Chris Baber’s one-pot Mediterranean Fish

Welcome to City Harvest Cooking with Chris Baber

City Harvest Cooking is a series where guest chefs and cooks join City Harvest in its London food rescue warehouse to create amazing dishes from surplus food. It’s all about being resourceful and getting creative with whatever might be in City Harvest’s food redistribution depot on the day of cooking. The beauty of food redistribution is its unpredictability, although having a network of fresh produce suppliers means that we often see seasonal goods come through our depot doors.

The third chef in our first series of City Harvest Cooking is TV chef and City Harvest Food Council Member, Chris Baber.

In Chris’ second City Harvest Cooking episode, we recreate a Chinese takeaway classic – chicken chow mein – in just 10 minutes. This dish is simple, and satisfying and can be made with a handful of pantry and fresh ingredients. Chris uses broccoli and carrots but these can be swapped out with a variety of vegetables you might have to use up! 

Ingredients:

(serves 4 -6 people) 

• Chicken breast, diced (300g)
• 3-4 nests of chow mein egg noodles
• 1 red onion, sliced into even strips
• 1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger puree or minced fresh ginger
• 2 carrots, sliced into thin strips (or julienne)
• 1 pack tender stem broccoli, cut into thin strips (or julienne)
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped

Chicken marinade:

• 1 tbsp soy sauce (light or dark)
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar

Garnish:

• 3 spring onions, finely chopped

Method:

1. Prep your vegetables by chopping everything evenly. The broccoli and carrots should be thin strips and the chilli and garlic, finely diced.
2. On a separate chopping board, dice your chicken breasts and add them to a small bowl.
3. To the raw chicken, add soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar as your marinade. Stir to ensure all the chicken pieces are covered and leave to marinade for approx. 10 mins.
4. Meanwhile, bring a medium sized pot of boiling, salted water to the boil and add your dried noodle nests.
5. In a separate frying pan, add a splash of cooking oil and bring this to a medium heat.
6. Add your aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger and chilli) to the oil and fry off gently until the onions are translucent.
7. Add the marinated chicken to the frying pan and cook until the chicken is cooked through and a little caramelised.
8. Next, add your hard vegetables (broccoli and carrot) and cook until the vegetables are tender.
9. Once the noodles are al dente or a minute from being fully cooked, strain and set aside.
10. Add the cooked noodles to the chicken and vegetables and stir gently until everything is fully combined.
11. Plate up your noodles and garnish with chopped spring onions.

Chris Baber has been a City Harvest Food Council member for 3 years.