Chicken leftovers - food for the imagination
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How many meals from a chicken?
Sadly, I know quite a few households who will have just one meal and perhaps a sandwich or light salad from a chicken. What a waste! Perhaps these folks don't realise just how much nutritious food is left on that chicken, even in the carcass you were about to throw in the garbage.
Think again.
Now, your average chicken is not a stupid bird, anyone who has ever kept chickens can tell you that, and don't you think it's grossly unfair to waste all that chicken goodness it has spent its life building up to sustain you.
You owe it to your chicken to make the most of that sweetly delicious nourishment it has so graciously cultivated for you.
My paternal Grandmother kept hens for their eggs but as a hen ages it will go "off the lay" and these birds she would eventually take "for the pot". I was less than five years old when I first went to feed the hens with her and I'm sure I was only there to distract the rest while she gathered up the hen we would eat that night. She explained to me how the hens would always know if you were there to take one of their number and would gather around it, preventing you from catching her. "You have to think about something else entirely when you go in to feed them, or they know," she said.
I wonder how many others heard the same story from a Grandparent while scattering the feed?
Respect your chicken!
How many meals from a chicken? Everything below came from ONE chicken ... and that's not all, the same chicken provided the stock for more than one pot of soup as well. From this, not very large, chicken I managed to extract at least five main courses and several soups - trust me, these are filling and full of nutrition and could stand as a main course themselves with the addition of some good wholemeal bread (soups will be a seperate lens).
Please, make the most of your chicken :-)
What was left on this chicken after a meal
First pick your chicken
When you are buying a chicken, you might want to consider paying a few pence more for an organic free range chicken. The meat will be much tastier. Better still, if you are anywhere near a chicken farm, buy from the farm itself, especially if you can see the chickens strolling around scratching up the ground.
Even if you don't live near a chicken farm, you might find there's one outside the city where you live and wouldn't it make a nice Sunday drive with the kids, also having the benefit of letting them see precisely where food comes from. This would be no bad thing and the fact that chicken will last for several meals surely also makes the trip worthwhile.
Of course, the first meal you have will be the roast chicken, possibly with roast potatoes, gravy and all the trimmings. Your second meal could easily be a salad, whether a simple straightforward salad or perhaps cubed chicken tossed into a pasta salad - it will depend what else you plan with the bird.
As it was Winter here when I put this lens together, I wanted hot food and that's what I am providing here.
Even if you don't live near a chicken farm, you might find there's one outside the city where you live and wouldn't it make a nice Sunday drive with the kids, also having the benefit of letting them see precisely where food comes from. This would be no bad thing and the fact that chicken will last for several meals surely also makes the trip worthwhile.
Of course, the first meal you have will be the roast chicken, possibly with roast potatoes, gravy and all the trimmings. Your second meal could easily be a salad, whether a simple straightforward salad or perhaps cubed chicken tossed into a pasta salad - it will depend what else you plan with the bird.
As it was Winter here when I put this lens together, I wanted hot food and that's what I am providing here.
Second, pick your chicken
No, that's not a mistake.After you have taken the carveable meat off the chicken, either in the first meal or for salad etc, strip or pick all the remaining meat from the bones.
You'll find that even the wings and the underside of the chicken will yield a little meat to add to the rest and when you have done so, don't discard the bones or skin which are left over from that process,. These will make a marvellous stock.
You may want to seperate the meat into light and dark meat for different types of dishes. The light meat is best for chicken crème (chicken in a white sauce) and the dark meat will be fine in any of the other cooked dishes below.
Making up stock from the bones
As you can see above, I stripped all the meat off the bones and put the remains of the carcass in a pot with a medium sized onion and enough water to cover the lot comfortably.
At this point, you can also add herbs or spices if you wish the whole stock to be flavoured by them but as I save some of the stock (in the freezer) the only seasonings I add at this stage are normally a touch of salt and some pepper in the form of whole black peppercorns.
Place the pot on your stove, bring to the boil and then turn down to a modest simmer, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for a couple of hours. Keep checking occasionally and top up the liwuid if necessary. Obviously, you don't want it to boil dry.
After a couple of hours, strain the liquid off the bones (don't throw anything away yet) and you should find that you have a small amount of opaque yellowish fluid. This is concentrated chicken stock which you can seperate into several containers and freeze - frozen chicken stock cubes.
Nor are you finished. If you have a pet (yes, I know what they say about chicken bones) you have at least one meal in there for your cat or dog. Yes, the bones from a roast chicken are brittle and should never be given to animals in the roast bone condition but, once you have simmered the bones for a couple of hours in liquid, you'll find you can crush them between your fingers. There is still goodness in there. Depending on the type of pet you have, you may want to crush these softened bones before giving them to the pet.
