a secret...(chicken week (12))

Sorry Mom, it's not a secret about the babies...

It's a secret that my sister-in-law shared with me and I wanted to share with ya'll.

If you take about 60-90 minutes to make the above chicken you can have up to 4 meals in a week from the meat of one chicken.  I'm going to show you how this week (a big thanks to hubs who will be eating a lot of chicken and a lot of american style dishes).

For starters and just a disclaimer.  This is with the thoughts of cooking for 2 possibly 3 people. I decided to use a 5 lb. chicken with the roasted directions down below.  We'll have to see if I can make it through the week using only this chicken.  I'll conclude the week with thoughts on whether or not the 5 lbs was good.

It's just a fun idea I've had and want to try.  I thought it might be nice to pass along an easy way to cook some meals throughout the week by putting a little time into one meal (the roasted chicken).  Maybe roasted chicken could be your "sunday dinner" and throughout the week you can use the chicken in a variety of ways.

This, however, will not be a good week for those who hate eating chicken.

Sorry friends.

Trying to make life easier for some will not work for others.

Let's begin shall we?

Recipe 1 of Chicken Week

Classic Roast Chicken (from the Weekend Cookbook)

Ingredients:

Whole chicken (we're going with a 5lb-er to feed a family of 2 for 5 recipes)

Fresh rosemary, minced

salt and pepper

Now what?

Prepare the chicken: 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place the bird, breast side up on a rack in a large roasting pan.  Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, while reassuring it that everything is going to be okay.  I feel like this allows the chicken to relax and therefore be more tender and juicy.  You think I'm kidding but I do talk to my chicken and it does taste amazing.... coincidence? I think not. Rub the outside of each chicken with rosemary and a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Roast the chicken:

Roast the chicken for 20 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue to roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into a thigh away from the bones bone registers 170 degrees. (about 40 miutes longer)  Transfer chicken to a carving board and let rest for 10 minutes.  

At this point, Hubs and I ate wings and thighs for dinner while saving the remainder of the body for the week.  You can do the same or carve up the chicken and save all of it for the week.

Now, Hubs and I like to save the bones and boil them in a big pot over a couple of hours.  We do this while watching t.v. or getting other things done. The chicken bones do not have to be supervised as long as you keep an eye on all party supplies and alcoholic beverages. Chickens will do just about anything to avoid a boiling bath. :(

We strain the bone water after it has boiled/simmered for a couple hours and then we let it cool and then we put it in freezer bags and freeze it.  For what? You might ask my pretty little pets.  For homemade soup and totally healthy broth that can be used in any recipe that calls for chicken broth.  We don't add anything like salt to the broth because it can always be added afterwards when we make a recipe.  We like the purity of the broth.  Plus, it usually doesn't need anything.

Okay, did I cover everything? I think so.  Don't forget to come back here tomorrow and later on this week to catch all the yummy recipes new to me and some of my favorites from this one chicken.