Chicken Noodle Soup

It's winter here so soup is the order of the day – but actually I like a good soup almost all year round.

Ingredients:

Fresh noodles

Leftover roast chicken (skin removed) & potatoes

Onion (I only use a little bit but most people would use at least ½ an onion)

Ginger

Bacon pieces

Oil (tsp)

Chilli

Stock cube – chicken or vegetable

¼ cabbage, shredded

Handful of brussel sprouts (sliced)

Salt (or Fish sauce) /pepper/cayenne pepper

Soy sauce

Lemon juice

Crispy onions for garnish along with some leaves of Brussel sprouts

Method:

Gently fry off the onions, chopped ginger, bacon fat and a touch of chopped chilli in a teensy amount of oil.

Once it is all sweated down, add water (which if you are in a hurry you could boil first in a kettle) and your stock cube.

Add the leftovers all sliced to bite sized plus the shreeded cabbage and the sliced Brussel sprouts.

Bring to just under a boil and then add your fresh noodles.  They only need about 5 minutes to cook.

Season to taste with salt or fish sauce, pepper and cayenne pepper.  Taste again and if the broth still needs more depth add a splosh of soy sauce and a squirt of lemon juice to brighten.

Garnish with a sprinkling of store bought crispy onions and a few leaves from the Brussel sprouts.

Japanese Style Crunchy Cabbage Salad

We don't eat a lot of cabbage so when the better half brought one home, I had to do a bit of research to come up with something different.  We like Japanese flavours so I did this Crunchy Cabbage Salad.  It was crunchy and tasty but I felt it was just a little bit too sour.  If you are going to try this I suggest you add a little bit of sweetness (honey or maple syrup maybe).

Ingredients:

For the Dressing:

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp garlic oil (or crushed garlic0

1 tablesp miso paste

2 tablesp rice wine vinegar

1 tablesp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tablesp water

Veges:

Cabbage

Carrot

Chilli for garnish

Method:

Mix the dressing ingredients together until they are combine and smooth – I used a little whisk thing.

Peel the carrot and then peel strips of carrot with your peeler – don't use the core of the carrot.

Take any manky outside leaves off the cabbage and then finely shred it – I used about ½ a cabbage for this amount of dressing.

If you want to keep the salad really crunch mix the dressing through just before serving.  If you want the flavours to meld and soften the cabbage a bit, dress the salad a couple of hours ahead.

I popped a little red chilli on top for a pop of colour.

Need Some Inspiration? Try Cauliflower & Cabbage!

I've drawn from Food on Friday: June for your inspiration today.  Such a lot of different things to do with cauliflower & cabbage. To see lots more just head on over to this Pinboard.

The lovely dish at the top of this post is by The Midnight Baker – Kielbasa & Cabbage Skillet

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup  by The Aspiring Home Cook

Choo Choo Cabbage & Ham Soup by Big Rigs n' Lil' Cookies

'Crack' Beef & Cabbage Stir Fry by Finding Time for Cooking

Food on Friday: June 17

Here's the second month of the revamped Food on Friday concept.  Each month on the second Friday of the month a new monthly Food on Friday collection will begin.  As you can see, this time there are 3 themes – berries & currants, cauliflower & cabbage and bacon & ham.  In addition you can anything else you would like as part of the Pot Luck category.

I'll be pinning your creations to the relevant Pinboards – Berries & Currants, Cauliflower & Cabbage and Bacon & Ham – as well as popping the Pot Luck dishes onto whatever other Pinboards seem most relevant.

The link up will be open for the rest of the month and right up to next month's Food on Friday begins.  You can link in something for each category all at once or over the course of the month – whatever suits.  There will be a reminder post each Friday and some features each Thursday in my Need Some Inspiration series.

To add your dishes, just put the name of the dish together with your blog name/name into the first Mr Linky box you will find below.  Then paste the url for your post about it into the second box.

Enjoy!

Home Grown Slaw

I just wanted to share with you a dish I made with things I grew myself.  I'm not a natural gardener.  A local supermarket late last year gave away seeds and little pots to grow them in and some of them actually survived, and even thrived.

So here is my Home Grown Slaw.

Ingredients:

Cabbage

Carrot

Broccoli – blanch it very quickly in hot water before slicing

All finely shredded.  I don't have a food processor so did it by hand.  Good therapy.

Home grown in my case doesn't equate to perfectly formed.  This is about the ugliest carrot I've ever seen - but I grew it.

Dressing:

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons of grated ginger

1 ½ teaspoons of lemon zest

1 finely chopped green chilli (also home grown)

Very small amount of finely chopped white onion

Fish sauce

Pepper

This is one salad that benefits from being made in advance and then left in the fridge to sit.  It stays crunchy.