BBQ Chicken

This one is perfect for the Superbowl, which for me is all about food. Serve on small soft rolls as sliders. For a party, make a little slider bar with chopped onion, shredded pepper jack cheese, diced hot peppers and sour cream.

OR another good side dish is backed potato chips....ill post that next

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 small jalapeño or spicy pepper, diced (2 if you want it spicy)
• 1 diced green pepper
• 1 clove garlic, diced (I put it in everything)
• 2 lbs chicken (I would use 1.5 lbs of boneless skinless breast and .5lb boneless skinless thighs)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoon Montréal chicken: http://www.mccormick.com/Products/GrillMates/Seasoning-Blends/Grill-Mates-Mesquite-Seasoning.aspx
• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 beer (any kind)
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce - anything but honey flavored
• 3 or 4 cans diced tomatoes (I use 1/2 roasted tomatoes & 1/2 regular)
  

Put all ingredients in the crock pot on low for 6 hours. The order doesn’t matter as long as you have enough liquid to cover the meat. You can add more tomatoes or beer, if necessary.
Chicken will be cooked after 3 hours, the rest of the time will allow the chicken to fall apart. Taste the sauce half way through and add more spice if necessary also, use 2 forks to pull chicken apart after about 3 hours.

mmmmm soooup!

Definitely recommend making soup from the leftovers from the roasted chicken!
Once again....no measurements, just technique. Its a process but its well worth it. When you are done, you'll have chicken stock for sauces and future soups as well as tasty soup that will cure all that ails you.

1. Put all leftover chicken, bones, (skin) and veggies from the roasting pan into a big stock pot. EXCEPT the Lemon, it takes over the broth and gets funky!
2. Cover with water, about 6 cups.
3. Add 1 cup of water to the roasting pan and put over burner to get all the goodies and bits off the pan. (also helps with the eventual cleaning)
4. Pour the pan liquid into the stock pot

Add:

• a few whole garlic cloves, peeled
• bay leaf
• fresh thyme
• S&P
• 1 boneless chicken breast (if you are making soup, its not needed for stock only)

1. Simmer on medium/low for about an hour. Remove from the heat and cool. I like to put it in fridge but be sure that you put a pot holder under the pot if you have glass shelves!
2. Skim the fat off the top and strain into another pot. This is where I get crazy and double strain:

• First through a colander to remove the bones and veggies
• Second pass it through a fine strainer to remove the herbs and icky bits that you don't want in the soup.

You can stop now and you have some rich, delicious stock

For soup add:

• sliced carrots
• sliced celery
• very thinly sliced onion
• thyme
• chopped parsley
• S&P
• shredded breast meat
• pieces of chicken picked off the bones
• optional: add orzo toward the end

simmer till carrots are tender
Yum!

Roasted Chicken Dinner 1/25

Sunday dinner is one of my favorite meals to cook...obviously (name of the blog). Today is dinner w/the lovely condo ladies, my frequent dinner companions. I've made butterflied roast chicken for friends before and it was a huge hit. Its easy, cheap and delish.
I'm not one for measuring so here's the list of ingredients, steps and some pics:

• 2 butterflied chickens: the stop and shop butcher will do this for you, i recommend keeping the bone in as this adds great flavor and the carcass makes great stock.
• carrots
• celery
• garlic
• onion
• sage/rosemary/thyme...you can throw in parsley to complete the song
• 2 sliced lemons
• S&P
• Adobo (put it on everything)
• olive oil
• dried oregano

Layer the veggies, herbs, lemon, and garlic in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with S&P and Adobo.
Pat the chickens dry and rub with oil, oregano, S&P. Put sage leaves under the skin in the breast, I use a spoon to push it around and make sure it goes back to the thigh meat.
Lay birds on the veggie bed, skin side up.
Roast 450 for 15 mins, then cover and reduce to 350 for about 40 mins, or until meat thermometer reads 165. Last 10 mins under the broiler make for perfect skin, but you HAVE to keep an eye on it.
Transfer chickens and veggies to a platter or cutting board, it will be juicy so be careful that it doesn't drip all over your counter.
The pan juices will make an awesome gravy! Drain most of the fat from the pan, then put it over 2 burners and bring to a boil. Add a few splashes of white wine (preferable the one you are serving with dinner) let it simmer for a few mins. For thickener, I'm a big fan of the butter/flour combo....combine 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp flour in a little bowl and mash it with a fork and add to the pan.
Sides should definitely include some kind of yummy starch to soak up that awesome sauce. Wild rice with dried fruit and nuts (recipe will post some other day). Roasted brussel sprouts were a great combo for your green veg. Don't forget to serve the carrots, they are a bit soggy for my taste but everyone ate them like they were candy.

Food Fun

I'm attempting to blog about my adventures in the kitchen. My friend Melissa (http://sagegoingongreen.blogspot.com/) is a domestic diva that inspires me to go kitchen crazy and now I am copying her and sharing with the world too. Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery! She remodels kitchens and makes fondent from scratch, I like to cook on sundays and drink wine with friends. I take pictures of my meals and now Ill have a place to post my food porn, as I like to call it.

Enjoy, comment, post your meals and share your thoughts.

Mangia,
Age