I have a chicken...

leandygandy

...and I don't know what to do with it! (not the chicken itself, the presentation of the meal as a whole)

I'm going to roast it tomorrow - we will eat the drumsticks and thighs for dinner, and the breast will be used on Tuesday for enchiladas/fajitas.

My issue is I don't know what to accompany the pieces with tomorrow night...i.e. should we have chicken drumsticks with rice/pasta/potato and veg, if so does anyone have any thrilling suggestions as to how to prepare something a bit different?

Or should I pick the meat off the bones and make a chicken and potato cake type thing? Again, any ideas?

I'm just a little stuck for ideas on what to do that isn't going to be boring or bland.

No roast chicken dinner tomorrow as we are having a pie and roast potatoes for tea tonight

suki1964

BBQ them, serve with salad and jacket spuds

Chicken tikka, flat breads, salad

Btw I would joint it first, that way you can marinade your thighs and drumsticks over night and you can slice the breast very fine to make the fajitas.

Then use the bones for stock

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=o0OzRLUYB0c&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Do0OzRLUYB0c

Steve059

Or use the carcass for soup. A recipe for 1 litre (4 x 250ml bowls) of soup from one chicken carcass is available on request.

suki1964

Steve059 wrote: »

Or use the carcass for soup. A recipe for 1 litre (4 x 250ml bowls) of soup from one chicken carcass is available on request.

Post it, don't keep it to yourself

BitterAndTwisted

If you're gong to roast the chicken it seems criminal not to roast some spuds at the same time, with maybe some roasted veg to accompany them. How many people get tired of lovely roast dinners?

leandygandy

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. I will of course be using the carcass for stock - in fact I presently have a veg soup cooking away in my slow cooker using up the last lot made from a chicken.

I agree that there's nothing quite like a roast, but my husband has been complaining that in my moneysaving endeavours I have come to rely on the same old meals, and he's right, we are in a other old food rut so I'm looking for new ideas to dish up the same old ingredients really.

I've never jointed a chicken so will look into that as an option!

Keep the ideas coming lovely MSEers x

Honey_Bear

We have roast chicken, roast potatoes and parsnips or sweet potato, along with at least one green veg, usually broccoli, but spinach and peas crop up reguarly. That's the first night.

The second night, we have cold chicken with the left over roast veg chopped into half inch cubes and fried in a tiny amount of oil with a large crushed clove of garlic for sumptuous flavour. (We always cook at least twice the amount of veg we think we're going to eat on the basis that people often turn up and join us with very little notice on Sundays, and it's a really sociable meal here.)

The carcass is then stripped and turned into stock and later in the week we make a risotto with it and the left over chicken scraps.

If I can get my hands on the cold chicken before it appears in the risotto, I allow myself a greedy cold chicken and mayo sandwich on wholemeal bread - which is absolutely my favourite sandwich in the whole world.

When, for whatever reason, we can't face chicken again I freeze the meat scraps and stock for a week when we have roast lamb or beef. We only have a roast once a week, but it is a really special meal, and we ring the changes by not having the same meat every week.

Steve059

suki1964 wrote: »

Post it, don't keep it to yourself

We are here to serve.

CHICKEN SOUP

Makes 4 x 250ml servings

INGREDIENTS

1 cooked chicken carcass
100g to 125g of at least 2 vegetables (see below)
1 onion
½ a tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of dried sage
2 chicken stock cubes
1 litre of water

METHOD

Remove any skin from the chicken carcass and discard it. Peel the vegetables and chop any tops and/or bottoms off, if required, and then chop them into 2cm (1 inch) pieces. Peel the onion and chop it into 2cm (1 inch) pieces.

Put the oil into a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Add the chicken, sage, stock cubes, vegetables and water. Stir thoroughly. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling (simmering).

Put the lid on and cook for 1 hour. Check the liquid level from time to time and top up if it starts to dry out.

Fish out the bones and put them on a plate. Remove any meat which is still on the bones. Put the meat back into the soup and discard the bones.

If you have a food processor, put the soup in it and blend it to the desired consistency. If you have a hand blender, put it in the soup and blend it to the desired consistency. If you don’t have a food processor or hand blender, use a potato masher, press the soup through a sieve with the back of a spoon, or leave it lumpy. If you used a food processor, rinse out the saucepan and put the soup back into the saucepan.

Put the saucepan on a low heat and reheat the soup gently.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use green vegetables (celery, courgettes, leeks) and mushrooms for a light and delicate soup. Use root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, potatoes, swedes, turnips) and tomatoes for a thick and hearty soup, The so-called “Holy Trinity” of soup base ingredients is carrot, celery and onion.

Use mixed herbs.

For Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup, use green vegetables, omit the sage, and add a small pack of noodles after blending. Cook them in the soup, according to the instructions on the packet.

For Scottish [CENSORED]-a-Leekie Soup, use 200g to 250g of leeks, substitute the sage for thyme or a bouquet garni (a teabag with mixed herbs in), and add 4 stoned and thinly sliced prunes after blending.

TIPS

Don’t panic, if you fish out fewer bones than you remember going in. The smaller ones will have dissolved into the soup, adding to the goodness.

BAGGY

How about a sweet and sour sauce with rice? You could roast the chick whole, pull the bits off and serve with hm sauce.
Or cajun with rice and peas
Or tandoori with flat breads
Or coleslaw and wedges/jacket spud, sweetcorn/BBQ beans - american dinner our kids call it.