Friday Nibbles - The Stock Cube

I made it! It’s Friday and I’m posting a ‘nibble’ on time. Cause for celebration indeed. There’s plenty to come over the next few days. I’ve had a number of requests for the falafel and flatbread recipe (thanks to everyone who asked for that) so that will go up next week as soon as I make up a batch and get some good photographs because a recipe without pictures is like a birthday cake without candles – it’ll do, but you notice it for what’s missing there rather than what’s present.

But in the spirit of maintaining the momentum that I started building up two weeks ago (but stalled a little last week) I’ll put these on hold and write about another essential item for any storecupboard.

For this week’s nibble, I’m going small – a bite-size nibble, if you will, although I probably wouldn’t recommend biting into one of these.



Chicken stock cubes (other stock cubes are handy too – we tend to have fish and vegetable ones in the cupboard most of the time as well, but chicken stock is so adaptable that I thought I’d focus on this particular flavour) are such an integral part of my ingredients list that I really can’t think of a suitable replacement. Of course, actual proper homemade chicken stock is superior to these highly flavoured little cubes, but it can be hard to find room for chicken carcasses, so these are the best substitute.

Even if it seems we eat a fairly constant stream of homemade meals lovingly constructed in the kitchen of our little cottage, this is not necessarily the case. Rest assured that we too get bitten by the apathy bug or succumb to a wave of laziness. This is where we crack open the Knorr. It might sound crazy but if you have a packet of these to hand, you can be mere moments away from a warming meal.

It is at times like this that the humble stock cube comes into its own and a noodle soup is just three minutes away. I tend to sit back at this point and let my girlfriend work her culinary magic. Some spring onions, a little garlic, some chilli and maybe a few slices of chicken, if you have any, can be dropped into a pan along with a pint of boiling water and one of these little flavour powerhouses. Add a slab of noodles then when they are cooked pour the soup into deep bowls and you’ve got a dinner to warm the soul. It tastes even better if you can hear the wind and rain lashing down through the windows.

The first stock cubes were introduced exactly one hundred years ago by a company called Maggi. These bouillon cubes were then copied by the iconic Oxo brand two years later, although I prefer the squidgy varieties to the crumbly - and incredibly salty – Oxo cubes. They can be used to add flavour to stews and sauces as well as soups but they really come into their own when making risotto.

Some of the finest comfort food it is possible to consume is a simple risotto made with Arborio or Vialone Nano rice, stock and then finished off with butter and parmesan. It might not be as quick as a noodle soup but the extra effort is certainly worth it.

www.justcookit.blogspot.com

Bircher Muesli

Whilst I tried to be fully experimental while we were in Thailand, totally embracing the culture and venturing forth into the murky world of alien and obscure foods (most of which were delicious), there were some moments when familiarity was necessary in order to make me feel human.

Being adventurous is essential. Exploring the culinary underbelly of wherever you are makes for a far more interesting cultural experience. But when a deep-set hangover is pressing at your temples and rising up from the pits of an altogether unhappy belly, congee, century eggs, fish sauce and chilli are seriously illness-inducing.

After a night on the infamous Khao San Road, merrily powering through chilled towers full of Thai lager and smoking away at a seemingly endless shisha pipe, such a hangover presented itself with the force of a rampaging bull. This was coupled with blocked ears, a pulled muscle in my side thanks to an enthusiastic sneeze and a decidedly painful stomach. In short, I was in no condition to try anything that looked remotely unfamiliar.

I was willing to forego breakfast altogether, hoping that by midday the symptoms may have dissipated and I could have attacked a tray full of fried rice or some mysterious grilled meats on a stick but then a shining breakfast shaped beacon of deliciousness presented itself.

A bowl full of Bircher Muesli and a selection of dried fruits and nuts and seeds with which to customise it. This was exactly what was required. Cooling, easy to digest and packed full of everything necessary in order to rid my body of the self imposed illness that was crippling me at the time.



Since then I’ve been meaning to create some of this early morning ambrosia in order to indulge on a daily basis and yesterday, after cleaning out some of the kitchen cupboards, I came across some oats and finally got round to it.

It’s so easy to make and keeps almost forever in an airtight container. Just mix a few handfuls of oats with whatever dried fruit you have (I used the leftover raisins and cranberries from the breakfast muffins). Add some nuts and seeds, a little sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon and you have your own Bircher muesli. The ratio should be about fifty per cent oats, fifty per cent tasty things. The beauty of doing it this way is that you can customise it to your exact tastes, a privilege you would pay through the nose for if you ordered it online.

If you want to enjoy it like a cold porridge, mix a couple of handfuls with milk in the evening and leave it in the fridge overnight. Come morning add a mashed banana, a grated apple and a dribble of honey and you’ve got a hearty and delicious breakfast. If you mix it up in the morning, it will be more like muesli in texture, but no less delicious.

www.justcookit.co.uk

(Delayed) Friday Nibbles - Chickpeas

Last Friday I made the mistake of committing myself to a regular and timetabled posting about a kitchen essential. Like the Chinese Olympian, Liu Xiang, I fell at the first hurdle and utterly failed to make a posting last week. There was a reason for this, it wasn’t merely laziness or plain old forgetfulness. I can’t now remember what that reason is but anyway, here is a Friday Nibbles post on a Tuesday. As a small concession to the fact that it is not a Friday, I’ve decided to make it about a general item rather than a specific product. So, essential item two for every kitchen cupboard is…

Chickpeas were one of the first vegetables to be domesticated. Archaeological evidence has been found dating them to at least 3500BCE, but the likelihood is that they were first cultivated even earlier than that in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East (the strip of land that runs between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now mostly in modern day Iraq – it is a painful irony that archaeologically this area is referred to as The Cradle of Civilisation).



