Chicken, again

One of my favorite styles of cooking is what I call (in my head, and now on this blog) 'leftover cooking'. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I can take a series of leftover-filled tupperware, add some fresh ingredients, and turn it into a completely new dish.

Last night we had friends over for dinner, and since I've been pouring over a basic culinary techniques book this weekend, I decided to roast a chicken.

Roasting a chicken is a fairly simple thing to do which turns fairly cheap ingredients into a fabulous feast. For our feast, I used a local chicken ($10), and a mixture of organic carrots, potatoes, onions, and asparagus (together around $5). I slathered the bird with a mixture of butter, salt, and pepper, and filled it with a few cloves of garlic and fresh rosemary from my herb pot.

To fancy up our humble feast I procured a series of cheeses and made a little cheese tray.

But the real star of the show came today. Using the leftover carcass I made quite a lot of chicken broth, half of which went into today's chicken and dumplings.

Into the pot of broth went last night's leftover roasted chicken and vegetable bits, and a few extra fresh carrots and potatoes that wouldn't fit into the roasting pan. I added some fresh parsley and I got my stew on.

In lieu of leftover bread from last night, I whipped up some simple parsley dumplings from my Joy of Cooking and we feasted again. Since the stew recipe is such that anything can be added I'll leave you with the roast chicken that started this whole episode.

Roasted Chicken

3-3.5 lb chicken
1-2 TBS butter + salt and pepper
5 cloves of garlic + 3 sprigs rosemary
4 Carrots, peeled and chopped
3 Potatoes peeled and chopped
7 asparagus stocks, chopped
2 medium onions, choppped
1 TBS olive oil + salt and pepper

Toss all the veggies in the oil/salt and place in the bottom of a roasting pan. Rub the chicken with the butter and salt mixture and place the garlic and rosemary inside. Place the chicken on top of the veg (no grill required), and roast for 1 hour at 425 F. Cover the breast with a bit of aluminum foil so it doesn't over cook. At the end of the cooking time, flip the chicken and broil the underside for a few minutes till it's nice and brown. Chicken is done when it is around 160 F, and the juices run clear (not pink).

Snow in April (aka WTF)

April showers bring May flowers.
April snow really blows.

Although, it does set the stage for great chowder-making weather.

Here, in Oz, few clams roam, but there is corn aplenty. Therefore a hearty corn chowder is perfect to sooth any frustrations resulting from ill-timed snow. This week everything has been blooming, and I was hoping to get in another hike or geocache this weekend. But with the sky looking gloomy and snow falling, I decided it would be prudent to make and eat lots of delicious food instead.

Yesterday we had chowder for lunch with crusty whole grain bread and plugra, Cucumber salad, and fruit salad.

Today we had the leftover chowder, with freshly baked sweet potato biscuits, salad, and grapefruit.


Corn Chowder (loosely adapted from the Joy of Cooking 75th edition)

5 strips of bacon
1 large onion, chopped
2 large red potatoes, peeled and diced
3 ribs of celery, diced
3 Cups milk
1 package frozen corn
1 generous handful of fresh dill, chopped
Salt and Pepper

Cook the bacon in a large pot, remove and drain. When cool, crumble and reserve.

Using the leftover bacon grease, fry the onion and potato for 7 minutes, until partial cooked. Add the celery and cook 3 minutes more.

De glaze the pan with some of the milk, then add the rest of the milk, the corn, the bacon, and half of the dill. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and leave for 10-15 minutes, returning every so often to stir things up. Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, sprinkle with some of the remaining dill to make things look pretty (my picture has no fancy garnish because it was of the reheated leftover soup).

sick stew

For those days when you just want to crawl back under the covers and keep a full box of tissues at the ready, i give you: sick stew. When you're sick and have no taste buds, you don't even have to add salt (there's enough already injected into most chicken anyway).

2 pounds chicken parts
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion (also chopped)
various herbs (i prefer rosemary and oregano, because I have them growing fresh in my kitchen)
water to cover (around 6 cups)
1.5 Cups egg noodles

Place everything in a stockpot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to simmer for an hour or so, until the whole house smells like chicken and and the meat falls off the bones. Add the egg noodles and simmer until they are soft. After slurping some sick stew, crawl back under those covers...you deserve a day off.