Who doesn’t love one? Not having the trouble of picking out a nice plump uncooked, whole bird and drying it, spread the butter compound on and seasoning carefully, then putting in the dutch cooking pot (where you’ll probably find in the appliance graveyard!) then cook it in the oven, (Oh my god! Do you remember that appliance? It bakes!). The long 2 to 3 hours slow baking, filling the house with that aroma and yet, it’s 80 something outside and believe you me, it will get near 100 in the kitchen. Ahh! No, not in the sweltering heat of summer.
It’s hard to think that the rotisserie chicken known as the “Queen” of chickens could be so amazingly super juicy, flavorful and in terms of convenience, a guaranteed lifesaver from the market. Cooking from scratch on a whirlwind of a day, or it’s just too hot to function, and when you need dinner on the table within minutes of coming home you’re allowed to bask in the savory, freshly-roasted wonder, that is easy to slice or easy to shred. Smile, it’s not a sneaky seize to a really quick option to dinner, I would say you would agree with me that less work cooking for dinner means more time for dessert and you haven’t busted your coin purse and have a low-cost meal, with so many other uses afterwards, the perfect marriage of deliciousness and time management…
When choosing a roaster, go for the plain roasted. The others have high amounts of hidden sodium mixed into the spice rub or sauce. According to Tyson, whose sales topped $13.3 Billion in the rotisserie game, chicken became a standard supermarket staple when they emerged in the early 1990’s becoming easier and more satisfying for you. It’s no surprise people are devoted to it, so strong it’s almost cult like.
Mama and I love a rotisserie chicken, and I can’t tell you how many times we can eat on the two little legged mound of golden shaded seasoned, tender and juicy little bugger. It’s one of the quickest and healthiest way to get protein on the table and it’s a quick and an easy building block to so many other meals, even our little ankle biters, Sophia and Iris position themselves seemingly wearing bibs, with forks in their paws, in poses demanding some sort of skin or piece of chicken, using those big black eyes and cute little expressions. How do they know?
We never buy the hot, just out of the oven one at $8-$10. Why? Because it will be cold by the time we get it home anyway, and then it just goes in the refrigerator until we need it. So, we opt for the yesterday cooked, marked down to $4-$5 once served with mashed potatoes, vegetables, or a delectable rice and double vegetables. No different, you can slice it better, it reheats marvelously, either split down the middle, covered and slow heated in the hot box, or thrown on the grill with BBQ sauce, or just portioned out for what you need, served on the plate, reheated in the microwave and duper delicious broth to freeze for winter soupering or making that chicken rice or chicken noodle soup. Where does it go from there? Cold chicken for sandwich, tacos, wraps, chili, pasta salads, burritos, on pizza, quesadillas, chicken fried rice, dumplings, empanadas, and then boiling down the bones and leftover skin and whatever is left for a superb fifty shades of chicken. Endless!… And how much money did we save eating on that multi purposed little bugger? Chicken? a bargain, budget friendly and versatile rotisserie from the supermarket? As you can see, for a grab and go meal, you can’t go wrong. You pull the meat off the bones, use what you want, put it in the fridge where it will keep for up to a week.
Chicken is an excellent source of muscle-building and hunger curbing protein, a 3 oz. breast meat contains only 150 calories and 3 grams of fat. Take advantage of both white and dark meat, the dark is better in taste as it is cooked closest to the bone and contains heart healthy unsaturated fats.
The Recipes
I’ve always loved corn fritters and I can’t tell you the last time I had some, probably north in Minnesota or Utah some many years ago and some version of them in South Florida. These weren’t really a main dish, more an appetizer or a dinner add-on, but boy, were they good. I tried to copy this recipe from memory and tried and tried to achieved that taste and texture, but was thrilled with my outcome. Combined with the zesty sauce, you’ll want to make more.
Chicken Corn Fritters Makes 1 dozen Prep time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup finely chopped cooked chicken (Hello, my roaster!)
