Udon noodles with chicken

There is something so comforting about a bowl of noodles in a clear broth and when you are using a slow-reared chicken it makes a fantastic flavoured broth for the base of this dish.

For the broth

The carcass and wings from a slow-reared chicken
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and quartered
10 black peppercorns
A small piece of root ginger, scraped and roughly chopped
200g udon noodles, cooked
40g bean sprouts
60g garlic chives, chopped
4 spring onions, cleaned and sliced
2tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves

To make the broth, put the chicken carcass and wings in a large saucepan with the rest of the broth ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1 hour. Remove the chicken carcass and wings and transfer them to a plate to cool. Strain the stock through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean pan.

Simmer the stock until it is reduced by about one-third and you are happy with the flavour. Meanwhile, remove as much meat from the carcass as you can and put to one side.

Add the noodles, bean sprouts, garlic chives, spring onions, coriander and chicken to the broth and simmer for a minute.

Serve in individual bowls or one large one.