How to make a chicken last 3 meals (at least!)

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Chicken is probably the most common main dish around here. There are SO many ways to prepare it - arroz con pollo, seco de pollo, fried chicken and caldo de gallina (Peruvian style chicken soup), just to name a few. I've mentioned before how I can usually get 3 meals out of one chicken, and I thought I'd talk a little more about how I go about doing that.One of the best ways is to start out by roasting the whole chicken - you can do wonders with what you don’t eat for dinner. Here are some ways to make that roasted chicken appealing to the family.

Learn to slice a whole chicken. Slicing one properly makes it easier to remove the rest of the meat from the bone. The carcass can be used to create stock. Boil it in some water with a carrot, a whole onion and some celery until the rest of the meat falls off.

You can season the broth with herbs and spices - try garlic and a bay leaf. After it cools, pour it into jars for storage. Freeze it and have it ready to use for soups and casseroles.

Do your kids carry their lunches to school? Instead of buying lunch meat, slice leftover chicken breast for sandwiches. It will be a nice change from the usual lunch fare.

On the weekends, instead of ordering a pizza or going to McDonald’s, use that chicken. Cube a few pieces to toss on top of a salad with some cheese and croutons. Combine with peppers and onions in a skillet, then stir in some chili powder or taco seasonings to make filling for fajitas or soft tacos.

My guys don't care for the breast meat as a main dish, but will eat it up if it's cooked into a tallarin saltado (stir fry) or aji de gallina (chicken in a spicy sauce). Does your family like chicken pot pie? Add some of the chicken, along with vegetables (canned or frozen) and a can of creamed soup to a pie crust and you’ve got an instant dinner that takes less than an hour to prepare. It is a quick meal idea perfect for busy families. A salad on the side will make a complete and healthy dinner.

Chicken based casseroles can be made and frozen for future meals. The family may be all “chickened out” for the week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of the chicken you have left for future weeks.

Make your own soup with juicy chicken pieces and wide egg noodles - or use spaghetti noodles for Peruvian style.. That broth you jarred up will serve as a nice base and best of all it's already seasoned. Add noodles and sliced vegetables like carrots, celery, and onions to your soup. When the noodles are tender, add the chicken. Since it is already cooked it just needs to warn up. Ladle up a bowl for a light weekend lunch, or for 'lonche' in the evening with some fresh pan frances from the panaderia.

What are you doing with your chicken after dinner tonight? Try some of these ideas to make that chicken do double and triple duty to save on your family’s grocery bill. The best part is that the new meals are just as tasty as the original dish.

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Scalloped Potatoes ROCK the House

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I roasted a chicken today, which always gets rave reviews. Unfortunately, I used my last envelope of onion soup mix, so next time I'm going to have to find a new way to season it. But the real jewel of the meal today was the scalloped potatoes. I made them once, a LONG time ago... back when we still lived in the casita, so at least 4 years past. I'm not sure why I waited so long to make them again. The Peruvian papas rosada (pink potato) are perfect - they cook well, and have a soft, creamy texture that goes well with the sauce. Here's how I made it.

5-6 large potatoes - enough to fill a 2 liter (2 quart) casserole
1 small onion
50 grams (about 3 tbsp) butter
30 grams (1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
350 ml (about 1-1/2 cups) chicken broth
30 ml (about 2 tbsp) mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Peel and slice the potatoes in very thin slices - helps if you have a mandolin slicer. Cut the onion in half, peel and also cut in very thin slices - as thin as you can get them.

Grease your casserole dish and layer the potato and onion slices with salt and pepper. Don't be shy with the salt and pepper.

In a saucepan, melt the butter.

Add the flour, and stir until it's a smooth paste.

Add the broth, and whisk, whisk, whisk!!! You want it smooth with no lumps.

Add the mayonnaise, and keep whisking until it gets thick and just starts to bubble.

Pour the mixture over the potatoes. Cover, and put it all in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. (175 Celsius) Let it cook for about 1-1/2 hours.

This is SO good. I'm a dolt for not taking a picture, to show you how delicious this looked. I sprinkled some paprika on top. You might try adding some chives, or maybe some chopped ham layered in with the potatoes and onions. Or sprinkle some cheddar in there.

I bet it wouldn't be hard to make this vegan, either.

This is easy and really filling. Give it a try, your family will love you.

