Chicken has become a staple food in many omnivorous diets. At my house we have chicken at least once a week. Usually it is one of our favorite ‘go-to’ meals when we need something quick and versatile. We have a number of incredibly yummy dishes that we rotate through depending on our mood. The problem: we mostly use the chicken breast. We buy pre-butchered boneless skinless chicken breasts in large value packs and then portion them out and vacuum seal them before freezing them. This works for us most of the time because we tend to be busy and need quick cooking meals after work.
There are a few reasons why this has been eating away at my conscience lately. First- what about the rest of the chicken? I know it goes someplace- the legs and thighs and wings do, and the bones. I am hoping that someone somewhere uses the extra bits and that they don’t find their way into our landfills, but there still seems to be the potential for a lot of waste for those boneless skinless chicken breasts. Secondly- buying boneless skinless chicken breasts is expensive. At the grocery store you can pay anywhere between 5.99 per pound and 8.99 per pound for ‘value packs’ of five or six pieces. These can end up costing over 20.00 each and they eat a giant hole in our grocery wallet. A whole cut up chicken gives you 8 pieces with bones and usually skin (but you can take that off yourself) for 3.49 per pound. If you buy a whole chicken on sale you can pay under 3.00 per pound. That is a significant saving. Thirdly- there are things you can do with a whole chicken that you can’t do with boneless skinless chicken breasts. They either wouldn’t turn out or they wouldn’t be nearly as tasty if you tried.
This past week I bought a whole chicken- about three pounds, and paid less than 8.00 for it. I used it three different ways and ended up with some tasty applications that I am going to share with you.
There are many applications for roasted chicken and chicken stock, so even if you get a pre-roasted whole chicken from your local grocery store, know that you are saving money and have lots of options for what to do with leftover meat and bones. The leftover meat can be used for chicken salad or club sandwiches, wraps, in pasta sauces, soups/stews, chili, casseroles or any other recipe you can think of! The carcass turned into stock can be used for sauces and gravies, soups and stews, rice pilaf, risotto, stir fry, marinades, and much more. Use these recipes to get you started and then explore your options and experiment with whole chicken! You and your wallet are guaranteed to end up happy.
Monday: Whole Roasted Chicken
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
1 lemon,
2 small onions,
2 Tbs butter,
2 Tbs olive oil,
1 tsp roasted garlic paste,
½ tsp poultry seasoning,
½ tsp onion powder,
½ tsp cracked black pepper,
¼ tsp paprika
1 whole chicken
1. Preheat oven to 350 ̊F. Cut the lemon in half and then quarter each half. Do the same with the onions. Peel the garlic and cut roughly into 3-4 pieces per clove. Set aside.
2. In small dish mix butter, oil, garlic paste, poultry seasoning, onion powder, pepper and paprika. Mix well and set aside.
3. Give the chicken a good rinse under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. If the chicken hasn’t already been trussed for you, use kitchen twine to tie the legs and tail area together tightly, close to the body of the chicken. Fold the wing tips up, back and under the back of the chicken (make it look like it is resting its hands behind its head/shoulders). I like to truss chickens this way because then there is no twine digging into the leg meat or holding the wings against the breast and not letting that skin get nice and crispy. If you want a better lesson on trussing there are many you tube videos or photo step by step instructions available online.
4. Stuff the body and neck cavities loosely with half the lemon, onions and garlic. You may also stuff some of the garlic and smaller pieces of citrus or aromatic veggies underneath the skin of the chicken. Place the remaining citrus and onions in the bottom of a roasting pan. Pile them close together and then place the stuffed chicken on top. Brush with about half of the butter/oil/herb mixture.
**Chicken Notes: This baking time is based on a 3 pound loosely stuffed chicken and that depending on the size of your chicken, roasting times may vary. If you are unfamiliar with carving a whole chicken, it is actually not as scary as it seems and it is easy. The two following you tube links show great demonstrations that are similar to how I carve chickens. Please take a look and keep in mind that my chickens and carcasses usually don’t look as pretty as theirs do when I’m done carving, but practice does make perfect and I am getting better!**
Now that you have roasted and rested your chicken you can carve it and serve it however you want. This week I served it with seasoned baked mashed potatoes and salad. I also removed the lemon from the roaster and reduced the pan juices into a nice sauce, thickened with a little bit of flour mixed with cold water. After we ate there was still half a breast and both legs/thighs left over. I picked the meat off these and saved it for another application (See ‘Thursday’).
