Serve Up A Mouthwatering Main This Valentines Day!

January 20, 2016

Now that we've got the starter sorted it's time to crack on with our main, I'm going to tell you how to make a dish that is so satisfyingly straight forward you'll have them eating out of the palm of your hands! Everything that you need can be bought directly from us and also your local supermarket or market.

 Ingredients

• 2 Chicken Legs
• 500ml Water
• 25g Fresh Root Ginger (Peeled and roughly chopped)
• Half of an onion
• Half of a carrot
• 200g dried soba noodles
• 1 baby cucumber finely shredded
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped, to garnish
• Half a tbsp toasted sesame seeds, garnish

For the sesame dressing

• 50g toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Half a tbsp wasabi powder
• Half a tbsp of Miso paste
• 1 tbsp Mirin
• 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp water

Now you're ready to rock!

Step 1:

Put the chicken legs, water. ginger, onion and carrot in  a saucepan and bring it to the boil over a medium heat. Reduce the heat once it has boiled and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the chicken to cool in the stock - Easy yes?

Step 2:

Whilst your chicken is busy having a little jacuzzi party it's time to make your dressing to accompany it. Grind the sesame seeds with a pestle and mortar to a smooth paste. Add the remaining dressing ingredients and grind to the consistency of yoghurt, add more water if necessary - This is too simple, you'll have your lover baffled when you tell them you managed this from scratch!

Step 3:

Take the chicken legs out of the stock and discard the skin and bones, shred the meat with a fork. Strain the stock using a cullender and discard the vegetables ( you can keep the stock to use another time if you like)

How to cook the soba noodles:

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over a medium high heat and drop in the noodles, give them a quick stir with a chopstick to seperate them. Stand by the stove with half a glass of cold water and watch the pan, as soon as the cooking water begins to rise and is about to boil over, pour in the cold water. This will reduce the temperature of the cooking water so that the middle of each of the noodle cooks at the same speed as the outside. Depending on the thickness and dryness of the noodles, you may have to repeat this.

Step 5:

Put the chicken, soba noodles and shredded cucumber in a large bowl, add the sesame dressing (reserve a few tablespoonfuls) and mix gently.

Step 6 - Serve & enjoy:

Arrange on 2 individual serving plates, drizzle over the reserved sesame dressing, garnish with your pre-chopped spring onions and toasted sesame seeds, serve and watch the smile on their face as they tuck in!

Keep a look out for the dessert that will be posted later to be sure your valentines evening finishes on a high!

Image provided by: zakwitnij