The recipe that'll change your life

So, here's the list of things I should be doing tonight:

• Tackling the 460 unread emails in my work inbox (that'll teach me to take a week off)
• Putting into practice some of what I spent last week learning (there's a dress pattern with my name on it)
• Folding washing 
• Updating this blog

Here's what I might actually achieve tonight:

• Updating this blog
• Watching 'Long Lost Families'

Vietnamese Odyssey

I recently achieved another year on this planet (37 and going strong) and as I have truly lovely friends, I also got some lovely gifts. One of these was Rick Stein's Eastern Odyssey. It came with a card which said the following 'A note about your present: I know you're not a fan of this chef (pesky ingredients etc) but try the recipe on p.68 - it will change your life! I have also included some of the more annoying ingredients to source, so no excuses. Try it'

Well, there's a challenge if ever there was one. A recipe that'll change my life. Fast forward a week and have my parents and brother and girlfriend down for the weekend and it seemed the perfect opportunity to change all our lives. I added to the evening's dining by making Vietnamese Summer rolls, also form Rick's book. These were glorious. 

And now for the star of the evening (actually, the summer rolls were just as starry). I found this version of the recipe online and it has a few extras I didn't use but sound lovely.

Hanoi chicken noodle soup with bok choi

Serves 6

A 1.5 kg chicken
25 g peeled ginger, coarsely chopped
12 spring onions, trimmed and halved
20 g garlic, sliced (around 5 cloves)
2 star anise
10 cm cinnamon stick
20 g dried shrimp (I used 1 tsp shrimp paste)
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
450 g bok choi 
400 g 1 cm-wide flat rice noodles 
4 tbsp fish sauce

Garnishes (optional - I only used chilli)
100 g bean shoots
Large handful basil
20 g mint leaves
1 small red chilli, sliced very thinly [optional]
Lemon quarters

1 Put the chicken, ginger, 8 of the spring onions, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, dried shrimp, peppercorns and 1/2 tsp salt into a deep pan in which the chicken fits quite snugly. Cover with 2 l of water. Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum as it rises, then lower the heat, cover and leave to gently simmer for 20 min. Turn off the heat and leave to cool for 40 min.

2 Separate the stalks from the leaves of the bok choi and finely shred them lengthways. Cut the leaves across into 3 cm-wide pieces. Slice the remaining 4 spring onions finely.

3 Lift the cooled chicken onto a plate and leave to cool. Drain the stock into a clean pan and discard all the flavourings except the shrimp (the shrimp paste pools at the bottom so don't drain this into the stock). Skin the chicken, pull the meat from the bones and break it into chunky pieces.

4 Bring a pan of unsalted water to the boil. Add the noodles, turn off the heat, cover and leave to soak for 10 min or until tender.

5 Bring the stock back to the boil, add the bok choi stalks and simmer for 2 min, add the bok choi leaves and cook for a further 2 min. Then stir in the fish sauce.

6 Drain the noodles and divide among 4 large, deep noodle bowls. Top with cooked chicken, bean shoots, reserved shrimp, remaining spring onions, basil and mint leaves. Ladle the steaming hot broth and bok choi over the top and serve with the chilli on the side (or on top as I did).

So, there you have it. A fabulous dinner. Not sure my life has completely changed but I will definitely be trying more Eastern Odyssey recipes and definitely do this again. 

In other news:

• Long Lost Families has already made me cry
• EEROD still does not sleep and I am exhausted. Not 100% convinced that I can continue to 'have it all'. 
• I spent last week learning how to make patterns (watch for next blog instalment)
• Judging by the amount of body art EEROD engages in, I am expecting a tattoo as soon as she is legal
• The garden has been bountiful but not quite as good as last year. The yellow courgettes have been amazing.