Chicken legs....inspiration needed....help!!!

goldentouch

... paper hat?... rosette?

Make slits, stuff them with cheese and garlic and wrap them with bacon

kittiwoz

Chicken and dumpling casserole. Yummy. Roughly chop some winter veg e.g. onion, potato, swede, turnip, celery, leeks, fennel, mushrooms, yams, parsnips, carrots. Bung them in a casserole dish with the chicken. Just cover with stock. You could also add barley. If you want a bit more protein chuck in a handful of lentils. Stir in some mixed herbs, a bay leaf and some pepper. Cover and put it in the oven for 40 mins at gas mark 3/ 170 degrees Celsius. To make the dumplings sift 4 oz/ 110g of flour. If plain add 1 tsp of backing powder. stir in a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of dried thyme. Rub in 2oz/ 55g flour with cool hands (Run your wrist under the cold tap first). Mix in just sufficient water to form a dough. Don not overwork. Form into small balls (they will double in size during cooking). Take out the casserole, stir, drop in the dumplings, re-cover and cook for a further 20 mins.

Alternately mix honey and vinegar with a little mustard to make a marinade. Marinade for 30 mins, then coat the chicken to glaze it and put it under the grill.

troll35

I had the same problem earlier tonight with chicken thighs. I took the skin off them, put them in a pyrex dish with the juice of a lemon and 2 crushed garlic cloves. Popped it in the oven for an hour or so (until cooked) then put the juices in a pan, thickened it with a bit of cornflour and water and added about a teaspoon of sugar. It was really nice and tangy, a bit like chinese lemon chicken.

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

Whilst Im sat here wondering what in gods name im goign to make for tea with my very limited cupboard supply, I thought id have a browse round the indexs and try adn get soem ideas (i went there for the cooking by numbers link originally)

Anyway I came across Miss Maggies Hillbilly housewife site - my god that womans a genius!

Im sat reading through the site and it gave me a 'how to make' my own bread by hand - thing is it says white flour - so could this be plain white flour or white bread flour?? not too sure.

Anyway shes also pointed out that chicken quarters are cheaper than breast so therefore better for moneysaving - now ive always brought a whole chicken and cooked that but im wondering if buying a bag of chicken quarters (thighs im presuming) is more moneysaving in the long run as you'd have more chicken to use at later dates etc.

For example (not value but tescos own blue label) all fresh
2kg - 3kg chicken is £3.88(max for pack)
2 chicken breasts are £3.46 (max price for pack)
a bag of 4 fresh chicken legs are £2.11 (max price a pack)
chicken thighs 825g for £2.99 BOGOF

all frozen
whole frozen chickens i cant find for some reason!
frozen chicken breasts 900g £3.95
8 frozen chicken thighs 1.3kg for £1.72

I know they might take a bit more faffing about with to get the meat but would it not be more budget friendly to buy the chicken thighs??

Uniscots97

Are they not mostly bone though? I try to stick to a whole chicken from Lidl (1.29) cook it and strip the carcass.

sammy_kaye18

Hi uni - I dont have an aldi or lidls near me really though - its at least two bus journeys and with a hyperactive 3 year old thats a nightmare!!!

lol

Shortie

Hi Sammy_kaye18

That's really spooky as I had exactly the same thought on Sunday and went out and bought some FarmFoods chicken pieces (leg, thigh etc) for £2.85.

I recon there's definately 2 meals plus usual left over meat (comparing to what we have from a roasted whole chicken)

I was trying to suss out with DH which was ultimately cheaper and though I'm yet to cook them to know for definate, I thought about the size of a £3 whole chicken in Tesco and realised that lots of it is chest cavity, so although looks bigger, I recon it has less meat.

Yup, the thighs and drumsticks are going to be more fiddly, but personally I think the dark meat is much tastier and more moist. Hopefully when I do a chicken roast next, I realise I was right, otherwise it's back to a whole chicken again

apprentice_tycoon

You can make a very nice 'all in one mini roast' with chicken thighs -

Find the largest thighs you can, skin them, cut the bone out, this is not as fiddly as you might think (and if you end up with meat left on the bone, trim it off and put it back on the thighs as you roll it).

Then put a (raw) sausage where the bone was, close the meat around the sausage then wrap a piece of stretched streaky bacon around, hold with a cocktail stick if it is coming loose.

Roast in the oven for 30-40 mins or so until you are certain that it's cooked through, slice into 2 or 3 chunky diagonal slices. Adults will probably eat 2 thighs

sammy_kaye18

Lol hi shortie

can you let me know how you get on then please??

Im plannign to do my next food shop wednesday next week when i get my money in so i have a fair time to wait to find out but hopign it will help reduce my shopping bill even by a little bit adn then fingers crossed ill have more freezer space too rather than two chickens sat gawpign at me from inside (i know they are always 2 for £5 adn i can never resist it!)

Apprentice Tycoon - that sounds yummy - may have to try this - stupid question is it a raw or precooked sausage??

LandyAndy

Our local butcher does chicken legs (essentially a quarter chicken) for 50p each. Had them last night - fried off two chopped up rashers of streaky bacon an onion a carrot and some garlic cloves - browned the chicken (4 legs) on both sides added a good glug of water and some dried thyme and sage and simmered for an hour and half - added a few mushrooms and simmered for another half hour. Result excellent chicken casserole for four for about £3.50. Add in the spuds and a bit of cabbage = every body fed for £4.50. The meat just drops off the bones so no difficulties there. I very rarely buy breasts now as the legs are so good. Even DSs (10 and 12) prefer them.