Chicken Ramen

• Chicken Ramen
• 

Servings	Prep Time	Cook Time
4 bowls	30 minutes	135 minutes

Ingredients

• 900 grams chicken bones
• 450 grams chicken wing tips
• 1 small leek cut into 4 pieces
• 4 centimeters ginger - fresh sliced into 8 coins
• 4 large cloves garlic unpeeled
•  vegetable oil for frying the aromatics
• 7 centimeters dashi kombu
• 10 cups water
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
• 3 scallions white part only, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 portions ramen noodles boiled according to package directions

Servings:  bowls

Units: American (Metric)American (Imperial)MetricJapanese 

Instructions

1. Bring a kettle full of water to a boil. Lay the wing tips and chicken bones in a clean sink, then pour the boiling water over the chicken. Wash the chicken with cold water, scrubbing off any clumps of blood. This step solidifies some of the blood on the chicken so you can wash it off and it doesn't end up in your soup.
2. In a small saucepan, add the leeks, ginger and garlic, then cover with vegetable oil. Gently fry over medium low heat until the aromatics are dark brown, but not burnt (about 30-40 minutes).
3. Add the kombu, wingtips and bones to a pressure cooker and cover with 10 cups of water. Bring it to a boil uncovered, then skim off the scum that floats to the top. Continue skimming until you don't see any more scum. Remove the kombu and discard, then add the fried leeks, ginger and garlic. Seal the lid, then cook under high pressure for 1.5 hours.
4. When the stock is done cooking, let it cool to room temperature. Pour it through a large strainer into a large bowl. Squeeze the solids with your hands to extract as much liquid as possible. You'll notice that the liquid starts turning a creamy white. This is what gives the soup its body so be sure you get every last drop. Pour the strained soup through an extra fine sieve (such as a tea strainer) into a clean container. You can either stop here and refrigerate the stock or keep going.
5. If you refrigerated the stock, it should be fairly easy to scrape off the excess fat with a spoon. If not, use a fat skimmer to skim off the extra fat and set the fat aside. In either case, you want to leave a little fat behind. Measure your the soup. You should have about 6 cups, if you have more, you should boil it down to 6 cups, if you have less, add water.
6. To make the caramelized scallion oil, add the sesame oil along with about 2 tablespoons of chicken fat that you've skimmed from the soup to a small saucepan. Put the saucepan over medium heat, then add the minced scallions. Fry the scallions until they are medium to dark brown in color. Turn off the heat, then carefully add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. The oil will sputter, so be very careful. This caramelizes the soy sauce, giving it a wonderful toasty aroma.
7. 
8. To make the soup, add the 6 cups of strained stock to a pot, add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of salt, and the soy milk and gently heat.
9. Boil your noodles according to the package directions or make a batch of homemade ramen noodles.
10. To finish the ramen divide the noodles between four bowls, pour the soup over the noodles then top with your choice of toppings. I served this with a soft boiled egg, menma, shredded scallions, and chicken chashu, but what you top it with is up to you. Boil your noodles according to the package directions. Put the boiled noodles in the bowl and add the toppings. Cover with the hot soup, then drizzle on some of the caramelized scallion oil. Serve immediately.

Best Lasagna

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 5 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1 medium carrot peeled and finely grated
• 500 grams beef - ground
• 200 grams pork - ground
• 1/3 cup milk - whole
• 1 cup red wine
• 800 grams whole stewed tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 dried shiitake mushroom
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 15 sheets lasagne
• 200 grams Mozzarella cheese grated
• 100 grams Gruyere cheese grated
•  parsley for garnish

1. Add the olive oil to a large pot along with the onions, garlic and carrot. Cover with a lid and cook over medium low heat until the onions are soft and translucent. The moisture released by the vegetables should keep them from burning, but if they start burning, turn down the heat and add a little water.

Once the onions are cooked, remove the lid and turn up the heat, sautéing until the mixture is 1/3 the original volume and starting to caramelise.

Push the vegetables to the sides of the pan, turn up the heat to medium-high and add the ground beef and pork. Use a spatula to break up the clumps.

Add the milk and boil, continuing to break up the clumps until the beef is cooked and there is no liquid left.

Add the wine and boil until most of the liquid has evaporated and there is no smell of alcohol remaining.

1. Add the tomatoes, using your hands to crush them into small pieces, and then add the tomato paste, salt, oregano, and black pepper.
2. Use a microplane to shave the dried shiitake into the pot (you can also put the dried mushroom in a spice grinder and powderize).
3. Simmer the sauce over medium low heat until it is thick (30-40 minutes).
4. Generously salt a large pot of water and add a teaspoon of olive oil. Bring the water to a boil, then cook the pasta 3 minutes less than what the package directions say. My pasta said 9 minutes so I cooked it for 6.
5. Place the oven rack in the top position and preheat to 350 degrees F (180 C).
6. Put the Mozzarella and Gruyere in a bowl and toss to distribute evenly.

To construct the lasagane, put down a layer of sauce that's just thick enough to cover the bottom of the dish.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Cover with the parboiled pasta, cutting the pasta as necessary to fill in the spaces. Repeat so that you have 3 layers of pasta.

Once you have 3 layers of pasta, finish by spreading the remaining meat sauce on top of the last layer of pasta. Cover with enough cheese so that you cannot see any sauce underneath.

Put the lasagne on a baking sheet to catch any spills, then place it in the oven. Bake until the sauce is hot and bubbly and the cheese has browned on top. If the sauce has been bubbling for a while and the cheese is not getting brown, turn up the heat to 450 degrees F (230 C) to finish it off.

When the lasagne is done, take it out of the oven, garnish with minced parsley, and let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.