Wednesday, January 11, 2012

New Product Wednesday: Cute Man and Smoked Sea Salt

Hello Lily On The Lam Readers!

I am back in the United States!  I was in India for 2 1/2 weeks and I brought home the souvenir that keeps on giving - bronchitis!  But as it is "New Product Wednesday," I couldn't let another day go by without writing.

Today is a particular bad ass bandit's birthday - so a Happy Birthday to a cute man who may or may not be receiving a boxing camel pen from Abu Dhabi as his birthday gift!

Since, I came home with bronchitis - when I returned from India, I ran to my nearest Publix for a rotisserie chicken to make my version of homemade chicken soup.  I take a rotisserie chicken, strip the meat from the bones like I'm some crazy caveman, then place the remains (carcass!) in a large pot of water and bring to a boil.  I add in whatever spices and aromatics I can find - fresh grated ginger, pulverized lemongrass, whole peppercorns, chopped onions, crushed garlic, bay leaves ... throw it on in there.  When I'm sick, I like to throw in a lot of dried red chili flakes into the stock.  It makes a fiery, spicy stock that really cleans out my sinuses.

Once the pot comes to a boil, I reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for 2-3 hours.  The longer the better.  If you have a lot of time, I put this mixture into a slow cooker and cook on low for 24 hours - adding additional water as necessary.

After cooking, strain the chicken stock through a clean piece of cheesecloth.  I like to put the stock in the fridge overnight and then scoop off the chicken fat from the top.  I then take the defatted stock and bring to a simmer.  I add in diced vegetables and cooked rotisserie chicken with a grind of Trader Joe's Smoked Sea Salt.  I only use the sea salt if I have made the chicken stock myself.  Canned or boxed chicken stock tends to be too salty as it is.

The final result is a delicious, tasty way to soothe a nasty case of bronchitis.  Try New Product Wednesday's Trader Joe's Smoked Sea Salt!

I didn't defat this particular batch of stock - so it appears fattier than I normally would eat.  However you'll see a lot of red chili flakes - this batch really cleared out my sinuses.  I felt healthier just eating this soup!



And I know what you're going to ask next ... is that bowl, a cat bowl?


Um maybe ...

And your next question ... is that spoon, a cat spoon?




Ummm ... maybe.  The serving utensils came from Oceanic Supermarket in Tampa, Florida.  I love Asian grocery stores as much as I love funky serving ware with cats on it!

Thanks to some powerful antibiotics, I am feeling much better - so a Happy Birthday to the Bad Ass Bandit, a Happy New Year to all my readers and a promise that I will be blogging a lot more in the weeks to come!

Happy Holidays!

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