Jean and Cam's chicken and big zucchini stew

Contrary to what you may have read, there is nothing rotten about Denmark – at least not the one situated on the southern coast of WA. The beaches and forests are beautiful and the zucchinis are big.

It's been nice to relax around a stunning beach or two - for a while there we took to carrying our home on our backs in D'Entrecasteaux National Park.

Not to mention what we've been putting our poor van through in the interests of getting to the start of our hike.

But yes, as good as 2 minute noodles are they don't compare with freshly caught fish or other comforts to be found in the van. All relative I guess. Food in general has been interesting in the van – things like fresh bread are often scarce commodities but on the other hand we regularly happen upon road-side stalls stocking all sorts of goodies for a few bits of spare change. In Denmark you can acquire home grown zucchinis of mass destruction for only $1 under the drop your change in a box honour system – free if you are a person without honour.

And zucchini as they say is the mother of all invention – or maybe, if life gives you zucchinis make zucchini stew. In any case, on with the soup...

Ingredients

• chicken
• very big zucchini
• can of creamed corn
• dash of soy sauce
• Piri Piri
• ¾ cup of water

1. Cut off a big enough portion of the zucchini that you will be able to fit the rest of it in your fridge. Note this may vary depending on the size of your zucchini, the size of your fridge and the amount of chilled beer you are prepared to drink there and then to make room for the zucchini. In our case it was about a quarter of a zucchini of mass destruction to fit into a perfectly working Engel with no limit on the amount of beer we were prepared to drink for a good cause.
2. Allow a sociably acceptable amount of time to pass and pour yourself a wine and drink it. Repeat this step as necessary throughout the cooking process until you have achieved the desired consistency. If you have no income because you live in a van and the wine is sufficiently cheap you may need to add a little lemonade or if you have no lemonade just try adjusting your face to the position I have assumed in the photo. You will have achieved the desired consistency when there is a slight tingling feeling in your toes.
3. Poach the chicken in the water with a little soy sauce and the Piri Piri. I am assuming you have a cupboard half full of various spice mixes that all include the same ingredients but differ in that they are called Piri Piri rather than Thai Cacophony, Tibetan Yak Seasoning or similar. Choose one that you had pushed to the back of the cupboard because the toy grinder on it ceased to work some time ago. Forcibly rip the grinding mechanism off the jar and dump the entire contents into the stock. (I am also assuming you had already consumed ¾ of the spice mix before the grinder malfunctioned.) When the chook's cooked take it out and keep it somewhere warm but not under your armpit.
4. Cut most of the skin off the zucchini and chop it into pieces before cooking it in the chicken stock. You want the pieces with the skin to hang around but the rest should just dissolve into a similar consistency to Gwa Tong. (If you are not Chinese and don't know what Gwa Tong is then marry a Chinese person. If they won't have you then a green porridge kind of thickness is what you are looking for.) You don't need very much water – the zucchini is full of it (like myself you might say).
5. Ok, heading for home plate. Add the chicken back to the stock along with a little salt and pepper. Put the creamed corn back in the cupboard because you are not going to need it and scoop the stew into bowls then eat it. It's even better than it sounds.

That's Denmark summed up. Next we are heading east towards Albany which has whales so big you can't miss them – although I believe they've stopped harpooning them. In any case I am going to need a larger pot. Talk to you then. Oh yeah, happy Australia Day.