Of the meats, I definitely think chicken is one of the most versatile and one where you can add so many flavors. Unfortunately, I also think it's one of the most overused and poorly farmed animals. These days, unless I'm craving a fried chicken or nuggets, I try to not order chicken at restaurants and instead opt for the pork, beef, or more interesting meats. That said, I should probably eat less meat in general...
Until that day comes, I'll continue to cook and eat meat. This weekend, I'm returning to the old standby. Starting Friday night, I've done three dishes with one whole chicken.
Roast Chicken
I like doing roast chickens for multiple reasons:
- It's super quick to put together
- A roast chicken usually lasts us several meals
- The bones can be used to make stock
Yesterday's roast chicken was a simple salt and pepper plus a bit of olive oil on the skin. Inside, I stuffed one lemon and 3/4 of a small onion. I roasted the chicken atop a bed of root vegetables: carrots, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and parsnips. They made a great starter since I mis-timed the cooking of the chicken. Ha!
The two of us dispatched one chicken breast, the wings, and drumsticks. The rest was reserved for other uses. We got a whole breast and the rest of the meat for other dishes and I combined the leftover bones with a chicken we roasted a few weeks prior to start the stock.
Chicken Stock
Of all the things I've learned to cook over the past few years, I think Chicken Stock has been one of the best. It becomes the basis of so many other great things - soups, sauces, braising liquid, mashed potatoes, sometimes even rice!
I got my recipe from Michael Ruhlman - his version of overnight stock. Take a large pot with bones and water til barely covering and place in the oven at 200F overnight. This one was 2 chicken carcasses with 8 cups of water and 11 hours of roasting. In the morning, I added 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, a small handful of black peppercorns, and a large pinch of dried thyme. I brought this to a simmer and let it go for another hour before straining, cooling, and putting in the fridge. I ended up with about 5 cups - 2 of which will go into a Minestrone I plan to cook tomorrow and 3 that will go into my ice cube tray to make stock cubes for future use.
Chicken Quesadillas
I found this method on Serious Eats - another Kenji special. I shredded some of the chicken meat and added garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, and ancho chile powder. I took 12-inch flour tortillas and folded them in half. To the halves, I added chicken and a shredded cheese mix. This went into my cast iron with some vegetable oil and salt. I let it go for about a minute and then flipped for another minute. When the tortillas browned, I place them on a paper towel to drain a bit, cut into quarters, and served with chips and salsa.
Until that day comes, I'll continue to cook and eat meat. This weekend, I'm returning to the old standby. Starting Friday night, I've done three dishes with one whole chicken.
Roast Chicken
I like doing roast chickens for multiple reasons:
- It's super quick to put together
- A roast chicken usually lasts us several meals
- The bones can be used to make stock
Yesterday's roast chicken was a simple salt and pepper plus a bit of olive oil on the skin. Inside, I stuffed one lemon and 3/4 of a small onion. I roasted the chicken atop a bed of root vegetables: carrots, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and parsnips. They made a great starter since I mis-timed the cooking of the chicken. Ha!
The two of us dispatched one chicken breast, the wings, and drumsticks. The rest was reserved for other uses. We got a whole breast and the rest of the meat for other dishes and I combined the leftover bones with a chicken we roasted a few weeks prior to start the stock.
Chicken Stock
Of all the things I've learned to cook over the past few years, I think Chicken Stock has been one of the best. It becomes the basis of so many other great things - soups, sauces, braising liquid, mashed potatoes, sometimes even rice!
I got my recipe from Michael Ruhlman - his version of overnight stock. Take a large pot with bones and water til barely covering and place in the oven at 200F overnight. This one was 2 chicken carcasses with 8 cups of water and 11 hours of roasting. In the morning, I added 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, a small handful of black peppercorns, and a large pinch of dried thyme. I brought this to a simmer and let it go for another hour before straining, cooling, and putting in the fridge. I ended up with about 5 cups - 2 of which will go into a Minestrone I plan to cook tomorrow and 3 that will go into my ice cube tray to make stock cubes for future use.
Chicken Quesadillas
I found this method on Serious Eats - another Kenji special. I shredded some of the chicken meat and added garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, and ancho chile powder. I took 12-inch flour tortillas and folded them in half. To the halves, I added chicken and a shredded cheese mix. This went into my cast iron with some vegetable oil and salt. I let it go for about a minute and then flipped for another minute. When the tortillas browned, I place them on a paper towel to drain a bit, cut into quarters, and served with chips and salsa.
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