Lazy Pork Ramen

I love Wagamamas. I was always a ginger chicken udon kind of girl but then I discovered their pork ramen and I was hooked. It was the tea stained egg and the crispiness of the pork that made me try it and my gosh it is delicious. I was craving it this weekend and looked up a recipe. The recipe I found was very long and involved with 12 hours to make stock and 3 hours to roast pork. I couldn’t be doing with it (even thought I am sure if you have the time it is totally worth it) so I used it as an inspiration but totally changed it. This is my cheat’s ramen recipe and it hit the spot. It wasn’t quite Wagamamas but it was damn tasty.

Slow Cooker Stock

Continuing with the theme of slow cooker love, I made some stock using a left over chicken carcass. This might just be my favourite use for a slow cooker because it was such a simple and easy way to make stock without using up a hob and having to keep checking up on it. There is something very satisfying when a recipe calls for 1 cup of stock and you’ve made your own.

I also like how resourceful making your own stock is, it makes a use of discarded bits and bobs. You can throw anything into a stock, peelings, bones and Parmesan rinds; I keep my Parmesan rinds in a bag in the freezer ready for making stock. I also like to keep any left over fresh herbs I have in the freezer to use from frozen. Some people even keep a large Tuppaware box in the freezer of peelings, bones and Parmesan rinds until they have enough to make a big pot of stock. Homemade stocks, particularly stocks that use bones, are full of nutrition too! I fail to see a downside.

Bolognese Pie

Winter is here, well not officially here but that cold nip is in the air and that means it is time for some warming, home cooked dinners. Bolognese is a favourite in our household but I am trying to eat less (gluten free) pasta and stick to more unprocessed foods. I thought about serving Bolognese on a baked potato but something about cold weather makes me want to have a big pot of something in the oven. This may seem to be a rehash of cottage pie and that is because it is but in my opinion much nicer. I’m not much of a cottage pie fan if I’m honest. The great thing about this is it made enough for the both of us, with left overs for tomorrow and a couple spare for lunches at work.

I always find Bolognese tastes best made a day or two before, it saves some time too if you make it in advance. I made this sauce on Wednesday night, ready for a speedier dinner on Friday night. A decision I was mightily thankful for when I got in from work after a chilly bike ride home.

Lemon & Herb Roast Chicken

It’s Sunday and I’ve spent the morning reading in bed and now I’m listening to YouTube videos of the Foo Fighters on ‘The David Letterman Show’; gosh I am so excited for this new album coming out next month. Anyway, given that it is Sunday, I figured that it’d be a great day to share a roast chicken recipe that I cooked last weekend, Sunday being the day of roasts and all that. It is no secret that I kind of only make roast chickens so that I can make stock out of the bones, of course we do also eat the meat but there is something so satisfying and simple about making your own stock. The great thing about this recipe is all the herbs and lemons inside the chicken can also  in the stock, it makes for a good one.

I found the recipe for this on a lovely blog called Paleo Newbie, it has definitely become on of my favourite roast chicken recipes, it went down very well with everyone.

DIY Stock

In my last post, a simple roast chicken, I confessed that the reason I decided to make a roast chicken was to have enough bones to make a nice big pot of stock. A huge plus of the recipe I used for the chicken is that you place the peel of a lemon in it to roast, which adds great flavour when added to the to the stock too, what a bonus!! I love having home made stock on hand, usually frozen in portions, to add depth to any recipe that calls for it; much more than from supermarket stock cubes.

To make a stock you just need some old bones, an onion, some garlic, any peelings, the odd old vegetable (such as a carrot) and any herbs, peel or anything else you wish to add, Parmesan peel/crust works great too!Weekends when I know I’m going to do lots of cooking, I have a ‘stock tub’ on hand to store anything that might be wasted (peelings etc) and I make a habit of freezing any bones from any meat we eat during the week, ready for an impromptu stock day. Home made stock really is a great way to absolutely make the most of your food, a way to recycle your waste even; you can’t get much more resourceful than that! Another great bonus with home made stock is that it isn’t full off salt or any hidden ingredients/preservatives.