This is the third post in a series of four meals that I make with one chicken. Here are the first two meals:
- BBQ Chicken
- Braised Chicken Thighs
I really don’t like chicken breasts. I find them generally to be pretty bland and tasteless and most of the time they are dry due to overcooking. Plus, they are expensive so I generally avoid them.
A chicken has two breasts though so I had to do something with them. I chose this:
Beautiful glazed chicken
This recipe had sort of a Chinese food feel to it (Orange chicken) but it is a bit different in that the chicken isn’t fried and the glaze is much better than anything I’ve ever had in a Chinese dish.
This is the second post in a four post series where I am using one chicken to make four different meals. The first meal was barbeque chicken legs.
Let it be known, this is one of my favorite ways to eat chicken ever. I learned the technique while working at a restaurant a few years ago. I got to be pretty good friends with the chef so he let me in on a few secrets. I’ve never been able to make the dish quite as good as his was, but that’s why he is a chef.
Anyway, it is still delicious, and it looks like this:
2 pounds chicken thighs 1 medium onion, diced 2 medium carrots, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 2-4 tablespoons seasoned salt 1 tablespoon dried oregano Butter, for crispy skin Rice for serving Veggies on the side
1) Coat chicken liberally with seasoned salt and preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Add chicken to a large oven-safe pot like a dutch oven along with diced onions, celery, and carrots. Cover chicken with water and stir in an extra tablespoon or two of seasoned salt and a tablespoon of oregano.
3) Cover this dish and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 30 minutes.
If you are using a whole chicken instead of just pieces, you'll want to increase the cooking time by 15-20 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through at this point.
4) Remove chicken pieces from pot and place pot over medium-high heat on the stove for 10 minutes so the sauce reduces a bit.
5) In a large skillet, add some butter over medium high heat and once melted, add the chicken pieces, skin-side down. Cook over medium-high heat until skin becomes crispy, about 4-5 minutes.
Serve chicken with rice and veggies and pour reduced sauce over everything.
I decided to use the thighs here because they are my favorite. No particular reason other than that. You could prepare the whole chicken like this if you wanted to. I also threw in the wings because I didn’t know what else to do with them (although I thought about BBQing them also).
In honor of our current recession, or depression if you are a realist, I decided to write a few posts showing, in my opinion, the pinnacle of food frugality: the whole chicken.
I think Americans are for some reason scared to death of the full chicken. Most people buy boneless, skinless breasts and call it good. In reality though, you get much more bang for your buck (not to mention flavor) by buying one of these:
On a budget? Meet your new friend.
Even if you buy really quality, hormone free chicken, you will get huge discounts if you buy the entire bird because you have to do the butchering yourself. The bird that I bought for this series of posts weighted about 4.5 pounds and cost only $12. Per pound, that is way less than factory raised boneless, skinless, flavorless breasts. And I fed two people for four meals with it. From a budget standpoint, that is hard to beat.
Every weekend, I review a cookbook in an attempt to lend some guidance in a field that has become overrun. These days everyone is writing cookbooks and it is incredibly upsetting to buy a dud and have it sit on your shelf for years – staring at you, mocking your poor judgment.
I had never heard of Katie Brown before I picked up a copy of “Katie Brown Celebrates.” I had no idea that she has her own TV show and is often tagged as the next Martha Stewart. I had no idea that she owns a bunch of stores around the country, used to have a catering company (maybe still does?), and has written a number of books.
I found out all of this stuff after reading the book. While reading the book, I found myself thinking more than once: “Who does this woman think she is? Martha Stewart?” But she isn’t Martha exactly. I think she is a cross between Martha and Sandra Lee but without the jail time or mild alcoholism.
I have been toying with the idea of a breakfast pizza for awhile now and when I saw Bittman’s polenta pizza a few weeks ago, I knew that it might just work as a base for some breakfast action.
At first the idea of a polenta pizza didn’t really intrigue me. I like my pizza crispy and thin and simple. It seemed like it would be too thick for me. I was sort of right, but it was still pretty good.
Photo tip: Don’t photograph yellow things on a yellow plate. DOH.
Anytime I see a Bittman recipe online, I always like to cross-check it with “How to Cook Everything.” In the book, he usually provides lots of alternatives and suggestions for changes.
The DOW Industrial Average closed yesterday at 6,594. The last time the stock market hit levels this low was in 1997. Talk about time machine economics. It’s crazy to think that twelve years of gains have been completely wiped out.
Here are some other things that happened in 1997…
Jan. 20 – President Clinton is inaugurated for his second term in office.
Feb. 4 – OJ Simpson is found liable in civil court for murder and ordered to pay $35 million.
Feb. 25 – I turned 14.
Mar. 6 (today) – Picasso’s Tête de Femme is stolen and found a week later.
Mar. 24 – The English Patient wins Best Picture. I would have voted for Fargo.
May 2 – Tony Blair is appointed Prime Minister of the UK.
Jul. 16 – The DOW closes about 8,000. It doubled in the last 30 months. HMMMM….
Aug. 1 – Steve Jobs returns to Apple Computers.
Aug. 29 – If Terminator were right, the computer entity SKYNET would have launched a nuclear attack on mankind.
Oct. 12 – John Denver dies in a plane crash.
Oct. 16 – The first color photograph appears on the front page of the NY Times.
Dec. 19 – Titanic hits movie theaters. My respect for Leo plummets.
It might shock you, but I have a quasi-schedule here at Macheesmo that I try to keep. To try to keep this schedule, I like to have a few back-up posts ready in case I need to remove myself from the Internet for a few days.
This post has been sitting in that backup queue for awhile now and I decided to move it straight to the top. I’ve noticed thanks to some keen Twitter followers (@thegastronome) that my last few posts have been a bit on the unhealthy side: A cheese and honey sandwich, an alcoholic beverage, and delicious breakfast rolls. This was not on purpose.
I promise it is not my goal to make you larger. It is my goal though to get you excited about cooking. I think this dinner will do that and it just so happens to be pretty healthy!
Boneless. Skinless. Flavorpacked.
As a rule, I don’t like boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I find them to be completely flavorless. They need a lot of help, in my opinion, to end up as a tasty dinner. I know a lot of people use them as their default, but I’ve never really been a fan.
Recent Comments