1 lg. egg, lightly beaten
½ cup whole milk
2 tbs. butter, melted
1 ¾ cup of AP (all purpose) flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup of butter, cubed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
Oil for deep-fat frying
Green Chili Sauce
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1/3 cup butter, cubed
¼ cup of AP flour
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
1 cup of whole milk
(optional) Shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Place corn in a large bowl, lightly crush with a potato masher. Stir in the chicken, egg, milk, butter, S&P.
2. Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl, stir lightly into the corn mixture just until combined.
3. In a deep fryer or skillet, heat 2 inches of oil to 375°. Drop batter by ¼ cupfuls in the oil, Fry for 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels; keep warm.
4. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, stir or whisk in flour and seasonings until smooth. Add chilies. (see notes below for alternatives).
Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a slow boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with fritters, sprinkle with cheese if desired. So some people can’t handle the spicy twang of the chilies, I would recommend, maybe using peaches, cranberries, shallots and garlic with a dollop of sour cream, leave out the pepper and add 1 ½ tsp of sugar, or sub maple syrup for the chilies as well. Get creative.
~Healthy and quick and making use of fresh vegetables, this is a yummy way of using your pulled chicken meat and pulling fresh zucchini out of the garden.
Zucchini and Chicken Casserole Makes 4 servings and won’t take much of your time.
1 pkg. (8 oz) wide noodles, cooked a la dente and cooled. (I like a wide Fettuccine or Pappardelle pasta)
4 cups of spinach
2-3 whole garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of fresh basil, chopped
¼ cup of pine nuts
1 ½ tsp. sea salt, divided
¼ + 1 tbs. of olive oil, divided
2 medium fresh zucchini, shredded or spiraled
2 plum tomatoes/chopped or container of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Rotisserie chicken, shredded, (and making chicken salad, or top your pizza with the rest and save the remaining for soup broth!). FYI…the crazy in Scrappy Chef would go around to all your houses and collect your bones and skins from all your meals and holidays all year long to make broth. Scrappy Chef makes soup for the Senior Socials all winter long and enjoy “Wowing” them with extreme flavor!) Reminder…Budget friendly and versatility!!!
¼ tsp. Black pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Pulse spinach, basil, pine nuts, garlic and tsp of the salt in the food processor until chopped. In meantime, gradually add ¼ of oil in a steady stream, and pulse until smooth. (Now this is the real way of making this, but you can find gourmet and /or shelf pesto, for this use the whole jar. I won’t tell! Teehee!)
2. Shred or spiralize the zucchini into long ribbons.
3. In a large skillet, place the remaining oil in over medium heat, add the zucchini and the chicken. Cook until crisp and tender about 4-6 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes, pesto, black pepper and rest of salt, Toss gently to coat. Add to your pasta, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
~An extremely easy/fast way to prepare a delicious pizza light enough to be a snack. You can add any sort of topping variations. Just the right size for one person.
Chicken Tortilla Pizza For one
Preheat at 400° Cook for 8 min.
Ingredients:
1 8 inch soft flour tortilla *I use Naan bread too, I like the “crust” texture
1 tsp. Olive oil
1 pinch garlic powder
pinch of S&P, to taste.
3 tbs. tomato sauce
1/3 cup shredded chicken
¼ green bell pepper, chopped
1 green onion, chopped (green and white parts)
1/3 cup pizza blend cheese or mozzarella cheese
a shake of Italian seasoning
Directions:
1. Preheat to 400°
2. Place tortilla/Naan on baking sheet or pizza pan. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle garlic powder, S&P, on top.
3. Bake in oven for 3-5 minutes, remove from the oven and spread tomato sauce on top. Arrange chicken, bell peppers, onions over the tomato sauce. Cover with the cheese.
4. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning on top, slice into wedges.
A pizza isn’t a pizza without toppings, anything goes: mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, spinach, any type of cheese, pepperoni, sausage. Have fun.
Your love, comments and ideas are always welcomed, Thank You Janet from NH. for being a devoted reader.
Happy Fooding, Happy Chickening! Send your thoughts my way at Scrappychef@yahoo.com.
And the last words~”I’ve always said fashion is like roast chicken: You don’t have to think about it to know it’s delicious”.~Alber Elbaz
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