1 chicken, 4 meals
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Begin with a whole rotisserie chicken.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Day 1: The chicken as is: legs, thighs, wings
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Day 2: Sliced breast meat with dipping sauces
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Day 3: Chicken Tom Yum soup
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Day 4: Chicken curry salad
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
In the end … all that you’ll throw away is a cup of small bits of bone.
BETTY SHIMABUKURO / BSHIMABUKURO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Bonus: Fried chicken skin
A rotisserie chicken is one of life’s great dinner bargains — you can get one for as little as $5 at a warehouse store. And with just a little extra effort, you can stretch that $5 into four meals for a small family (if your family is large, get two chickens).
These meals are a quick fix for weeknights if you do the prep work on the weekend. Dismember the chicken for the Day 1 meal, set aside the breast meat and make the sauces for Day 2; make the stock for Day 3; shred the last of the meat for Day 4. By Monday all the dirty work will be done.
Follow this flow chart through four days of good eating.
DAY 1: The chicken as is: legs, thighs, wings
Cut off the breast meat; refrigerate for Day 2 meal.
DAY 2: Sliced breast meat with dipping sauces
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Sauces with punch
An assertive sauce keeps your second-day chicken meal from tasting like the first day’s. Both of these are easy to make ahead:
>> Garlic/Ginger Sauce: Combine 2 tablespoons each minced cilantro, ginger and green onion. Add 5 tablespoons vegetable oil. Season with salt to taste.
>> Satay Sauce: Combine 1/4 cup coconut milk and 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter. Add 1 tablespoon each lime juice and honey, plus 1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce.
Make stock with the carcass:
Bones and skin go into the Crock-Pot. Add the bones from your Day 1 dinner. Add 4 cups water. Cook on low overnight. Strain stock and skim fat. No Crock-Pot? Simmer several hours on the stove, until bones fall apart. The stock becomes your Day 3 meal.
DAY 3
Your favorite soup, such as:
Tom Yum Soup
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons EACH lime juice and fish sauce
- 1-inch piece ginger, sliced, crushed
- 2 stalks lemongrass, tender parts only, sliced, lightly pounded
- 1 Thai chili pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 15-ounce can straw mushrooms, drained
- 1 cup EACH halved cherry tomatoes and sliced green beans
- 8 large shrimp, peeled
Combine stock, lime juice, fish sauce, ginger, lemongrass and chili in pot; simmer 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except shrimp; simmer until beans are tender. Add shrimp; cook until pink. Serves 4.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 80 calories, 1.5 g fat, no saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, Greater than 2,000 mg sodium, 9 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 3 g sugar, 8 g protein
———
Pull off all the meat left on the bones. You’ll get at least a cup. Add leftover meat from the previous days’ meals to make your Day 4 meal.
DAY 4
Chicken salad or sandwiches
Curry Chicken Salad
Combine 1 cup shredded chicken meat (left from the stock pot) with 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt or mayonnaise. Add 1/2 cup minced onion, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add your choice of mix-ins:
>> Diced apples, halved grapes or dried fruit; serve in a papaya half.
>> Diced tomatoes, celery and/or bell peppers; serve over greens or in a sandwich.
Note: The shredded meat is also good in burritos, wraps, somen salads and other quick dishes.
BONUS
Fried chicken skin
A snack or garnish
Bits of skin can be deep-fried in vegetable oil heated to 365 degrees. They’ll splatter a lot, so be prepared to clean up. Fry until golden brown and crisp.
Makes a great snack, like meaty potato chips. Crumble them over a salad or tuck whole pieces into a steak sandwich (since you’re probably tired of chicken).
In the end …
All that you’ll throw away is a cup of small bits of bone.
10 responses to “1 chicken, 4 meals”
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For us:
Day one Roast chicken dinner as above.
Day two, chicken sandwiches.
Day three, chicken quesadillas.
Day four, Chicken salad.
Day five, chicken and dumplings.
CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
Bone all the meat off your leftover chicken, set aside
Save chicken carcass, (bones, skin, tendons, cartilage, basically all the parts you wouldn’t eat). If you want more meat add 3-4 chicken thighs.
Place carcass in a large pot with:
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion, quartered
• 2 stalks of celery, washed and cut into 3 pieces
• ½ teaspoon of salt
•
Tie the following together in a small clean cloth (cheesecloth) and tie with a string and add to the pot:
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled but not chopped
• ¼ teaspoon of thyme
Fill the pot with enough water to cover the in ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower temperature to a simmer and cook for at least 2 hours until you have a nice stock. (Hint: You can make the stock in your pressure cooker, on high for 20 minutes, no longer).
Strain the stock into another large pot and bring to a boil, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste, usually 2 teaspoons of salt, (add the first teaspoon and the rest ½ teaspoons at a time to avoid saltiness).
While the stock is cooking, make the dough for the dumplings:
• 2 cups flower (use bread flour, makes a better dumpling)
• 1 cup water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon shortening (Crisco)
•
Mix all above in a bowl and chill while stock is cooking (chilled dough is easier to work with)
When stock is seasoned and tastes done, roll out the dough on a floured surface, adding flour as needed, to a thickness of ¼ inch, no thinner.
Cut the dough in 1 ½ inch squares with a pizza cutter, get the stock boiling, and drop the dumpling one at a time in the pot. Once all the dumplings are in the pot, keep the stock boiling for twelve minutes.
Turn down the heat, add the turkey, and warm for 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat and set aside for 25 minutes uncovered to cool. Enjoy!
In you want to make a larger batch (say, to feed a family of 6) make 1 & ½ times the amount of dumplings and add more stock or bullion to the pot.
If you fill the pressure cooker to the max line, it will make extra stock, but you will probably have to add a teaspoon of chicken bullion to get the proper level of flavor.
Day one roast chicken. Day two, is there any chicken left? nope ok guess it’s taco Tuesday hahaha
Great article! Love those warehouse chickens – they make our food budget S T R E T C H !
Agreed, but chicken ala king is my favorite after munch time.
Yup. Love chicken ala king and chicken pot pie!
Can’t beat $5 chicken. Except $9 pizza.
the Garlic/Ginger Sauce has no Garlic in it.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just to visit the nearest KFC?
Once chicken is all pau, feed bones to live chickens or put in green waste bin or compost pile?
This story lasted more days than that chicken.