I still haven't ventured to use crushed bone in a family recipe but I guess if I'm ever close to starving I might be in a position to let you know if they're as tasty as they smell. Lots of calcium in there I should think LOL
At this point, you can also add herbs or spices if you wish the whole stock to be flavoured by them but as I save some of the stock (in the freezer) the only seasonings I add at this stage are normally a touch of salt and some pepper in the form of whole black peppercorns.
Place the pot on your stove, bring to the boil and then turn down to a modest simmer, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for a couple of hours. Keep checking occasionally and top up the liwuid if necessary. Obviously, you don't want it to boil dry.
After a couple of hours, strain the liquid off the bones (don't throw anything away yet) and you should find that you have a small amount of opaque yellowish fluid. This is concentrated chicken stock which you can seperate into several containers and freeze - frozen chicken stock cubes.
Nor are you finished. If you have a pet (yes, I know what they say about chicken bones) you have at least one meal in there for your cat or dog. Yes, the bones from a roast chicken are brittle and should never be given to animals in the roast bone condition but, once you have simmered the bones for a couple of hours in liquid, you'll find you can crush them between your fingers. There is still goodness in there. Depending on the type of pet you have, you may want to crush these softened bones before giving them to the pet.
I still haven't ventured to use crushed bone in a family recipe but I guess if I'm ever close to starving I might be in a position to let you know if they're as tasty as they smell. Lots of calcium in there I should think LOL
Chicken Crème serving suggestion
Chicken Crème
The next meal I made from this chicken was using the leftover white meat. Posh names abound for this meal but in everyday parlance it's chicken in a white sauce.
It's really a very simple meal to make but very filling, you really don't need a lot on your plate.
First chop the chicken roughly into pieces, you just don't want anything too large.
When you have the butter melted in the pan (to make the sauce), and before you add the flour, fry off your chosen pieces of chicken in the butter for a few minutes, remove them from the pan and set them on one side. This helps to impart the flavour of the chicken throughout the sauce. Carry on with making the sauce as normal, using the chicken flavoured butter but when you have added the milk to make the white sauce, return the chicken to the pan, season to taste and put it all onto the heat to thicken the sauce (stir constantly to prevent sticking).
Once the sauce has thickened, serve immediately. I have given one serving suggestion above but this is also great with baked potatoes, in a savoury pancake, with pasta, or just on toast with freshly ground pepper over it ... MMmmmmm.
You may want to make a few additions and have the sauce a little thinner or thicker, depending on what will accompany the dish.
I did say it's quite filling, didn't I.
It's really a very simple meal to make but very filling, you really don't need a lot on your plate.
First chop the chicken roughly into pieces, you just don't want anything too large.
When you have the butter melted in the pan (to make the sauce), and before you add the flour, fry off your chosen pieces of chicken in the butter for a few minutes, remove them from the pan and set them on one side. This helps to impart the flavour of the chicken throughout the sauce. Carry on with making the sauce as normal, using the chicken flavoured butter but when you have added the milk to make the white sauce, return the chicken to the pan, season to taste and put it all onto the heat to thicken the sauce (stir constantly to prevent sticking).
Once the sauce has thickened, serve immediately. I have given one serving suggestion above but this is also great with baked potatoes, in a savoury pancake, with pasta, or just on toast with freshly ground pepper over it ... MMmmmmm.
You may want to make a few additions and have the sauce a little thinner or thicker, depending on what will accompany the dish.
I did say it's quite filling, didn't I.
Ingredients for chicken stir-fry
Stir-fry chicken
For a chicken stir-fry you can add just about any vegetables you like, from bamboo shoots to turnips, simply use up whatever you happen to have.
Here I used up the various smaller bits of leftover chicken and along with the various pieces of vegetables which you see above, I finished off a jar of wild cranberry sauce in the mix.
Stir-fries, especially using pre-cooked meat, are quick and simple to make.
Chop the veg. Dense veg like turnip needs to be chopped smaller than other veg as it will take a little longer to soften. Shredded cabbage (best finely shredded) can go in pretty much at the last minute. You should ideally aim for the vegetables being al dente, just that bit of resistance to the teeth, it's healthier and retains more of the vitamins.
Have everything chopped to size before you begin cooking. Put on some rice to cook, I prefer brown rice, it really is better for you, approximately a handful per person of dried rice is normally enough. Brown rice used to take ages to cook but there is one you can buy which is ready in about twenty minutes, perfect timing.
Once the rice is cooking, heat your oil (I prefer extra virgin olive oil for stir-fries) and start throwing in the veg, onions and hardest veg first, keeping the contents of the pan moving, give it a minute or two and then add the next veg.
When you are down to just the chicken and the cabbage left to add, throw them in and then add whatever sauce ingredients you like, whether this is just a generous dash of soy sauce or a sweet and sour sauce, now is the time to add it.
The stir-fry is now ready to put on a bed of the rice and served at the table.
