Liz's Recipes
Chicken Soup
First catch your chicken!
If I'm making soup I try to use organic chicken as I'll be boiling up all the bits.
I generally make soup from a roast chicken carcase but have also used chicken drumsticks. When I roast a chicken I rub a bit of olive oil into the skin and put a quarter clove of garlic tucked between the leg/wing and body. After the chicken has been eaten the carcase should be put into a large pan with a chopped onion and a chopped carrot.
Add salt and pepper if you like - I usually don't as there is enough flavour from the chicken.
Add about a litre and a half of boiling water and simmer gently for 50 minutes. Once the pan is cool enough to handle safely (it's heavy!) strain the soup through a sieve or colander into containers for freezing.
Small quantities can be frozen for stock to add to sauces while larger quantities will make a good chicken soup. You can also use this soup as a stock base for a vegetable soup - we use it for lentil soup or leek and potato soup.
Fall Foods
In the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness I always think of eating pumpkins and squash. They come in such interesting shapes and I like architectural food (look at the inside of a kiwi fruit or a fresh fig and you'll see what I mean - nature seems to have put all that structural effort in for our enjoyment).
But the inside of a pumpkin, poorly cooked, can taste like loft insulation. So what to do with the fluff from the inside of a pumpkin?
Try:
- Fusilli with Pumpkin and Herb Ricotta
- Pumpkin & Coconut Curry
- Salad of Feta, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds & Crushed Raspberries
All these recipes are available on the Waitrose website
Making the Most of ... Avocados
Here we have the Hass avocados in the shops and they have a wonderful nutty flavour. Avocados are rich in protein, monosaturated fats, vitamin E and carotenes.
Yes, they are a fatty food, but have an avocado as your main meal with salad or vegetables. The texture of avocado goes well with these crispy foods and if you avoid the creamy dressing the meal will be healthy.
For more info see:
Making the most of ... Avocados
Abel & Cole's Avocado Recipes
