The first meal that I will make with a chicken is to roast it.  Roast chicken with all the trimmings is a favourite in this house. I’ll prepare double the amount of potatoes we will need for the meal and once we’ve finished our dinner I’ll strip the chicken of any large chunks of meat left and set them to one side along with the spuds for a pie.

So this is my recipe for a third meal using up the leftover carcass along with some lovely veg, a very low-cost option for a nutritious dinner.

This recipe will serve 4 adults or in my case 2 adults, 2 kids, a baby and anybody else who visits for dinner!

• 1 chicken carcass
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil for frying
• 1 white onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• Reduced salt soy sauce
• 3 medium carrots sliced into thin batons
• 1 yellow or red pepper sliced into thin batons
• 1 cupful of frozen peas
• 1 cupful of frozen sweetcorn
• 1 tsp of finely chopped ginger
• 1 litre of water
• 200g / 7oz dry rice noodles
• 4 sliced scallions (spring onions)

Equipment:

• Roasting tin
• Chopping board
• Extra-large pot with a lid
• Large colander
• Sharp knife
• Soup ladle

1. Preheat your over to 200 degrees Celsius / 400 F / Gas Mark 6.
2. Chop the carcass into 3 pieces, place on your roasting tin and re-roast in the oven for 20 minutes. This gives it a nutty flavour.
3. Remove the chicken from the oven and put into a pot, cover with water and simmer (don’t boil) for 90 mins.
4. Remove the chicken from the pot and set to one side to cool.
5. Strain out the stock using the colander and discard any extra pieces of skin or bone that have become loose and were at the bottom of the pot.
6. Once the chicken has cooled a little remove any meat from the bones. You need to get your hands stuck in as you will find some lovely brown meat underneath the chicken.
7. Wash and dry your pot.
8. Take the clean pot and put 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil in the bottom.
9. Fry off the onion until it’s nearly see through, then the ginger and garlic.
10. Pour the stock over the onion, ginger and garlic (also known as aromatics).
11. Now add your carrots and simmer for 5 minutes.
12. Add in your chicken pieces, peas, peppers and sweetcorn.
13. Simmer for another 2 minutes.
14. Add the rice noodles and straight away remove the pot from the heat.
15. Stir to make sure the rice noodles are coated in the soup mixture.
16. Set to 1 side for 5 minutes to allow the noodles to soak up the moisture in the soup then serve.
17. As always I have left seasoning out, so please feel free to add seasoning to your taste.

This recipe, and more, is available on Wholesome Ireland.

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