A POTpourri of Chicken dishes

As you may have guessed we love Chicken –both the feathery egg laying kind and the meat kind.  We had 13 roosters contributed to our freezer last year as previously mentioned so the other weekend I pulled one out of the freezer and made 3 different meals from one of our birds and a TON of stock.  (1) Brine Roasted Chicken (2) Clean Chicken Divan (3) Chicken Chili (4) Chicken Stock.  It was a great way to enjoy the bird and all the leftovers without feeling like you were really eating leftovers.  And for those of us not overly fond of dark meat – it hides very nicely in Chicken Divan and Chicken Chili.  Below are the recipes I used or concocted.

Brine Roasted Chicken

Brine Chicken for a day, I recommend at least 8 hours

Rinse, coat skin with Olive Oil, butter, or as I did bacon fat – you don’t eat the skin anyway so the bird might as well smell divine while cooking.  Roast at 425 for 20 minutes and then lower temperature to 350 and cook until the internal temperature of the thigh reads 180 (time varies on size of bird).

Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Clean Chicken Divan

My mom’s Chicken Divan is one of my favorite dishes.  I wanted to take this decadent dish and find a healthier/more Clean version. Google complied by providing a link to the below recipe from EatingWell.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds chicken (they of course recommend white meat only, but use what you have leftover from your roasted bird)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups diced leek, white and light green parts only (about 1 large)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 10-ounce boxes frozen chopped broccoli, thawed, or 1 pound broccoli crowns (see Ingredient Note), chopped  (I’d recommend 2lbs broccoli – but I love my veggies, especially broccoli- I just felt the dish needed more.)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise (I used Greek Yogurt instead – use what you have on hand)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

A note on Salt – I look at all the ingredients before ever adding salt to see if it might be covered by say, chicken broth.  At the same time salt does help with releasing the water (sweating) vegetables so do what works for you, we err on the side of less salt being added as it naturally occurs in some many ingredients including vegetables.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 7-by-11-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. (Of course you will need a larger baking dish if you increase the broccoli…).
2. Place chicken in a medium skillet or saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain and slice into bite-size pieces. (Use leftovers and skip this step!!)
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add leek and salt and cook, stirring often, until softened but not browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add flour; stir to coat. Add broth, milk, sherry, thyme and pepper and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Add broccoli; return to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan, mayonnaise and mustard.
4. Spread half the broccoli mixture in the prepared baking dish. Top with the chicken, then the remaining broccoli mixture. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan. Bake until bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

We got 4 servings, again with more broccoli it could go further.

Chicken Chili

I buy dry beans and reconstitute them by soaking them for 8-10 hours in water, draining them and then putting them in the Crockpot for 8-10 hours – it’s marvelous!  I always have black beans on hand for tacos and the like, but also did kidney beans to have a combo for our chili.  And for those of you shopping for the 10 for $10 sales at your local grocery store – 2 bags of dry beans yielded 10 12oz jars of cooked beans for $4 and that’s the price of organic dry beans.  Cooked beans freeze well, so cook them up and freeze some for later!

Back to the chili recipe – really do what you and your family like - dice up the remaining chicken and use that instead of beef.  One thing we did do with our chili this time was to add a chili pepper in adobo sauce – that added a nice kick.  Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips!  YUM!

Chicken Stock

Throw all your chicken bones, leftover veggies and the kitchen sink in a ginormous pot and simmer for hours (8-10+ preferably).  We added mushroom stems this time round and the stock smelled so good and has a beautiful rich color to it.  I used up all my canning jars and then some with the huge pot I made and they are saving nicely in our freezer right now. You can never have enough Chicken Stock on hand.  And now I have also learned you can never have enough canning jars on hand.

The whole time the stock was cooking I was dreaming of my mom’s homemade egg noodles!  One rainy weekend we will indulge and have a nice pot of Chicken Soup with mom’s noodles.

I’m feeding only 2 so for a family of four or more you will probably only be able to do 2 of these recipes + the stock at a time, but try them – they are delicious!