you've just got to love chicken mince

made my chicken ball soup today. it sounds fowl, but it's really such a gorgeous soup.

this soup would make the person on the death bed get up and want to tango.

let me tell you how i made it today. it's so simple, you must try it. go on, you must. you know you want to.

chicken ball soup [bad title]
chicken soup with balls [even worse]
chicken soup, with mince floaties

hey, i need help with a suitable title that conveys the sheer deliciousness of this soup. if i ever meet you, any one of you, and want to feed you, then there's a good chance you'll get this soup. so, if you want to eat something other than "chicken ball soup", please come up with a name for it.

before we start, you should know i always use free range chicken.

what i had was some real chicken stock i'd made the other day. i made this by simmering two carcasses that i had frozen, which i'd stripped of meat. [insert creepy mick taylor "jaws" laugh here.]

in the water i also had some diced carrot, celery and onion. you know the drill.

i put in a few fronds of parsley. i like that. fronds.

some pepper i think. then simmered it until it was rich and fragrant.

i made some killer paella without seafood, but that's another story.

thing is, i had some stock left over. the stock was in the fridge, chilled. it had a lot of fat in it, which i scooped out. started heating it up, popped in some more carrot (in thin circles this time), mushrooms thinly sliced, and some more celery.

after about 10 mins simmering, i added the balls. for these, i mixed 500g chicken mince with chopped parsley, freshly-ground pepper and a sprinkling of corn flour to bind. i usually just shape them in my hands, and then drop them in the stock. this time i used a soup spoon, which didn't really make much difference, to tell the truth.

dropped them in. then right at the end, after i'd eaten one to make sure it was cooked through, i dropped in some cold cooked rice from last night.

so. maybe the name could be chicken and rice soup, with balls. nope. still doesn't cut it.

i'd like to hear any ideas on the name for this most delectable of dishes. the more outlandish the better.

breakfast faux-risotto

take some leftover rice.* put it into a heated saucepan/frying pan (non-stick is better, cause this faux-risotto is a bitch to cook without sticking it to the pan and losing like 40% of your grains.)

a little oil heated is good too.

fry it through so it's heated up. toss in two eggs, stir through. and throw in whatever else. leftover veg. half a tin of red** salmon. some chopped spring onion,*** a bit of cheese.









* be very careful with leftover rice. if you don't refrigerate it properly, and soon after cooking, it can grow some really nasty bacteria that will have you hurling your faux-risotto, or lovely rice salad in a flash.


** not pink you cheapskate!

*** though you might have different views to me regarding spring onions in the morning. make it mid-morning. ok. let's call it brunch faux-risotto.