What can you do with a roast chicken? What can I do with a roast chicken!?! I probably have 2-3 dozen chicken standby recipes, but in this post I’ll concentrate on getting 4 meals out of 1 roast chicken.
Roast Chicken:
First, I buy a roaster (preferably organic — thanks Goose! or Bell and Evans Organic) and stuff the cavity with whatever I have on hand — garlic, onion, thyme, salt, pepper, or lemon/orange — just whatever is in your fridge that would go well with chicken. These are just aromatics, not to be consumed. Remember depending on the chicken you might not get a plastic button that pops when the chicken is done. Chickens don’t come with plastic buttons so if you buy from a small producer or organic just use the weight chart in any basic cookbook or google the weight to temperature ratio to find the right time. If the juices run clear and there’s no “pink” in the meat, you’re good to go.
In it goes and roughly 2.5 hours later (roasted at 325° and occasionally basted) you have a beautiful golden brown chicken. Roast off some green beans, garlic and shallots in olive oil. Use a fat separator and pour only the chicken juices over slices of chicken breast meat. ( the breasts on these roasters are big so I split one between two people and give legs to the 2 kids). 1 meal down. Wrap up the remains and process on the next day.
I pick the rest of the chicken meat and place in a bowl. I will make chicken casserole and chicken salad sandwiches with the remaining meat.
Chicken Casserole:
Chicken casserole: I found an OUTSTANDING recipe from Cook’s Country — but I think you need a subscription to view it. Let me just say it involves thyme, sour cream, sherry, egg noodles, and a crisp bread crumb topping — exceptional and always a big family hit.
Chicken Salad Sandwiches:
I generally use what’s left for homemade chicken salad sandwiches. I add grapes and pecans, a little mayo and dijon mustard, sometimes a dash of curry and load that up on a good home baked whole grain toasted bread. You can go for days on that sandwich.
Homemade Chicken Soup:
That brings me to my last and equally as good meal number 4. Homemade chicken soup. I take the carcass and any remaining innards or neck and throw that into a pot. I throw in a couple chopped carrots, onion, salt and peppercorns. I cover to the top with water and let simmer for several hours. I know this probably sounds vague but I can tell by smell. When it smells like chicken soup, I know we’re close. Strain the liquid back into the pot and add your favorite soup amendments. I like chunky onions, small carrot slices, left over chicken, amish egg noodles and (my mom turned me onto this seasoning) Paul Prudhomme’s poultry seasoning. Meal 4 in the bag!
One 4-5 lb. roaster, ranging in price from $2-$3 a lb. can feed a family of four, four meals which nets down to a cost of less than $1 per person (protein only). I do this 4 or 5 times during the winter. It’s easy, healthy, and tastes good!