Cook Once, Eat Twice

I ascribe to the motto-Cook once, eat twice.  Sometimes, I can even get 3 or 4 meal ideas out of one cooking session.  Today I’d love to share my roast chicken recipe with you.  It is the start for chicken tacos, chicken casseroles, soups, or salads.

I start with a whole chicken, actually TWO whole chickens.  If you have the time to bake one, beIieve me  you have time to bake 2!!--One to eat now and the other heads to the freezer for another day.

I line my roasting pan with foil.  I then wash the outside plastic wrap of the chicken.  I know this sounds strange, but food experts can’t seems to agree whether the actual chicken should be rinsed or not due to the potential for contamination and splattering of chicken juice around the kitchen. 

Washing the packaging, then using scissors to cut the plastic and slide it off the chicken while it sits in the foil lined pan allows all the juices to end up in the roaster pan.  Splattering is minimal.  I pitch the package and lay my chickens- breast side down and side by side.  I season liberally with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper or garlic powder. 

I believe I have mentioned chicken soup base in the past as a seasoning ingredient and making broth.  I add a tsp or 2 to a cup of water and pour that into the bottom of the roasting pan. I cover the pan with a piece of foil tented over the chickens.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the chicken in the oven.  Turn over one hour into the cooking time and season this side of the chicken breast side up.

Two to 2 1/2 hours later for a 4-5 lb bird and an internal temp of 180 degrees, you will remove the nicely browned roasted chicken from the oven.  I serve it with roasted potatoes and green beans the first night.

Remove the rest of the chicken meat from the bone.  If you have time, do the same to the second chicken.  Freeze the meat in amounts appropriate for your family.

 I place the chicken bones, the juices in the pan, and the skin into a pot and cover with water. Add an onion, 2-3 stalks celery-leaves and all, and a couple of roughly chopped carrots.   Season with pepper and a Tbsp or 2 of chicken soup base.  Simmer for an hour or so. Allow to cool & remove all the solids from the broth.  Refrigerate and the fat will solidify and can be easily removed.

You can even do this in a crockpot and just let it simmer all day.  Freeze for up to 3 months or use as a base for chicken soup, chicken pot pie or Fettucini Alfredo.  You can search out this blog for those recipes.

Confectionately  Yours,

Sue