The first Awkward Dinner Guest blog post, and what a lovely title to start with!
Sometimes, no matter how careful you are gluten flare ups are unavoidable. Whether it’s cross contamination in a restaurant or your friend not realising that the soy sauce in the dinner contains wheat, flare up’s happen to everyone. This inevitably leads to you lying on the sofa clutching a hot water bottle against your tummy, waiting for those horrible pains to stop and wishing for a speedy solution.
Unfortunately as we know, there is no cure or quick medication. However, I have found my new staple to managing the dreaded ‘glutening!’
BONE BROTH sounding less than appealing, has wonderful healing effects for the gut. Being high in minerals and nutrients it has been found to sooth the digestive system, hydrate and nourish the whole body. Best of all, I think it taste’s delicious either on its own in a big warming mug or used as a base for a meal.
This is the general recipe I stick to, but it can be altered as much as you wish. I’ve previously used chicken and lamb bones together if you have them left over from a roast it works great.
– Ingredients –
1 whole free range chicken
Handful of carrots
1 onion chopped in half
2 sticks of celery roughly chopped
6 cloves of garlic
A selection of herbs – I like to use bay leaves, rosemary and parsley
2 table spoons of Cider Vinegar (or juice of a lemon)
Salt and Pepper to taste
– Instructions –
Put your left over chicken bones into a large sauce pan. The Londoners rock salt chicken is my firm favourite when it comes to roast chicken recipes, super juicy and super tasty http://www.thelondoner.me/2012/08/rock-salt-roast-chicken.html. I always use the bones left over from a dinner of roast chicken and sweet potato salad.
Throw in the rest of the ingredients and add cold water, enough so that everything is covered.
Place a lid on top of the pan and bring to the boil.
Once boiling, turn down to a low heat and cook for a minimum of 4 hours. If using any other meat bones I would cook for at least 6 hours. You can simmer the broth for up to 12 hours – just make sure you continue to top up the water that evaporates!
After the broth has cooked sieve it and pour into a separate bowl and cool quickly – a tip is to place the bowl in cold water in the sink, DO NOT put in the fridge while hot.
Once cooled you can scrape off the layer of gelatine that forms. Store in the freezer or use from the fridge within the next 2-3 days.
Simple! Now get creative! Like I said its lovely to drink on it’s own if you’re feeling under the weather or use as the stock for noodles, soups, risottos etc.
Forever, The Awkward Dinner Guest
xx