Saturday 20 January 2018

Bouncebackability





Ahungryman's Comeback
Japanese Poached Chicken

I almost thought this day would never come.




I feel much has changed since my last gift to the gastronomic world. A year living and working in South Africa, a wedding, getting into expensive ways of exercising, and the life of a junior doctor has kept me from posting my food based musings. I promise you, however that time away from the keyboard does not equate to time away from the stove.

My travels, and a new found interest in having to drag my dairy filled self through seas, over mountains, and round parks, has made me think more than ever about food. Or as people in sport seem to call it "Nutrition".

In this comeback I aim to give you excellent food, often with a healthy twist but occasionally not, hopefully some decent food photography, and some updates on how training for a half Iron-Man in the summer is coming along.

In order to prevent this becoming some shitty pumpkin seed eating, super food moaning, nutrition blog (which as many of you who know me, isn't really my style), I have employed an ahungryman sommelier. He is a trained supper of Sauternes, a swiller of Syrah and his job is actually to drink and buy wine. I welcome with open arms AThirstyMan. He will cook my food and offer his opinions on a suitable drink to quaff with your Thursday tea.


Poached Chicken, Japanese Broth

I have gone with a healthy introduction to 2018. Do not confuse healthy with dull though, because this is tastes and looks great. Most of the hard work is done in the cooking of the stock, and if you can't be arsed with that, then you can just buy a decent supermarket stock and add a few ingredients.





Ingredients

 Either
 2 Litres good Chicken Stock
Or
8 Chicken Drumsticks

 4 Chicken Breasts
Few knobs of Ginger
Bunch of Spring onions
2 Cloves Garlic
3 Red Chilli's
2 x Star Anise
Mirin
Soy Sauce
Rice Wine Vinegar (White wine vinegar)
Salt

 Noodles - I used Soba but any will do


For The Stock

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the drumsticks on a bed of spring onion leaves and chunks of ginger (no need to peel) in an ovenproof dish.
2. Roast in the Oven for 40 mins.
3. Transfer all to a large saucepan or casserole and add 2 litres of water, and all the aromats (ginger chills, garlic and star anise).
4. Gently simmer for 40- 50 minutes and then add a good slug of soy and a splash of mirin and vinegar. Season as needed (remember broth/stock is salty so will need a decent amount of salt or soy)
5. Further simmer for 10 minutes.

Note: if you just buy the stock - just add all the aromats to the stock and should only need 10-15 minutes on the bubble.

6. Sieve the stock so you are just left with the Broth






To poach the Chicken
7. Take your broth to a gentle simmer and place in your breasts.
8. They should take about 20 minutes (you are going to slice them for presentation so you can always take one out and cut in the middle to check the cooking).
9. While your chicken is cooking, chop some chilli and spring onions for little additions for the table.
10. Once you have removed the chicken, throw in 4 eggs and the noddles into the stock.
11. Cook the eggs for 5 mins and then remove place in cold water and de-shell.  

To Present
Take some noodles and place in a bowl, slice the chicken and place on top. Half the boiled eggs and place in the bowl. Finally ladle in some broth and add any sauces or oils of your choice.



Sadly my man Zil has pissed of to New Zealand to "find himself" so the Zilometer is no more, but i can tell you, with a small amount of effort this is delicious, and a good source of protein and low in fat. 



A Thirsty Man

It’s a joy to write my first A Thirsty Man accompaniment to A Hungry Man’s recipes. I’m lucky enough to have been cooked for by the Hungry Man and although I consider myself a decent cook, he is leap years ahead in the gastronomic stakes. Anyway, we’re not here to talk food but to talk about wine.

Wine. I love the stuff. The madder the better. I first got into wine after enjoying the pairings good sommeliers made at decent restaurants and from then on I’ve turned it into a passion and, now, a job. Selected properly, wine can elevate food to another level and there are simple rules to follow based on the five basic taste sensations the human tongue can differentiate: Sweet, sour, salt, bitterness and ‘umami’, or savouriness. Most of us already subconsciously pair food with wine when we order a spicy red with a steak, or go for white wine with fish, but by paying a little more attention to the component parts of a recipe, we can hit the wino jackpot.



How to accompany A Hungry Man’s poached chicken with Japanese Broth? The first thing is to plump for a white wine, as the tannins in the red wine would overwhelm the delicately poached chicken, and the red fruit notes from a rosé wine would lessen the punch of the chilli and other spices. There are two options for me here, the safe option and the experimental option.

The safe option is a good, fresh Pinot Gris from the Alsace region of France. Typically overshadowed by other Alsace varieties like Riesling, Pinot Gris offers acidity, which is vital in every wine for refreshing the palate and keeping things from getting staid, as well as a little residual sugar which would mediate the heat and spices a little without killing them completely. It’d compliment the chicken well and bring out the umami notes in the soy sauce. A decent Pinot Gris also tends to have a more viscous feel in the mouth, making it feel a little more substantial than the Blue Nun you’d knock back with your pot noodle.



The second, more maverick option is a wine I love: Gewürztraminer. Gewürz means ‘spice’ in German, and this is the perfect wine for most Asian-inspired cuisine. I’d go for a German or an Alsatian offering from a wine which has its homeland in the foothills of the Alps, growing best in cooler climates. The most striking thing about Gewürztraminer is the wonderful aroma it gives off, usually of lychee, rose (think Turkish delight), peach, pineapple, ginger and cinnamon. This is an extrovert of a wine which would complement the spices in A Hungry Man’s Japanese broth, particularly the star anise and ginger, and the juiciness of the chicken, but also stand on its own two feet as a talking point. It often has good acidity and a little residual sugar, like the Pinot Gris, but can offer a much wider flavour profile. If you hate the smell of Turkish delight then this might not be for you but if you haven’t tried it before then I’d urge you to try a chilled bottle!
 

I’d advocate getting a Wine Society membership if you haven’t already got one, as they have an excellent range of wines, but in the spirit of knocking something together after work one night, most supermarkets now have very good (award-winning) selections and should have at least one type of the wines above. I’m plumping for Waitrose here, but Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S and Lidl all have good offerings.

 

 


 

Happy drinking.

 







Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)