Making brands more distinctive

I like leftovers. It seems a rather disparaging name for what can be some of the simplest and tastiest food going.

I also like roast chicken because that means I can make chicken stock from those all important leftovers. And chicken stock means one thing to me- Chicken Noodle Soup. I may even find myself looking forward to making the stock more than actually enjoying eating the chicken.

If your roast has some meat left on strip it from the carcass. Put this meat aside. You may want to give the Parsons Nose to the dog or cat. If you don’t have a pet, find a neighbours and give it them. The dog or cat not the neighbour.

Take the carcass, break it up and chuck into a big pot with a bay leaf, carrot, celery, onion chopped in two and a few peppercorns. Top the pot up with three litres of water. The objective is to get two litres of really tasty homemade chicken stock that can be the base for any soup or gravy. Once again “base” is an unfavourable word. The chicken stock in my mind is the hero. Anyhoo, bring the pot to the boil, cover and simmer whilst you retire to coachpotatoville and catch-up on the Olympics.

Let the pot simmer away for as many hours as you like. I turn it off before going to bed then strain it the next morning. Big thumbs up to those one litre soup bags  that can go straight into the freezer.

So one litre is ensconced in the freezer and another litre waiting to make one of my favourite meals. Chicken Noodle Soup. Oh Yes. With Chinese flavours. It’s  superbly simple.

Stick the stock in a big pan, bring to the simmer and add:

• Chopped onion, fairly large chunks
• Thinly sliced carrot
• Two cloves thinly sliced garlic
• One inch of fresh ginger peeled and, you guessed it thinly sliced.
• Oh, and a sliced, fresh chilli to taste.

Simmer for five minutes until softened then add a portion of dried noodles.

I let the noodles soften for a minute then snip them into smaller pieces with scissors directly in the pan.

After five minutes they should be nicely cooked. Now add the all important salty seasoning of Light Soy Sauce. I find two tablespoons will be enough for a litre of stock. But taste and see what you think.

Remember the meat that had been stripped from the carcass? Chuck that in to warm through. At this stage I’ll add some greens too. Anything you’ve got; spinach, pak choi, cabbage. This time I had some lettuce that needed using up so I shredded that and popped it in for the last minute of heating.

Spoon into a large bowl, pile a handful of roughly chopped coriander on top and eat with much slurping.

PS: I find that the amounts above will make four small portions or two biggies.  Appetite depending.