I do a lot of "rubber chicken" meals in the cooler months, roasting a chicken the first of the week and using the leftover meat and stock in future meals that week. Generally, the final meal is a big pot of soup. (Remember, my family consists of 2 adults who are trying to be moderate in our meat intake and 3 toddler/preschoolers who don't eat a large quantity of anything at one sitting; 1 chicken can stretch a way for us!)
In the warmer weather, however, turning my oven on long enough to roast a chicken, then standing over a stockpot that evening, and then making soup later in the week is simply too hot to consider. Enter "Rubber Chicken, Asian Style." Here's the menu:
Meal 1: Chicken Hainan style, made with a whole chicken and lots of water--so there is lots of stock leftover; I also cook lots of rice so I'll have plenty leftover
Meal 2: Fried Rice (begin with extra Ginger-Scallion Sauce from the first meal; add in 4-5 cups rice, 2 eggs, and leftover chicken--that's the basics along with a dash of soy sauce)
Meal 3: Chicken Coconut Soup with Lemongrass (Tom Kha Gai); you might not need as much ginger since you'll be using leftover stock that's already seasoned with ginger; in addition, make sure you save some chicken for this, although you might have less than a pound. This soup is super quick to make, full of summery flavors (lime, coconut, chilies), and is a fun use of leftover chicken! If you don't think your children will eat it, perhaps they can have some leftover fried rice.
Showing posts with label Rubber Chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rubber Chicken. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Rubber Chicken Re-visit
I've been roasting chickens and making a ton of great leftovers from them (aka rubber chicken), but haven't posted my recipes in a while. So, since someone else has done a terrific job of walking you through the process once again, I'll direct you to her: Cheap, Healthy Good (a very fun food-related blog). Enjoy! The recipes look great and nicely varied.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Easy Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken
Two versions of this easy "rotisserie" chicken: 1 that is super easy and 1 that is almost as easy! You may never buy another rotisserie chicken from the grocery! My sister contributed the cooking method here, although the method is very similar to one in our Meals for a Month cookbook. So, that's the bonus: you can freeze the chicken already seasoned, pull it out to thaw ahead of time, and simply pop it into your slow cooker on the day of choice!
Super Easy Version
1 whole chicken, 3-5 pounds, giblets and such removed
Lawry's seasoned salt (or lemon pepper or seasoning blend of choice)
4-5 balls of foil or foil-wrapped baking potatoes
1. Rinse chicken and pat dry.
2. Season chicken liberally with seasoning mix.
3. Place foil or foil-wrapped potatoes in bottom of slow cooker.
4. Place chicken breast-side down on top of foil.
5. Cook on high for 4-6 hours.
Voila! Yummy chicken! This is very tender and moist. If you use potatoes, then your meal is almost complete. The potatoes will be a bit mushier than those baked in an oven; we smashed ours and added in butter, milk, salt and pepper.
Almost as Easy Version
This seasoning blend comes from Meals for a Month; half is rubbed under the skin of the chicken and half on top of the skin before freezing/cooking. This yields a very flavorful, almost "smoky" taste. You proceed in the same fashion as above with the crockpot, replacing the Lawry's with this rub (enough for a whole chicken or 3 pounds chicken parts):
Super Easy Version
1 whole chicken, 3-5 pounds, giblets and such removed
Lawry's seasoned salt (or lemon pepper or seasoning blend of choice)
4-5 balls of foil or foil-wrapped baking potatoes
1. Rinse chicken and pat dry.
2. Season chicken liberally with seasoning mix.
3. Place foil or foil-wrapped potatoes in bottom of slow cooker.
4. Place chicken breast-side down on top of foil.
5. Cook on high for 4-6 hours.
Voila! Yummy chicken! This is very tender and moist. If you use potatoes, then your meal is almost complete. The potatoes will be a bit mushier than those baked in an oven; we smashed ours and added in butter, milk, salt and pepper.
Almost as Easy Version
This seasoning blend comes from Meals for a Month; half is rubbed under the skin of the chicken and half on top of the skin before freezing/cooking. This yields a very flavorful, almost "smoky" taste. You proceed in the same fashion as above with the crockpot, replacing the Lawry's with this rub (enough for a whole chicken or 3 pounds chicken parts):
- 2 t. salt
- 2 t. smoked paprika
- 1 t. onion salt
- 1 t. garlic powder
- 1/2 t. dried rosemary
- 1/2 t. dried thyme
- 1 T. sugar
- 1/8 t. pepper
- 1/8 t. cayenne pepper
Rotisserie Rubber Chicken Menu
See here for an explanation of "rubber chicken."
Day 1
Rotisserie Chicken in the Crockpot with mashed potatoes (potatoes cooked in crock); green side veggie (steamed broccoli, salad, whatever)
Day 2
Barbeque chicken sandwiches (toss the shredded chicken with your favorite BBQ sauce and serve with bun of your choice); slaw; corn on the cob
Day 3
(You can also do this step on day 1; I usually do since I'm already a mess from pulling all the meat off the bird.) Make stock with a carrot or two, a celery stalk or two, and a peeled onion: break/cut the veggies in half and throw them in the pot with the carcass. Add some garlic powder, a bay leaf or two, some salt and pepper (go easy on the salt since your carcass may be heavily salted), and boil away until you like the looks of it. Strain out the broth and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, you can skim all the fat off of the top and freeze for use in soup later in the week.