After I carved my chicken I removed all the stuffing bits from the inside and placed the whole thing in a big stock pot. I put the pot in the fridge until Tuesday when I was ready to make chicken stock. Make your stock on a day when you have the time to let it simmer and develop its full flavor.
Tuesday: Chicken Stock
Ingredients:
1 Tbs vegetable or olive oil
1 lb mixed aromatic veggies (I get a precut package of soup veggies from the grocery store that includes onion, carrot, celery, turnip and potato- I know the last two aren’t aromatics but they do give nice flavor to the stock)
3 garlic cloves- peeled and roughly diced
2-3 whole bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns, roughly cracked
1 chicken carcass, leg and wing bones included if you still have them
water
1. In a large pot with a good lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add veggies and sauté about 5 minutes. Add garlic cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns. Sauté another 5 or so minutes, until you can smell the lovely garlic and bay leaf and there’s a little bit of brown caramelized bits on the bottom of your pot.
1. In a large pot with a good lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add veggies and sauté about 5 minutes. Add garlic cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns. Sauté another 5 or so minutes, until you can smell the lovely garlic and bay leaf and there’s a little bit of brown caramelized bits on the bottom of your pot.
2. Add chicken carcass/parts. Stir them around and make sure they get nestled in with the veggies.
3. Pour in enough cold water to completely cover the chicken. Cover and bring just to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer with the water barely bubbling for 2-3 hours, stirring slowly on occasion and checking to make sure too much water hasn’t evaporated. I usually do this step with the lid partially on but tilted up a bit so that some steam can escape. I also occasionally skim off some of the fat and scum (foam or a skin that forms on the surface of your stock as it cooks) if there seems to be a lot.
5. Strain stock through a fine mesh sieve to remove carcass, veggies and spices. Re-skim at this stage if you want. Cool stock and refrigerate until ready to use.
**Stock Notes: Some people also like to add rosemary or thyme or other herbs to their stock, but I just like bay, pepper, and the veggies. Experiment and see what you like. After cooling and refrigerating your stock, some of the remaining fat and scum will solidify and float at the top of the liquid. It is easy to skim this off when the liquid is cold. Stock can also be frozen in plastic containers or zip lock freezer bags. Some of you will note that I haven’t added salt to this stock. I choose not to add salt to my stock so that I can control the sodium levels in the stuff I will make with the stock. I can then season it as I need it for individual recipes or usages. This is purely personal preference and if you would like to season your stock, feel free to do so. **
Thursday: Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
1 Tbs vegetable oil or butter
1lb mixed aromatic and root vegetables (I get a precut package of finely diced soup veggies from the grocery store that includes onion, carrot, celery, turnip and potato)
1 onion- peeled and finely diced
3 garlic cloves- peeled and roughly chopped
1 large bay leaf
½ tsp cracked black pepper
½ tsp salt
2 cups cooked chicken meat- skin and bones removed, diced or roughly chopped
8 cups chicken stock
½ lb (½ of a bag) of broad egg noodles (you can use whichever noodles you like, but these are my fave)
1lb mixed aromatic and root vegetables (I get a precut package of finely diced soup veggies from the grocery store that includes onion, carrot, celery, turnip and potato)
1 onion- peeled and finely diced
3 garlic cloves- peeled and roughly chopped
1 large bay leaf
½ tsp cracked black pepper
½ tsp salt
2 cups cooked chicken meat- skin and bones removed, diced or roughly chopped
8 cups chicken stock
½ lb (½ of a bag) of broad egg noodles (you can use whichever noodles you like, but these are my fave)
1. Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté for 5-10 minutes until translucent and starting to brown/caramelize. Add remaining veggies, garlic, bay, pepper and salt. Sauté for another 5 minutes or so until everything smells fantastic.
2. Add chicken and stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour or until the vegetable pieces are just under cooked to your liking. (this all depends on the texture of veggies you like and how large the pieces are)
3. Add egg noodles and simmer 5-10 minutes more until noodles and veggies are perfectly tender. Enjoy!
**Soup Notes: This soup isn’t very salty. ½ tsp salt has approximately 1000 mg of sodium in it. This soup will make 8 large bowls of soup, so about 125 mg of sodium per serving, and people can add more to their liking, or you can add more to the pot as you cook it. This soup is also great with other veggies if you like them. Try adding frozen peas or corn during the last 10 minutes of cooking, or bite sized broccoli and/or cauliflower florets. **
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