)
- 2 tbsps cornflour
- salt and fresh ground black pepper

For the soup

- 800ml chicken stock (I used Knorr concentrate as I'd run out of homemade, was perfectly nice)
- 1 large can coconut milk
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- 1.5 inch piece of root ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp nam pla
- Juice of one lime (small)
- Pinch caster sugar
- 4 baby pak choi (I couldn't find baby ones so used 2 regular sized, with the cores cut out, which tasted fine)
- 1 sachet of Amoy ready-to-wok rice noodles

To serve

- 2 sliced red chillies
- 8 sprigs fresh coriander
- 2 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced

1. For the dumplings, put the minced chicken, bamboo shoots, ginger, chilli, coriander, fish sauce and cornflour into a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Mix it all together by hand (this is nice and squidgy) until it holds in a large ball. Rinse your hands, and make lots of teeny weeny dumplings, and set them to one side (I made massive ones and they were hard to eat!).
3. Put the stock, coconut milk, lime leaves and ginger slices in a large pan and bring to a simmer.
4. Reduce the heat to low, add the dumplings and simmer gently for five mins or so until just cooked through (they cook far more quickly than you expect).
5. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar.
6. Add the pak choi and rice noodles, bring back to a simmer and remove from the heat.
7. To serve, ladle the soup into serving bowls, dividing the dumplings evenly.
8. Serve with the chillies, coriander leaves and lime leaves scattered on the top.

It says it serves four, which it probably would do with pudding. I made this panful for the two of us and we couldn't finish it - very, very filling. If anyone reading this makes it, do let me know how it turns out, and whether you made any changes.

Anne's last supper - well, lunch

My friend Anne, after a number of happy years in London, announced a couple of months ago that she was moving back to Vancouver (sniff, sob). She came around to mine for a final meal before I took her to the airport. The day's challenge was to make something light enough that wouldn't make her feel too full for sitting around and waiting a while for a flight (pesky ash cloud) and would be suitable for brunch - and also didn't take too long to cook or too much attention when I wanted to talk to her.

I'd tried Nigella's Red Prawn and Mango Curry before a couple of times, but never felt the recipe got it entirely down pat. This is my take. I also dislike her preference for pre-cubed veg, lazy devil, and this is much cheaper. Serve with steamed or boiled jasmine rice (in small quantities - curry to rice ratio should be about half and half).

1/2 tsp of sesame oil, 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
4 - 6 spring onions chopped roughly
2 large tbsps of red thai curry paste (a non-salty one if poss)
1 400g can organic coconut milk (not low fat or it comes out too runny)
150ml chicken stock from homemade (if making with concentrate or stock cubes use half recommended quantity)
2 tsps nam pla (fish sauce)
1 smallish butternut squash or half of one and most of a sweet potato, cubed small-ish
Around 300g fresh prawns (much nicer than frozen)
Juice of half a lime
1 large mango, cubed small-ish
Generous shake of green tabasco (red will do)
Chopped coriander, generous handful.

Heat up the oils in a large pan; when hot fry the chopped spring onion. Stir in the paste; add the stock, fish sauce and coconut milk, stir til mixed well. You can start cooking the rice now. Bung in the squash (and/or) sweet potato to the sauce mix and simmer for about 10 mins - should still have a slight bite to it.
When veg are ready, throw in prawns and bring back to boil; add mango and lime juice and heat through. Serve on the rice with coriander chopped on top. Tabasco to serve too.

I find the variation in flavour in this recipe great - it gives you lots to play with; this version is very saucy and fragrant without being overpowering, but there's barely any heat, even though I've upped the curry paste. Definitely one to play with and I think she really liked it.

(We had Gu ganache for pudding which was gorgeous - I can't do desserts from scratch when we're due to eat at 12.00pm).

Saturday night, Sunday morning

The challenge this weekend was to cook a Saturday evening meal for sister and self, followed by three course Sunday lunch with one of my best friends who has just announced she's departing these shores.