Good soup choices: any chicken noodle or chicken rice variation would work well with these flavors; also a good bean soup (especially if you made your own rub for the chicken and included smoked paprika) or vegetable soup
Day 1
Rotisserie Chicken in the Crockpot with mashed potatoes (potatoes cooked in crock); green side veggie (steamed broccoli, salad, whatever)
Day 2
Barbeque chicken sandwiches (toss the shredded chicken with your favorite BBQ sauce and serve with bun of your choice); slaw; corn on the cob
Day 3
(You can also do this step on day 1; I usually do since I'm already a mess from pulling all the meat off the bird.) Make stock with a carrot or two, a celery stalk or two, and a peeled onion: break/cut the veggies in half and throw them in the pot with the carcass. Add some garlic powder, a bay leaf or two, some salt and pepper (go easy on the salt since your carcass may be heavily salted), and boil away until you like the looks of it. Strain out the broth and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, you can skim all the fat off of the top and freeze for use in soup later in the week.
Good soup choices: any chicken noodle or chicken rice variation would work well with these flavors; also a good bean soup (especially if you made your own rub for the chicken and included smoked paprika) or vegetable soup
Monday, October 13, 2008
Rubber Chicken
The term "rubber chicken" refers to stretching that chicken to make as many meals as possible from it, often ending with soup or stock. For rubber chicken, it's imperative that you start with bone-in chicken pieces or a whole chicken; otherwise, you can't make stock from it at the end! I like the idea of rubber chicken, but in my current busy life, I have to have everything thought-through and organized ahead of time or it won't happen.
So, I had the genius idea of creating some rubber chicken menus: a recipe for roasted chicken, a second dish made from the cooked chicken meat (and coordinating with the flavors/seasonings used in the roasting recipe), and a final soup or stock (also coordinating with the earlier flavors/seasonings). This way, I'm much, much more likely to actually make use of my bird! There are so many variations here--Mexican-inspired, Curry-infused, Garlic-infused, Basic (salt and pepper), Herbed varieties, etc. I have a roasted chicken recipe for each of these scenarios and accompanying dishes/suggestions to do with the leftovers! Then, my week is half planned. I usually bake some potatoes or sweet potatoes along with the chicken and only need to come up with a simple vegetable side for half of my week's meals!
Many people do rubber chicken on the weekends and then eat off of it early in the week. For our family, it works best to roast the chicken for Monday night's dinner. Mondays are our home days because our weekends (especially Sunday) are so long. Since we have a 45 minute commute to church, we usually do something ultra simple like soup or salad or sandwiches for Sunday lunch. Thus, a "real meal" is extra welcome on Mondays! Here's our new weekly schedule (we'll see how long I can keep this up):
Italian Rubber Chicken
Basic Rubber Chicken
Decadent Rubber Chicken
Rotisserie Rubber Chicken
So, I had the genius idea of creating some rubber chicken menus: a recipe for roasted chicken, a second dish made from the cooked chicken meat (and coordinating with the flavors/seasonings used in the roasting recipe), and a final soup or stock (also coordinating with the earlier flavors/seasonings). This way, I'm much, much more likely to actually make use of my bird! There are so many variations here--Mexican-inspired, Curry-infused, Garlic-infused, Basic (salt and pepper), Herbed varieties, etc. I have a roasted chicken recipe for each of these scenarios and accompanying dishes/suggestions to do with the leftovers! Then, my week is half planned. I usually bake some potatoes or sweet potatoes along with the chicken and only need to come up with a simple vegetable side for half of my week's meals!
Many people do rubber chicken on the weekends and then eat off of it early in the week. For our family, it works best to roast the chicken for Monday night's dinner. Mondays are our home days because our weekends (especially Sunday) are so long. Since we have a 45 minute commute to church, we usually do something ultra simple like soup or salad or sandwiches for Sunday lunch. Thus, a "real meal" is extra welcome on Mondays! Here's our new weekly schedule (we'll see how long I can keep this up):
- Monday: Roast Chicken of some sort (pick off meat after dinner--save carcass and meat separately)
- Tuesday: Meal with leftover cooked chicken (casserole, pasta dish, etc.); make stock from carcass
- Wednesday: Church
- Thursday: Freezer meal or leftovers from Tuesday
- Friday: Make soup from stock! Simple, eh? (We usually just eat off of the soup for lunches and maybe Sunday night dinner; Friday night's meal will either be the soup or something from the freezer)
- Saturday: Stir-Fry with meat already cut up from the freezer, Entree Salad, or something grilled (the only night of the week that hubby is home for dinner with the kids except Sunday--we eat fresh stuff (the kinds of meals that don't reheat well))
- Sunday: soup, salad, sandwiches, or leftovers
Italian Rubber Chicken
- Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic (crock-pot recipe)
- 3-Cheese Chicken Florentine (we leave out the mushrooms, but this is sooooo good--freezes well, too) OR Chicken Spaghetti OR White and Green Lasagna
- Minestrone
- Red-Roasted Chicken
- Chipotle Cheddar Chicken Cakes OR Quesadillas OR Chicken Tucson OR Gringo Chicken Salad (needs a lot of leftover cooked chicken)
- Black Bean Soup
- Glazed Chicken and Vegetables (includes apples)
- Curried Chicken Salad OR Chicken Divan
- Coffeehouse Chicken Noodle Soup
- Herb-Roasted Chicken (Dried Herbs) OR Herb-Roasted Chicken (Fresh Herbs)
- Chicken Spectacular OR Chicken Salad OR Risotto
- stock for any soup
Basic Rubber Chicken
- Basic Roast Chicken
- Chicken Spectacular OR Asian Chicken Salad OR Homemade Hot Pockets OR Sticky Skins--roast some extra potatoes along with your chicken the first day
- Stock for any soup
Decadent Rubber Chicken
- New Mommy Roast Chicken
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Stock for any soup
Rotisserie Rubber Chicken
- Slow-Cooker Rotisserie Chicken
- Easy BBQ Chicken Sandwiches OR Sticky Skins
- Stock for any soup--especially good for bean soups if you're leaving a ham bone out
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