Here I used up the various smaller bits of leftover chicken and along with the various pieces of vegetables which you see above, I finished off a jar of wild cranberry sauce in the mix.
Stir-fries, especially using pre-cooked meat, are quick and simple to make.
Chop the veg. Dense veg like turnip needs to be chopped smaller than other veg as it will take a little longer to soften. Shredded cabbage (best finely shredded) can go in pretty much at the last minute. You should ideally aim for the vegetables being al dente, just that bit of resistance to the teeth, it's healthier and retains more of the vitamins.
Have everything chopped to size before you begin cooking. Put on some rice to cook, I prefer brown rice, it really is better for you, approximately a handful per person of dried rice is normally enough. Brown rice used to take ages to cook but there is one you can buy which is ready in about twenty minutes, perfect timing.
Once the rice is cooking, heat your oil (I prefer extra virgin olive oil for stir-fries) and start throwing in the veg, onions and hardest veg first, keeping the contents of the pan moving, give it a minute or two and then add the next veg.
When you are down to just the chicken and the cabbage left to add, throw them in and then add whatever sauce ingredients you like, whether this is just a generous dash of soy sauce or a sweet and sour sauce, now is the time to add it.
The stir-fry is now ready to put on a bed of the rice and served at the table.
Ingredients for chicken and mushroom pie
Chicken and mushroom pie
It doesn't look like much, a couple of mushrooms, a little bit of chicken and some white sauce which will be presented in pastry, but this small pie is enough to feed two people.
Again, we're looking at some of the leftover chicken ... I bet you think I had more than one chicken but I can assure you I didn't ... and a couple of mushrooms which were a bit past their best really but the end result is a very tasty pie.
You may want to gently fry the mushrooms in preparation, I sliced mine thinly and I like raw mushroom so didn't fry them first.
Follow the general directions for making pastry, I added a little of my favourite herb to the pastry before mixing, layer the ingredients into the pastry bottom, finishing with the sauce, cover with a pastry lid, cut a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape and bake at 180 degrees C for about twenty minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
If you brush the top with milk or water you will see a slightly different effect once baked, this pie was brushed with milk.
Again, we're looking at some of the leftover chicken ... I bet you think I had more than one chicken but I can assure you I didn't ... and a couple of mushrooms which were a bit past their best really but the end result is a very tasty pie.
You may want to gently fry the mushrooms in preparation, I sliced mine thinly and I like raw mushroom so didn't fry them first.
Follow the general directions for making pastry, I added a little of my favourite herb to the pastry before mixing, layer the ingredients into the pastry bottom, finishing with the sauce, cover with a pastry lid, cut a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape and bake at 180 degrees C for about twenty minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
If you brush the top with milk or water you will see a slightly different effect once baked, this pie was brushed with milk.
Ingredients for chicken and vegetable pie
Chicken and vegetable pie
This pie was made using up a few leftover cooked vegetables, a bit of the leftover chicken, the leftover gravy and a tiny amount of onion (which you will want to fry gently before adding to the pie).
Layer the ingredients into the pastry case - again this is pastry with herbs included at the dry stage - and pour over the gravy.
Other than that, follow the procedure for the pie above and the end result is another pie for two.
In this case I brushed the top of the pastry with water.
Layer the ingredients into the pastry case - again this is pastry with herbs included at the dry stage - and pour over the gravy.
Other than that, follow the procedure for the pie above and the end result is another pie for two.
In this case I brushed the top of the pastry with water.
This lens belongs to ...
Do you have ideas to share?
If you have any tips and hints for using up your leftover chicken then why not leave an idea or two here to inspire others.
Better still, once you have, why not go and start a lens of your own to share your ideas on recycling food leftovers.
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NHgal
Jan 8, 2011 @ 9:01 pm | delete
- I love your casual approach to cooking, and your sense of humor. Time to try making a chicken pot pie....
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0ctavias0fferings
Aug 2, 2009 @ 3:53 pm | in reply to KathyMcGraw | delete
- Unfortunately that is sometimes because there is water added to the supermarket chicken to make them seem plumper.
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KathyMcGraw
Aug 2, 2009 @ 3:40 pm | delete
- Now I've seen everything....a cat that talks about herbs :) Seriously, I tweeted this lens too, I like how easy they are, nothing special to buy and easy to follow directions.
I noticed that chickens that run around on the farm are not plump and juicy like our supermarket ones.....:)
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CherylK May 30, 2009 @ 4:01 pm | delete
- Yummy! I also like to make the most of leftovers. If I can't use them right away, I seal them up and put them in the freezer until I can. Excellent lens.
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Vladi
May 14, 2009 @ 6:37 am | delete
- I prefer the breast, lightly poached in very watery milk, sliced into thin strips and gently placed over a thin bed of polenta. Served room temperature. Personally I believe herbs are over-rated. High Paw!
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