A feast of flavours in June’s kitchen

Spring onions are highly underrated! They’re often just used as a garnish or in the background in curries and salads but it’s time to give them a bit more credit! Fresh and crunchy, mild and tender they can be very versatile in the kitchen.

You can mix and match with this month’s recipes! The dressing for the noodles can be used as a salsa, perhaps with a chilli or fajitas and the mayonnaise could be used to accompany all sorts of cold meats, jacket potatoes or salads.

Stir Fried Chicken and Spring Onions with Spicy Noodles

Serves 2 Takes about 15 minutes plus 30 minutes marinating time

2 chicken thighs, boned

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2tablspoons vegetable oil

3 spring onions, trimmed and cut into 4cm pieces

Thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced thinly

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or use dry sherry)

1 teaspoon caster sugar

60ml chicken stock

For the noodle salsa:

Fresh noodles for 2

2 spring onions, trimmed and very finely chopped

1 green chilli, deseeded and diced

½ lime, zest and juice

For the noodle salsa – mix together the onion, chilli, zest and juice. Leave for at least half an hour.
Cut the chicken into small bite size pieces and put in a small bowl. Pour over the soy sauce and leave to marinate for at least half an hour.
Heat the oil to high in a lidded wok or deep sided frying pan. Add the chicken and marinade and fry over a high heat for a few minutes until cooked through and most of the soy sauce has cooked away. Remove the chicken and keep warm.
Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook for a minute or so until browned and releasing lots of lovely aroma. Pop the chicken back in the pan then add in the vinegar, stock and sugar. Stir well to dissolve the sugar then turn down the heat, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Put the chicken into a warmed serving dish, leaving some of the juices behind. Turn the heat up then add in the noodles and stir fry for a minute. Tip in the onion dressing and stir everything together.

Serve immediately alongside the chicken

Quick cook tip

Griddled Spring Onions with Spring Onion Mayonnaise

Try gridling spring onions – they are creamy and mild and taste lovely with the flavoured mayo or just a squeeze of lemon juice

Brush a trimmed bunch of spring onions with oil then pop on a medium high heat of a griddle. Cook, turning once for about 10-15 minutes until creamily tender, covering for the last half of cooking time.

Make a flavoured mayonnaise to serve with them by adding 2 finely chopped spring onions and a tablespoon of chopped coriander to a 100g mayonnaise.