Frugal Food

On Saturday night we had roast chicken for supper. For me, this is very exciting as it means not just one, but at least two (usually more) delicious meals out of this one chicken. This weekend it provided, roast chicken on saturday night, chicken, pesto and mayo sandwiches for Sunday lunch and delicious chicken noodle soup on Sunday night. There is nothing quite like a home-made chicken stock, so much scrummier than a stock cube, and it is so very frugal!
I took the rest of the meat off the beast and into the fridge and then popped the remaining into a pan a long with some chopped carrots, celery, onions, herbs (this time I used dried oregano and a bay leaf), salt and pepper and filled the pan up with water and onto a low heat for a good few hours! Just let it boil and bubble away for around 3-4 hours and then put it through a sieve and chuck out the veg/bones. Not a thing of great beauty but it tastes amazing, and makes a real difference to so many dishes.

You can then boil it down further to reduce and make a more concentrated stock, which is quite a good idea if you intend to freeze it as if you're freezer is anything like as full as ours, it takes up much less room and when you defrost you can just add more water to reach the right concentration. When it has cooled, the fat will have risen to the top, which you can easily skim off using a spoon. You are then left with a delicious stock to use as you will. We had chicken noodle soup last night: we fried off a chopped shallot and half a chopped chili before adding about half a pint of the chicken stock and topping it up with a bit more water. I then added a teaspoon of garam masala along with a teaspoon of cumin and a sprinkling of coriander and salt and pepper then whacked in the remaining chicken, some noodles, some mange tout, baby corn and some sliced mushrooms and simmered until all the veg is cooked through.

I've put the rest of the stock in a tupperware and into the freezer, which I will hopefully use up over the next couple of weeks in risottos, soups, gravies, and perhaps a chicken pie!