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Seco de Pollo - Peruvian Chicken Stew

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Like a lot of people, we've been having to pull our belts tight lately. And eating cheap means eating a lot of chicken. I mentioned in the last post that I can usually get three meals out of one chicken. The first meal is usually something that uses chicken parts - typically the legs and thighs. Today, I cooked one of those meals, a delicious Peruvian dish called seco de pollo. "Seco" literally means 'dry', and signifies a stew, as opposed to 'aguadito' (meaning watery) for soup (that's aguadito in the picture).

I start with a whole chicken, which I wash thoroughly, pat dry with paper towels, then cut up into parts. I cut up into quarters, then separate the legs from the thighs, and use those 4 pieces for this meal. Finely chop up an onion. Take a bunch of fresh cilantro and stick it in the blender with enough chicken broth to make it paste-y, maybe 1/4 to a half a cup. Clean the cilantro first - make sure it doesn't have any large stems or icky pieces in it. I don't know if it's available in the US, but here in Peru you can buy cilantro in a jar, already pureed. If you can find it - maybe try a Latin market? - that takes some of the work and clean up out of the recipe.

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat a little oil, then drop the chicken in to brown. You don't want to cook it through, just lightly brown it on both sides. While the chicken is browning, I get my peas ready - a large handful of pods. By the time I'm done cutting up the carrots, the chicken should be done browning. Take the chicken out, set it to the side, and put the onion in the pot. Add in a couple or three cloves worth of minced garlic, and if you want, some aji amarillo, and saute it all together for a couple minutes. Aji amarillo is a Peruvian chili pepper, which you should be able to find at the Latin market - if not, use a little finely minced jalepeno or similar pepper.

When the onions start to turn translucent, add in the cilantro mix and about 4 cups of chicken stock. Add in the peas and carrots. Peel 4 medium to large potatoes, cut into quarters and add them to the stew. Put the chicken parts back in, and cover and let it cook until all the vegetables are soft and the chicken is cooked through.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with a big pile of white rice.

Sit back and enjoy the compliments. ;)

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Making Chicken Soup

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Last night, I made chicken soup for dinner. When it's just the four of us, I can get 3 meals out of a good sized chicken. The first night, I'll use the legs (for the boys) and thighs (for the grownups!) in something that calls for parts - fried, or in Peruvian chicken stew. Or, I'll roast the whole thing and just eat the leg quarters the first night. Moving on, I separate the wings from the breast, leaving a good amount of meat at the joint of the wing. I'll use the breast for something that calls for cut up or shredded chicken. Aji de gallina or maybe a stir-fry. Finally, I'll use the wings, feet, neck and liver to make soup.

Yeah, you heard me. Feet.

Don't you judge me!

So - long intro later, with my mom and Nicky visiting, I can only get 2 nights out of a chicken. We had fried chicken Wednesday night, and last night I made chicken soup. This is how I did it.

I had a half breast and a wing left over from frying, plus the feet and neck. I put all of that in my stock pot with a whole onion and a whole carrot and a 4 finger pinch of salt. (That's where you use your thumb and and three fingers to grab salt out of the bag - it's about a tablespoon in my case) Covered it with water, and brought it to a boil, then let it simmer for about an hour.

Once the chicken was done, I ran it through a strainer into my OTHER stock pot. You can use a large bowl or whatever you've got - the point is to get the stock clear and clean. I don't like little bits of unknown chicken parts and skin and stuff floating in my soup. Toss out the onion, cut up the carrot. Put your broth back on the stove. Now at this part, I do what some people might consider cheating - I toss in a couple of bouillon cubes. I like my soup really chicken-y. I also added about a teaspoon of poultry seasoning(I used a spicy one), 2 minced garlic cloves and a bay leaf.

This is when I added another chopped up raw carrot to the broth and let it start cooking. Save the already cooked carrot to drop in at the end - you don't want it over cooked. I also cut up a couple potatoes in bite size pieces and put that in. While the veggies are cooking, I worked on getting all the meat off the chicken carcass. I set the feet aside -- if you cook them too long, they start falling apart, and I know not everyone wants pieces of chicken feet in their soup. But my boys love them, so I saved it aside for them. Dump the meat into the soup. Let the veggies cook for about 20 minutes, and then add the other cooked carrot from earlier AND about 150 grams of spaghetti. Well, that's what I usually add - last night I used up a pack of alphabet noodles that I had hanging around. Let it cook until the noodles are soft, then give it a taste. Add salt and pepper to your taste.

Yum.

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