COOKING WITH CATHERINE: SEPTEMBER

One of the best recipes I taught my son was based on the deliciously simple Ramen dishes from Wagamama. And the reason it’s so wonderful? Because it’s so versatile, fantastically healthy, simple and cheap to make and what could be better for someone about to start a new life at uni!

Ramen traditionally has four elements – a soup base, noodles, fresh veg and a
source of protein. You can go to town making your own stock from scratch or if time’s tight make sure you’ve got a pot of good quality stock to hand and build your soup base from there. The noodles can be anything from cheap instant noodles (forget about the ‘flavour’ sachet though!) to ramen noodles, egg noodles or fat udon noodles. You can use whatever veg you have in the fridge, just go for colour, texture and contrasting flavours.

For the protein, you can add yesterday’s shredded roast chicken or pork to the broth to warm through, cubes of fried tofu or go to town with our recipe for brisket ramen on page 76.

Start with this basic broth – you can chill it and store in a big jar in the fridge for 2 – 3 days. Bring 1.4 litres good quality chicken or veg stock to a gentle simmer and whisk in 3 tbsp white miso and 4 tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce. Finely shred a 5cm piece of peeled ginger and 2 very finely sliced garlic cloves. Add to the pot with a good pinch of sugar, and sriracha or chilli flakes if you like it spicy. Simmer for 10 minutes and then taste adjusting with more soy, sugar or spice as you prefer and then continue with the rest of the recipe…

BLACKBERRY BONANZA!

If you’re lucky enough to have a glut of blackberries on your hands, and jam making isn’t on the agenda, try making up some bottles of blackberry vodka that will be ready in time for gifting at Christmas! Place 400g fruit in a sterilised 2-litre Kilner jar, add 150g white caster sugar and pour over 700ml vodka. Seal the jar and gently shake to dissolve the sugar. Place in a cool dark cupboardand gently shake the jar every day for a week. After two weeks, strain the vodka into sterilised Kilner Sloe Gin Bottles and label.

OFF THE SHELF

If you fancy cooking our Beef Ramen but don’t have time to cook from scratch, pick up a box of M&S Shred N’ Share British Beef Teriyaki – tender beef glazed with a sweet, salty teriyaki sauce. One pack would work in our recipe but the glaze is very sweet so maybe use half of it if you prefer a more savoury result.

£10.50 for 554g pack from M&S and Ocado.

Riso Gallo’s new Easy Cook Risotto rice is ready in 10 minutes. Simply sauté finely chopped onion and garlic in butter until perfectly soft, add the rice and cook in the butter until transparent, add a good glug of wine, cook off and add twice the volume of stock. Simmer for 10 minutes for perfectly creamy risotto rice.

£2.65 for 500g from Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

For a delicious risotto using Riso Gallo’s Easy Cook Rice go to candis.co.uk/food/risogallo-risotto

INGREDIENT PROFILE: MUSHROOMS

Mushrooms are big news both in terms of health benefits and their culinary uses. And if you fancy trying something more than your bog-standard button mushroom then head over to Merit Mushrooms (meritmushrooms.co.uk). They’re my go-to company for their sheer variety – from Maitake (hen of the woods) to Lion’s Mane, Enoki and Shimeji, their freshness and flavour takes some beating.

They also stock growing kits and dried mushrooms. We used a selection from their Fresh Exotic Mix in our mushroom ragu on page 80. Delicious, deeply savoury and full of texture.

£6.25 for 250g.

GET THE LOOK

Ramen bowls are typically a deep, open conical shape – they’re designed to hold plenty of brothand be wide enough so that you can show off all the ingredients and mix without spilling. The flared rim also makes it easy to sip your broth from – and yes you’re allowed!

Look out for Dunelm’s World Gourmet Shallow Bowls and Ramen Ladles, £10 and £2.50 respectively. For fine julienne strips of veg, use OXO Good Grips Julienne Prep Peeler – £9.45 from amazon.co.uk

PERFECT PASTA

Pasta Evangelists is a fresh pasta company with an ever-growing number of restaurants but if there isn’t one near you (keep your eyes peeled because it won’t be long!) they create recipe kits of fresh pasta and sauces that deliver the most gorgeous recipes available nationwide. I tried their amazing fresh triangle pasta with a pistachio, cashew and chill pesto at their latest launch in Farringdon. Their cookbook, Perfect Pasta at Home (Orion, £25) is a must-have with some must-have with some really different, really different, authentic recipes authentic recipes that you’ll go that you’ll go back to time and back to time and time again.