I am just back from a delightful culinary tour around Italy and France. As a chef, all travel is food-related and I tasted some incredible dishes. These often have only three ingredients, and I am so excited to be able to share some of these with you over the coming weeks.
However, on my return from a hot holiday, I am always craving a bit of spice - not just for the heat but for the array of tastes.
Therefore, my two recipes this week are a quick pad Thai with a multitude of flavoursome ingredients and an even quicker chicken noodle soup.
These dishes are easy to replicate and even my 13- and 16-year-olds can rustle these up for themselves - the perfect easy yet tasty comfort meal to enjoy after a holiday.
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Pad Thai
Ingredients:
(Serves 4)
- Thai rice stick noodles, thin (soaked)
- 100g cooked, peeled prawns or diced chicken
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 200g tofu, diced into 1cm cubes
- Sweet daikon, finely sliced
- 50g dried shrimp
- 150g bean sprouts
- 300g pad Thai sauce
- 1 egg, beaten
- Unsalted, toasted peanuts
- 2 chillies, sliced
- Lime juice
- 4 lime wedges
- 50g coriander, finely sliced
- Nam Pla/fish sauce, to taste
Method
- In a pan, heat oil over a moderate heat and fry the garlic until fragrant.
- In the same pan, add the tofu, sweet daikon and dried shrimp. Stir fry until the tofu browns.
- Next, add in the rice noodles and stir fry until soft. Then add the pad Thai sauce a little bit at a time and stir fry to mix quickly.
- Now it’s time to add the egg and stir fry along with the bean sprouts and coriander.
- To finish, add the cooked shrimp and stir fry until heated through.
- Transfer to a serving dish and top with chopped peanuts. Serve with lime wedges, dried ground chili, bean sprouts and chives.
Chicken noodle soup
Ingredients:
(Serves 6)
- 30g unsalted butter
- 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 3cm piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
- 2 star anise
- 1.8 litres of fresh chicken stock
- 150g fine egg noodles
- 600g cooked chicken, shredded
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 bunch of parsley to garnish, chopped
- 1 pinch chilli flakes, to taste
Method
- To cook, start by melting the butter in a large pan and adding in the celery, carrots, onion and garlic, sweating down for three minutes. You don’t want these to brown but cook until soft. Once soft, add in the ginger and star anise and cook for a further three minutes.
- Next, pour over the chicken stock and bring to a gentle simmer for approximately 30 minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Taste the broth and if you can taste the ginger and star anise you are now ready to season with salt and pepper.
- For the protein, add in the shredded chicken with a squeeze of lemon juice and leave on a gentle heat for five more minutes.
- In a separate pot of clean salted water, bring the water to the boil and cook the noodles until al dente. Drain and add to the broth.
- To garnish, top with the chopped parsley and chilli flakes to taste. I always add a dash of chilli sauce as I love spice.