They are extremely high in protein, which explains their use in vegetarian and vegan diets, wonderfully versatile, filling, tasty and cheap - half a kilo of these brilliant legumes will set you back no more than fifty pence.

We always have a couple of bags of dried chickpeas on the shelf, as well as an emergency tin, just in case we have a pressing desire for hummus and have forgotten to soak some overnight. Raw chickpeas can be ground down and mixed with spices, garlic and coriander to be made into delicious falafel, cooked ones make a great addition to curries of all varieties and can, of course, also be made into creamy hummus by blitzing them up with some tahnini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt and a little of the cooking water to thin the paste out. You can also add a wide range of Middle Eastern or North African spices to the resultant gloop to put a little twist on it. Cumin, cinnamon, chilli and smoked paprika are all excellent.

Barely a week goes by when we don’t indulge in flatbreads stuffed with hot and crunchy fried falafel tempered with cooling hummus, minted yoghurt and salad. Topped off with spicy chilli sauce, naturally. All recipes available on request.

www.justcookit.co.uk

Recipe - Breakfast Muffins

I know that I rarely post actual recipes on here. This is not a conscious decision, rather it is indicative of the way that I approach cooking – as a freeform process as opposed to a rigid set of rules. But I do like to make the occasional exception, especially when I receive such a large number of requests.

The post I wrote last week about breakfast muffins garnered the best response I think I have ever had and it was heart warming to receive so many great messages and requests for the recipe.

These are proper muffins that should rise up out of their paper houses, light and tasty. They are also relatively healthy and a great way to start the day, especially with a mug of coffee. The whisking of the egg whites aids the rising process by incorporating a substantial amount of air into the mixture and I doubt I will ever make muffins any other way after discovering this method.

So, without further ado, here is the recipe (and the picture again, for good measure)



150g of plain flour
150g of wholemeal flour
50g of oats
50g of caster sugar
3 teaspoons of baking powder
A generous handful of seeds (poppy, sunflower and pumpkin)
One orange, zested and juiced
One carrot, finely grated
Two eggs, separated
150ml of vanilla yoghurt
100ml of sunflower oil
Two handfuls of dried fruits (dates, cranberries, raisins)
A pinch of cinnamon or mixed spice
A little vanilla extract.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, seeds, fruit and spices). Gradually incorporate the wet ingredients (oil, yoghurt, orange zest and juice, carrot and egg yolks) until you have a batter.

Whilst the oven is heating up (200 degrees) whisk the egg whites until they have at least doubled in size and form billowing, cloud like white peaks. Mix a large spoonful of the batter into the egg whites and then gradually add this mixture to the batter. Try not to overwork the mixture as you will knock out all of the air that you worked so hard to attain.

When the oven is up to temperature, spoon enough of the mixture into waiting muffin cases so that they are almost too full. When they rise in the oven they should have no other place to go except up and over.

Bake them for about twenty minutes or until they are cooked all the way through and a gentle brown colour on the top.

The basic recipe can be personalised any way you wish: Lemon and poppy seed, banana and fudge, cranberry and orange, blueberry and vanilla. Feel free to play around with it and please do let me know how you get on. I’d love to see some pictures. Also, feel free to replace the wholemeal flour with plain white flour if you want an even lighter muffin.

www.justcookit.blogspot.com

A few little changes and updates

As you might have noticed, I’ve made a few minor changes to the blog. The tomatoes, such an evocative sign of summer, have been removed from the banner and replaced by something distinctly more Autumnal: mushrooms.

I’ve also tried to make it easier to subscribe to the blog by adding a couple of buttons, just to the right of this paragraph. If you’d like to be informed of a new culinary musing within seconds of it being added to the website then these marvellous, clickable little buttons will enable you to enjoy that privilege. I hope that it will bring an end to the crushing disappointment of trekking through vast swathes of the arid wasteland of the Internet to my own little corner only to find that there is nothing new to read.

Voting has now opened for the Blogger’s Choice Awards 2008 so if you feel that these lovingly crafted tales are worthy of your vote then please click here or on the delightful little button on my sidebar – the one that says ‘This site was nominated for best food blog’ – to register your opinion. It would be greatly appreciated and I am sure that some reciprocal arrangement can be organised.

I have huge amounts to write about, all of which should be up and ready for you, dear reader, to cast your critical eye over within the next three or four days but in the mean time here is a little amuse bouche, a mere snack, and a tiny taster to whet your appetite.

A postponed Friday Nibbles piece on another essential ingredient that no self-respecting gourmet can possibly survive without (it’s a pulse this time).

A much requested recipe for the breakfast muffins that I wrote about last week.

Tales of preservation including homemade chutney, sloe vodka, elderberry jelly and blackberry wine.

Finally, thank you all for you wonderful comments. It is fantastic to hear from you. According to my stats page I have regular readers from all over the world including all fifty of the United States of America, throughout the Far East, in South America, Russia, China, Australia, the Middle East and South Africa, to name just a few. All this just proves what a wonderfully global and universal language food is. Hello to each and every one of you and thanks for dropping by.

www.justcookit.blogspot.com