Time for feedback …

… remember the Christmas gift with a difference - The Cheese, Potato and Onion pies for my two friends? I said then that the idea was the pies could be eaten on the day or frozen to eat later. One of my friends ate it that same evening – loved it and wants the recipe. My other friend said …

“... I forgot to say thank you for the pie – I had to freeze it, we're going to have it tomorrow.

Your pie was delicious. Thank you so much – well worth the wait for it – two very happy tummies, yum yum! A lovely gift.”

I got a huge hug and another recipe request!

Then there was the halloumi sandwich for Lucas … after the holidays he sent me an email …

“... It's so easy and better than a lot of the chain restaurants serve! Not squeaky or cold but fresh and melty with a fantastic coating – very hard not to eat the whole block. Which I did. A kinda “why have I not done this before now!” moment when you throw it into a wrap with some hot sauce and hummus and marvel in that it took next to no time to make!”

Finally, there was the “Get Well gift” of the Chicken and Mushroom Pie …

“... Yum, yum, yum that was soo delicious. Have I got the recipe? We loved it. Love you, thank you. P.s. Please forward menus!”

My work here is done and it was worth every minute.

Coming next … more elements for you to make and freeze when you have spare time, so you can assemble home-made food – fast - it's worth it!

Fast food suppers … speaking of chicken

Remember I mentioned the meal deal and picking up the chicken that I roasted? Remember too that I mentioned making the most of the time in the kitchen and the slow cooker? If you're roasting a different meat this is where your slow cooker comes into its own - slow cook a whole chicken.

If you'd like the anise stock instead of sprinkling with herbs I added two whole star anise to the cavity.

Slow Cook a Whole Chicken

1 chicken – between 1.5kg – 1.75kg

1 chicken stock pot

2 tsps of garlic paste or 1 garlic stock pot

generous sprinkle of oregano or garlic

Italian seasoning

Alternatively use two whole star anise in the cavity

and omit the herbs

Place your chicken in the slow cooker and mix the stock pot with the garlic paste and spread over the chicken. Sprinkle with the herbs or add the whole star anise to the cavity. Switch your slow cooker to the low setting and leave it for 8 hours.

Strain the stock and freeze the resultant liquid gold, strip the chicken and bag – divide the stripped chicken into two bags.

What happens next is up to you. I have to confess that I buy a chicken when it's part of a meal deal and slow cook it – the best value – every morsel can be frozen and used whenever – the perfect emergency food.

However, if you'd like another idea – just for the fun of it – perfect for a weekend treat or a lunch with a few other bits and pieces.

Way back when I'd slow cooked and stripped a chicken just before visiting the kids – big kids - and decided to take the chicken with me - some delicious bread and chicken sandwiches for lunch? We've already had chicken soup for the soul - now we have a sandwich for the soul – I've never seen food disappear as quickly for a long time. They loved the chicken – tender, moist and full of flavour.

Very often you find that an afterthought turns into a huge hit. I'll be serving chicken sandwiches for the soul again – soon.

It's time for some feedback …

The story so far … with the fast food suppers

… we're up to Wednesday supper without really thinking about it.

Then there's the soup or chicken soup for the soul – it makes you feel better when you're in need of comfort. I still have the remains of the chicken – there are always scraps left behind. Remove the chicken left on the legs and wings – and anywhere else. Dice, box and fridge - ready for later. Using a large saucepan, cover the carcass with water and any veggie stock you've got and bring to the boil, turn it down to a simmer and let it do its magic for 30/45 minutes. Strain the stock, cool, cover and set aside until you're ready – you may find more chicken to add to your stash. Another rummage produces a few Charlotte potatoes that need using plus a large onion that's always in the veggie basket.

Here's the recipe :

Cream of Chicken Soup

Serves 4

30g unsalted butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic – preferably roasted

500ml chicken stock

250ml whole milk

celery salt and white pepper

diced chicken stash

garnish of grated nutmeg

50-75ml double (heavy) cream

leftover Charlotte potatoes, peel and cut

into small dice

a handful of frozen petit pois

Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and sauté gently for 2-3 minutes – there should be no colour, season with celery salt. Add the stock and diced potatoes and simmer gently for 15 minutes then add the milk and simmer again for 10 minutes Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Blitz 2/3 ladles of the soup until thick and return to the pan. Add the cream, nutmeg, peas, ground white pepper and chicken - heat gently until piping hot.

Don't forget to warm the soup bowls.

Here it is :

chicken soup for the soul – a generous

serving for supper - add good bread for dunking!

Freeze any leftover, ready to use on a cold winter day!

The Get Well gift … more hints and tips

I know you've had a photo guide but I thought it would be helpful to be a smidge more specific – just four ingredients :

Chicken and Mushroom Pie

250g chestnut mushrooms – sautéed as

in the photo guide

diced leftover roast chicken – a mixture of

breast and leg meat – the equivalent of one

breast per person

200ml of chicken stock

Velouté sauce

The key to this supper dish is the Velouté sauce – a light white sauce made with stock and a roux.

