With Sternest Critic somewhat poorly over the weekend Sunday lunch was made with his delicate stomach in mind. Chicken soup is the Jewish penicillin; the Chinese swear by ginger for the upset tum; and noodles are one of the great comfort foods. Thus our lunch was chosen for its healing qualities as much as culinary.
That said, the stock was delicious, simmered for two hours with the pan packed with chicken joints, veg, ginger, star anise and dried chilli, the veg including two whole garlic bulbs (not cloves, bulbs - some of the last of our home grown) to try to purge the blood, or something. It wasn't just him comforted with the dish. Making stock is therapeutic for me. It can be rushed - grating the veg is one way to push things along - but if time allows shouldn't be.
Taking time means the scum from the meat can be cleared before the veg etc are added. Do that and much of the fat is removed too. A clear and flavoursome stock is a mini-joy.
More than any other cuisine that I have come across, Spanish food delights in the consome (still can't do accents). It makes a great light starter before their heavy main courses and even salads that tend to be far chunkier than we are used to. We went for the heavy and the light in one dish, the stock almost a background to a load of noodles, though as they are bland and the stock was pretty powerful, we lost nothing in terms of taste by it. And the boy was fit enough to face roast chicken in the evening, and go to school today.
It was economic too, the chicken - one thigh and two drumsticks cost £1.50 (it wasn't exactly a consome in the end, as I tried the meat and it had enough flavour to make it worthy of inclusion); the veg - three carrots, one onion, two garlic bulbs, chunk of ginger, three sticks of celery - maybe £1.25; and the three nests of fine noodles 40p. Allowing a generous 25p for dried chilli, two star anise and half a dozen peppercorns makes a total for a substantial dish and a miracle cure of £3.40.
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