RECIPE: 1 chicken, 3 easy meals
If your dinners, like mine, require complex calculations of time, money and ingredients, may I suggest you roast a chicken? With a little planning, you can turn one chicken into three meals for four people: roast chicken, chicken and biscuits, and chicken soup.
The secret: Be thoughtful about each ingredient. Stuff an onion in the cavity to make the chicken juicy, then chop and saute the cooked onion for gravy. Start the gravy roux with roasted chicken fat, not butter, and make enough gravy to transform leftovers into chicken and biscuits.
And, simmer the carcass for nutrient-rich bone broth, like our grandmothers did. That bone broth? It’s flavored with the sprigs of rosemary that made our roast chicken smell so good.
- 1 4-pound whole chicken, patted dry
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small yellow onion, peeled and halved
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 2½- 2¾ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons white flour
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil all sides of the chicken, and season with salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken with the onion and rosemary. Place the chicken, breast-side up, in a cast-iron skillet, truss the drumsticks, and tuck the wing tips under the back. Bake for 60-80 minutes, until the thighs reach 165 degrees. Remove and dice the onion. Before serving the chicken, save the back, one leg, and half of one breast for Dinner No. 2.
- Pour the pan drippings into a measuring cup. Skim the fat, placing 3 tablespoons back into the skillet and discarding the rest. Add chicken broth to the measuring cup to make 3 cups liquid. Place the skillet on the stovetop and heat the fat over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute longer. Add the broth mixture and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits. Cook for 5 minutes, or until thick. Reserve 2 cups of gravy for Dinner No. 2. Reserve the bones, skin and rosemary sprigs to make chicken soup for Dinner No. 3. Makes four 6-ounce servings of roasted bone-in chicken and 1 cup of gravy for Dinner No. 1.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving, with skin removed: 311 calories (percent of calories from fat, 49), 36 grams protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 17 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 128 milligrams cholesterol, 144 milligrams sodium.DINNER NO. 2
Pick and shred the meat from the reserved chicken pieces. Stir into the reserved gravy and heat. Serve chicken and gravy over biscuits or rice.
DINNER NO. 3
Place all carcass bones on a baking sheet with 2 carrots, 1 celery stalk and ½ an onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 15 minutes in a 425-degree oven. Place the bones, vegetables and reserved skin in a slow cooker with reserved rosemary. Add 6 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Cook on low for 8 hours. Strain. Season to taste and serve with noodles or leftover rice from Dinner No. 2.
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