You'll need :

15g unsalted butter

15g plain flour

½ tsp Dijon mustard

200ml double cream

salt and black pepper

Melt the butter, take the pan off the heat, add the flour and whisk. Return to the heat and cook out the flour for 2/3 mins, stirring continuously – do not walk away.

Then tip your cold stock straight into the roux and whisk until smooth, then cook on a low heat for 30 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the mustard and cream and simmer for 5 minutes.

Your sauce should be fairly stiff. Fold through the mushrooms and chicken and place in individual bowls. Top with sliced, cooked baked potatoes, season with salt and black pepper, add a knob of butter, wrap in foil and fridge until you're ready to rock and roll.

When you're ready to serve pre-heat the oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 and bake, uncovered for 25 minutes. Serve with any veggies that take your fancy!

P.s. I've frozen this sauce, with the chicken and it's every bit as good out of the freezer.

Next up … Chicken soup for the soul!

The Get Well gift

I've decided to make a chicken and mushroom pie – the filling immersed in anise flavoured chicken stock and a drop of double cream – the “pie” is not pastry but – remember the baked jacket potatoes – a sliced potato top.

Slice the chestnut mushrooms and sauté

in a drop of rapeseed oil until they have lost all

the liquid and have some colour

Make the sauce – make a velouté sauce and

add diced chicken and the mushrooms

Decant into individual foil containers, add a

layer of baked jacket potatoes

Extra pots of sauce – everyone likes gravy!

I haven't finished yet – there are hints and tips and more to come.

Fast food for the working week … do you cook a Sunday roast?

My ethos has always been the same – since time is such a precious commodity I like to make the most of it. If I'm in the kitchen cooking a Sunday roast then I multi-task, I fill the oven, use my slow cooker - the net result is that I have part prepped and cooked my suppers for the following week.

The best way to illustrate what I'm going on about is to describe the last few days. Last weekend I'd taken advantage of a meal deal which included a chicken, ready to roast in its tray and bag. Whilst the oven was on I added 6 large jacket potatoes to bake. I also grated a bag of cheese and fridged. I marinated and baked the Asian Spiced Salmon.

Sunday evening supper, a roast chicken with trimmings – remembering of course to allow for deliberate leftover veggies. I fridged the remains of the chicken, cooled and covered of course!

Monday evening supper … no huge surprise, fast and meat free – a baked jacket potato, a sprinkle of grated cheese and baked beans. Nothing amazing I grant you but it took the time to split the potato and microwave, followed by the beans. Delicious and nutritious.

Tuesday evening supper … the Squeak – leftover potatoes and sprouts from the roast, diced chorizo and topped with a poached egg.

Wednesday evening supper. You might think what follows is completely random but bear with me. My friend's husband has been very ill in hospital but thankfully is now back home recovering after heart surgery – phew! What sort of “get well” gift do you take – a meal, for them both. The meal needed to be “one pot” and easy. It's my personal experience that the “carer” needs the support too not just the patient so an evening not having to think about food might help.

I need to consider all sorts of stuff – not too rich but plenty of flavour, nothing heavy duty like pastry - it's difficult to digest – no red meat again due to personal experience even patients who normally enjoy red meat find it too much. I need to appeal to the taste buds!

Time for a rummage – firstly the fridge - I had a 250g punnet of chestnut mushrooms as well as a pot of double cream – a good start. I check the freezer, I'm after stock and my rummage is rewarded, a bag of anise flavoured stock always taken from slow cooking a whole chicken. It's liquid gold and perfect for my morphing supper dish.

Read on for what happened next and photos too!

Fast food for the working week … there's more

There are optional extras depending on whether you want to add carbs, for example, the fastest would be microwaved rice – ideal for a working week supper.

Noodle nests work well too. They are available in fine or medium and come in 250g bags. You'll get five nests in each bag and each nest weighs 62.5g. If I use nests, I submerge however many nests I need in boiling water (covering two thirds of the nest) together with a vegetable stock pot – a wok works well - leave for for a few minutes then turn the nests and you'll find that they are loosening and you're able to separate the noodles – perfect to stir fry. Drain the noodles and set aside. Stir fry your veggies and chicken as mentioned, add the noodles and toss through thoroughly then finish with the stir fry sauce.

Just for reference, here's a photo of the noodle nest :

It may sound a bit long winded but I promise you it's not.

If you prefer the Asian Spiced Salmon version bake the marinated salmon for 15 minutes as mentioned in the protein to go with the slaw. You can bake ahead, cool and fridge, so whenever is convenient for you. Stir fry the veggies and/or noodles as previously then gently break the salmon into pieces and fold through the stir fry with the sauce.

Alternatively you could serve the chicken or salmon with roasted new potatoes and stir fried veggies if you don't fancy rice or noodles, hot or cold, delicious and fast.

Now for the Sunday roast ...