EHOB Part 4: Making Stock From Scratch

It would seem that "bone broth" was right up there in terms of 2015's health food trends. I have seen the savoury liquid lauded as a cure-all, which is not surprising considering its mineral and protein content and its long history in the human diet.  It is a little bit much,  though, to see simple ol' stock hitting the superfood health-claim trifecta: it apparently heals the gut, detoxifies the body, and reduces cellulite! Gee whiz, that's a reputation to live up to isn't it? I can't find much in the way of scientific evidence to support these bold claims (not surprising!), but that doesn't mean I'm not a big fan of homemade bone broths and stocks.

Having homemade stock at hand is a cheap and delicious way to add a bit of pizazz to your home-cooked meals and - despite what is suggested by the number of complex recipes passed down through generations and uploaded to the internet - it's a pretty forgiving dish for a new chef. Stock makes a great base for soups and sauces and you can use it to cook rice and quinoa; it also does well solo as a warming drink on a cold day.  It is indeed nutrient dense, much more so than shop-bought stock, and the benefits in nutrition and flavour so far outweigh that of, say, stock cubes, that it should be a no-brainer to make your own if you can!

You only really need three things handy for a DIY stock: bones, water, and a big pot. Everything else is extra but will help make the resulting stock more tasty.  Let me break it down for you.

Chicken Quesadillas + Homemade 100% Corn Tortillas

Ok, it took a little longer than expected but I'm getting there with the chicken recipes!  The first is a gluten free quesadilla recipe made using home-made tortillas.  You heard me: home-made! It's sounds more daunting than it should, and as with anything made from scratch, it is worth the little bit of extra effort.

I first taught myself how to make tortillas after I chanced upon some tortilla flour in a bulk food store.  The flour used to make tortillas and corn chips is different to anything I've worked with before; it's called masa harina and it is made from corn. It's prepared very differently from corn flour or polenta: the corn kernels are treated with an alkaline solution that, basically, affects the cell walls of the corn in such a way that it is able to form a dough when mixed with water. The chemistry is quite interesting to read about if you're into that kind of thing but the main takeaway is that you can't sub in regular corn meal!  I haven't seen masa flour in supermarkets, but I have seen it at Bin Inn and in online stores so it's not too hard to get hold of. 

Making my own tortillas was an awesome culinary breakthrough for me, since I have had trouble finding 100% corn (i.e. wheat-free) tortillas that aren't also crazy expensive, and because I love making any kind of food from scratch!  These are not hard to make at all, and while it might take you a bit of practice to find a technique that works for you to get the tortillas thin and flexible, eating the "practice" tortillas is not something I'd complain about in a hurry! If you get any real duds (fingers crossed no!), maybe a too-thick tortilla that won't bend or a too-thin tortilla that breaks apart, you can always cut them up and fry or bake them with some olive oil for home-made corn chips.

I am only using my phone's camera to visually document these recipes and the light was fading fast so I didn't get the greatest snaps, however I wanted to provide photos to show you what the dough should look like and to better demonstrate how I roll it out.  I assure you the final product is much prettier in real life, and regardless, you musn't judge a book by its cover, nor a quesadilla by its amateur photographic representation.

Gluten Free Chicken Quesadillas (makes 10, serves 2)

EHOB Part 3: Make 9 Meals With One Chicken!

As noted in a previous post, last week my local supermarket was selling size 16 whole fresh chickens for $9 (the standard price for a chicken that size is around $15).  The weight of a size 16 bird is approximately 1.6kg, so you’re paying about $5.60 per kilogram at the sale price, which is a very good deal indeed. Buying a whole chicken is one of my favourite budgeting hacks, since you can get a lot of use out of the meat and bones. I can usually make a standard bird last for six chicken dishes and three or four servings of soup. And I want to share with you how I do it!

The first thing you need to do of course is cook the chicken.  There are a couple of ways to do this (slow cooking, barbecuing, beer can method, the list goes on…) but I think the safest and easiest is to roast the chicken in the oven.  Most whole chickens actually come with roasting instructions on the back of the bag.  Let’s be honest, it’s a pretty simple task, and I don’t think giving you a recipe for roasted chicken is a good use of our time! However I can give you a couple of tips to make sure this simple task doesn’t become a hilarious story about that time you failed at roasting a chicken!

My first tip is, and I have mentioned this before, cook a couple of things in the oven at once.  This could be a baked fruit dessert, a loaf of bread, or some veggies to go with the chicken.  Heating an entire oven takes a fair amount of electricity and therefore costs money at the end of the month, so cook as much as is sensible while the oven is hot.  I was asked recently if cooking more than one thing in the oven greatly affected the cooking time. The short answer is not really but it depends. The temperature and humidity differences are negligible and the general rule of thumb for cooking time is “it’s done when it’s done” not “remove from oven after 33 minutes and 15 seconds”!  If you’re making temperature-sensitive dishes like pastries and soufflés, then it can be an issue but generally speaking, and for most household cooking, it’s not something you need to worry about.

Pantry Challenge: Peachy Baked Chicken

As promised, I'm using whatever I can find in the kitchen to make inventive meals this week.  Tonight's recipe is a baked chicken casserole.  I was going for apricot and ginger but for some reason I have about five cans of sliced peaches so I went in that direction instead!

Raiding the pantry and freezer can be an interesting task, but in amongst the dead celery and year-old frozen pie, I found a large tray of chicken legs, a tin of peaches, some fresh ginger and a half can of chopped tomatoes.  With those ingredients, this meal was a bit of a no-brainer and I'm kind of nervous about what the rest of the week holds - I'm pretty sure I just used up all the hidden gems but we'll see...!

I cooked this in the oven since I also wanted to do a bit of baking, it took about an hour and a half so I think it would make a great slow cooker meal.  There is enough sugar in the fruit to provide a glaze for the chicken (which is slow cooked and soft with a yummy crunchy skin) and there's enough sharpness from the ginger and depth from the worcester sauce that the dish isn't too sweet.