Chicken — Page 45

I’m switching things up a bit at the beginning of this week, and giving you three meals that make use of a rotisserie chicken, which you can find at any grocery store, on any given day of the week. These are all meals that can be made with little fuss, and will help add a little bit of variety to your weekday dinners. I suggest buying your rotisserie chicken on a Saturday or Sunday, so you have the proper time required to deal with your bird. If you have the time, I also suggest making all three meals on that same day. It really won’t take you very long to whip up each of the three recipes; the longest time will be spent waiting for the stock to cook down. You’ll have three days that you won’t have to worry about what’s for dinner if you prepare everything all at once.

For the first day, I suggest you remove all of the chicken’s meat from the bones. Dark meat and white, I’ll give you the perfect use for each. It’s best to remove the meat when the chicken is still warm, but has cooled down slightly; those birds are pretty scorching hot when you first get them home. Try to keep the chicken breasts intact, but everything else you will want to chop into smaller pieces or tear off of the carcass. Don’t throw away the carcass or any skin or fat that you remove; you’ll be boiling those down to make a simple stock, which you will use for “Rotisserie Chicken Day 3.” Also, don’t forget to set aside a bit of chicken for your dog or cat; chances are they’re sitting right beside you the entire time you’re taking all that meat off of the bones. I’m never quite sure what spices have been put on the chicken, so I tend to give Brenna a bit of the white chicken breast that is farthest away from the skin. I worry about her eating something she shouldn’t be, but there’s no way a chicken is coming into this house without her getting a piece of it.

So here’s the sad thing, blood oranges are no longer in season, which means you will no longer be able to make this recipe. So here’s the good thing, you can just substitute a normal run-of-the-mill navel orange in place of a blood orange. No big deal, the world won’t end, and this vinaigrette will still taste yummy; I promise. For the first day, thinly slice or chop the chicken breasts into chunks. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you want to leave the skin on, or go the healthier route by removing it. If you decide to remove it, put it in the pile of “stuff” that will make up your stock. Now all you have to do is whip up a batch of this vinaigrette and drizzle it all over a freshly made salad topped off with your sliced or chopped rotisserie chicken. How hard was that? You can get all crazy and experiment with several different salad makings and toppings, or you can choose to be boring and just use plain ol’ lettuce; it’s all up to you.

*If you plan on making all three recipes in one day you will need to make a simple chicken stock from the rotisserie chicken on day one. Place the leftover carcass, including all of the bones and skin, into a large pot and fill with water. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then lower the heat to medium-low. Cook for 2 hours. Use a colander to drain the liquid into a large bowl or container and allow to cool before refrigerating. The next day you will be able to skim any excess fat off of the top of the stock before using it. If you want to use the stock on day one to make day three’s recipe, place the stock in the freezer after it has come to room temperature. After a half an hour to an hour the excess fat should rise to the top of the container, which will allow you to skim it off. Any leftover stock that you do not use in day three’s recipe can be kept in the fridge or freezer for later use.

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
Zest and Juice of 1 Blood Orange
2 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Minced Onions
1 1/2 Teaspoons Poppy Seeds
1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a medium-sized bowl and whisk for 1 to 2 minutes.
Pour the vinaigrette into a glass jar or dish, cover, and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Suggestions:

If blood oranges happen to be out of season, substitute the zest and juice of a naval orange.
Refrigerating the vinaigrette for at least 4 hours will help the flavors to meld, as well as give the dried minced onions time to reconstitute.