After perusing Nigella, Nigel, Gordon and Delia for some inspiration, I decided that duck was the order of the day for the Saturday evening meal. I've never cooked duck before so was looking for something fairly simple and hard to mess up - no time constraints, as I had all afternoon to get sorted out. I decided on roast duck with cherry sauce, accompanied by braised red cabbage and a simple side dish of kale. It was nicer than I could ever have hoped for. To make this, you'll need:

1 duck, free range (roughly four lbs)
1 jar cherry conserve
1/2 bottle red wine
1 red cabbage
1 large baking apple
1 large or two small onions
1 clove garlic
Red wine vinegar
Duck fat (either from the bird or from a jar)
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Cloves
Brown sugar
Packet of kale
Salt and pepper

This will serve 4 people (add more ducks if you need to - the sides and sauce make plenty).

Start by getting the braised cabbage started. Set the oven to GM2. Shred the cabbage, throwing away the tough central stalk. Peel and core the apple, chopping finely. Chop the onion(s) finely. Mix together in a large casserole dish; grate over 1/2 a nutmeg, about 1tsp of cinnamon and a few whole cloves; mince the garlic very finely and mix thoroughly. Add about one large glass of red wine, a slug of red wine vinegar and some fat (butter would be okay, but I had some duck fat in a jar so added that). Also add a good handful of brown sugar (probably about 3tbsps). Sit in the oven for an hour.

At the hour point, you need to prep your duck. Remove the giblets (reserve for stock if you want). Then break the backbone by putting it breast side down on a chopping board and pushing till you hear it crack (this will help the duck cook evenly). Turn right side up, prick the skin carefully - the aim is to let the fat run away but not to pierce the meat. Season liberally with sea salt and black pepper. Set in a roasting rack in a tin (I didn't have one so scrunched up some tin foil and placed the bird on that - an excellent Delia tip). Take the cabbage out of the oven, shift it up to GM8 and stick the duck on the middle shelf for about 20 - 30 minutes until the fat starts to melt. At this point, take the duck out and spoon out the fat from the tray into a jug (keep to one side for later). Turn down to GM4, put the cabbage back on the bottom shelf and the duck on the middle shelf. Check the duck every 20 - 30 mins (1 hr 50 mins in the oven from start to finish) spooning out the fat and basting. Also use the interruptions to stir the braised cabbage (I added some of the hot duck fat to this too). When the duck is cooked (usual skewer to check the juices are running clear) take it out of the oven to rest under a tea towel for 20 mins or so. Now put half a jar of cherry conserve in a pan, and add a large glass of red wine. Simmer for ten mins. Wilst stirring, boil the kale for 6-8 mins or till cooked.

Plate up slices of duck breast with the cherry sauce, a generous portion of the red cabbage and lightly cooked kale. This was absolutely gorgeous! For pudding, I settled for ripe strawberries with whipped cream and a very little bit of dark chocolate in shards over the top.

Even better, tonight's dinner formed the basis for some of tomorrow's lunch. After I'd washed up and said goodbye to Hani, I shredded the rest of the duck from the carcass (1 very large soup bowl's worth) and boiled the de-skinned bones with water, garlic, ginger, a chilli (deseeded) lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, nam pla, rice vinegar, soy sauce and a generous handful of coriander. I'm leaving it to simmer on the stove for an hour tonight before straining. Tomorrow, I'll add the duck meat to the clear soup and season - a nice Thai-inspired starter.

To follow, it's a roast topside of beef with the red cabbage (this is always better the second day and freezes amazingly well if there's any leftovers) and roasties with some more green veg (probably sugar snap peas and the rest of the kale).

Roast potatoes are always a top topic and bone of contention in the office. My method is to peel, parboil til soft (about 15 mins); strain, put back in the hot and empty pan and shake around to fluff up the edges. Put in a roasting tin and cover with duck fat (handily conserved from yesterday) and cook at a medium heat for at least an hour and a half until crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I also season with a lot of sea salt to really crisp up the outsides.

So most of tomorrow's work is done - it's just the potatoes and searing the topside joint before putting it into the oven. Not bad for an afternoon's work. All I really have to worry about is what to make for pudding!