Spring chicken noodle soup with lemon, asparagus and parsley

This recipe is based on this one by one of my favorite cook book authors Nigel Slater. It is an ideal template recipe to play around with as it is simple, adjustable and the results will be delicious.

I used about 6 chicken wings for roughly 1 liter of water. One adjustment I would recommend is only using one half of a lemon.

Brown your wings on both sides in a little fat over medium to high heat (the darker they go, the more flavour and colour your soup will have), then the cut side of the lemon half. Add your water, let it come to the boil and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.
Now you can play around with it and adapt it to your taste... I lifted out the wings and put them to one side. Squeeze the juice and discard what is left of the lemon. Try to sieve out the pips as they are really unpleasant if you happen to bite in one. Season the bouillon to taste. It will need a lot of salt.

Regarding the meat you have the whole range of possibilities: return them to the soup whole, debone them and give them a rough chop or painstakingly remove every bit of skin and sinew and finely chop the meat before returning. It's all up to you (and maybe your guests') preference.

Think about what kind of vegetable(s) you would like to add and how long they will have to cook for. I went with asparagus (still had a few spears in the fridge), which I cut into 1 cm chunks at an angle. Add the pasta you like (I go for orzo quite often). Then add the vegetables according to how much time is left on the pasta timer. (This sounds so complicated. But I am sure you know what I mean. :-) )
At the very end sprinkle on a few chopped sprigs of your fresh herb of choice, such as the first shoots of flat leaved parsley, season for the last time and serve.

The perfect dinner for a cold spring evening!

Scaloppine al limone (Veal escalopes with zingy lemon sauce)

With one or two notable exceptions the last couple of weeks have been very gray in Zurich. I was lucky enough to find some veal escalopes that were marked down at my local grocery store. I often shop for my protein this way because it has the added bonus of making be notice cuts I wouldn't usually go for...

This is such a simple dish to prepare and the result was so delicious. I will be making it again for sure. With a simple salad of rocket it makes a wonderful light meal.

Ingredients for one person:
Veal escalopes (I had four small ones)
2-3 tablespoons of flour
Oil or butter to fry
Half a lemon, juice and zest cut off &chopped with a paring knife
1 small glass of white wine or 1/2 of stock
Ca. 20 grams of cold butter, cut into pieces
A few sprigs of flat leaved parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper

1. Place your flour on a flat dish and season with salt and pepper. Dredge both sides of the escalopes in them making sure to pat off any excess.
2. Preheat a non stick frying pan to medium high heat and add your fat of choice. Fry the escalopes on both sides until just done. This should take 2-3 minutes on both sides and they should be slightly browned. Take out of the pan and keep warm.
3. Put the pan back on the heat, add your juice, chopped zest and the wine or stock and deglaze the pan. Let the alcohol cook off and the sauce reduce for 4-5 minutes. Stir in the butter and adjust the seasoning.
4. Add your parsley at the last minute (if using) and pour over the warm escalopes to serve.