Archives for April 2018

Ok, folks, let’s talk about chicken salad.  A simple chicken salad with some watercress thrown in for color and crunch. Not too thrilled? I get it. The name isn’t that enticing especially when it includes watercress that, for the longest time, I thought was only an ingredient found in finger sandwiches served with tea. Trust me!! This is one of those SUPER SIMPLE meals that actually makes you feel like you spent time in the kitchen.

It is not only a simple meal, but also an easy way to transform leftovers into a different meal for your family. Leftovers and I have a love-hate relationship. Wasting food never feels right, but eating the same thing again and again gets so boring. Except pizza! Pizza is the exception. I would eat it every day if possible.

Chicken isn’t pizza, though, and I have not figured out how to make it taste like pizza so let’s get back to chicken salad. Great transition, huh?

I would not go so far as to say that I am the Queen of leftovers or even the Princess for that matter, but I am pretty darn pleased with my chicken salad recipe. It is a great way to use leftover rotisserie chicken (or any leftover chicken) and mix it up a bit. Add in some crunchy ingredients like celery and apple and you are on your way.

When I make this recipe, I tend to have some favorite ingredients that I like to add such as apple, celery, and onion. You can stick with my basic recipe or let your own creative juices flow.

Possible additions to Simple Chicken Salad:

• Apple
• Celery
• Onion/shallot
• Green onion
• Dried cranberries
• Raisins
• Mango
• Crisp pears
• Nuts (walnuts and pecans work especially well)
• Seeds (sunflower or pumpkin are my faves)
• Fresh herbs such as thyme, chives, dill, or even tarragon

Don’t find any of these appealing? You and my sons would get along. For their more discerning (nice way to say picky) taste buds, I tend to finely mince the small amount of onions and load up on the apple and dried cranberries. That always seems to do the trick and distract them from the chicken. They have never been huge fans of chicken.

Another great way to add some variety to this chicken salad is to add spices. I usually like to whip up my own basic homemade mayonnaise for this salad and I add my spices to the mayo. Does making homemade mayo sound too complicated? Don’t let it. Feel free to use a store bought mayo for convenience, but I urge you to try making your own sometime. I actually hated mayo until I made my own.

Whether you make your own mayo or use store-bought, I like mixing my spices into the mayonnaise first. Mixing spices into the mayo helps them blend homogenously (finally got to use a science word and show my nerdy side 😉 ) unlike mixing them directly into the chicken salad mixture. For this salad I went with a more Indian spiced approach using cumin, anise, mustard, and coriander seeds. If you let your spices roast for 30-60 seconds in a dry pan before using them, you will get much better flavor and aroma. I sound fancy, don’t I?

This simple chicken salad is great for a weeknight dinner when you are short on time and have some leftover chicken in the fridge. I also recently used leftover chicken from my roasted spatchcocked chicken and it worked well.  A Sunday brunch or a picnic at the park with your kiddos would also suit this salad well.  And, if you find yourself with some extra energy in the evening, make this salad the night before you plan to eat it. As the salad sits (in the fridge, of course) the flavors blend together and tastes even better.

As you can see, this simple chicken salad recipe really is adaptable to your likes and dislikes. Not everyone shares my likes and dislikes. For me, being able to share a meal that is like a template is a great way of reaching others. I hope to help give you ideas or a framework to make your meals more approachable and enjoyable. When it comes down to it, the food is the just the vehicle to bring you and others together.

Enjoy!!

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Simple Chicken Salad

Not all meals need to be complicated and this simple chicken salad recipe proves that. It is a great way to use leftover chicken. It is not only great for a weeknight meal when you are short on time, but also makes for a great brunch or picnic food. Add some bubbly or a nice Rose and you are set. 

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 374kcal

Author: Ashley

Ingredients

Chicken Salad:

• Rotissiere Chicken partial or whole chicken will work
• 1 large stalk celery thinly sliced
• 1/2 small red onion finely chopped
• 1 apple diced
• ½ cup mayo (you may need more depending on amount of chicken and how “wet” you like your salad)
• tsp Dijon mustard

Spices:

• ½ tsp cumin seed
• ¼ tsp anise seed
• <1/4 tsp mustard seed
• few coriander seeds

Instructions

• Remove chicken meat from carcass if not already done so. Pull/shred the meat with your fingers as you pull it off bones. You can chop it further with a knife if you want the pieces smaller.
• Put chicken in large mixing bowl. Add in chopped onion, celery, and apple.
• In another small bowl put the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and spices. Stir to combine. Taste and then season with any additional salt and pepper desired.
• Mix mayonnaise mixture into chicken mixture. Stir until combined adding more mayonnaise if chicken salad seems to dry.
• Season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.

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Roasted Spatchcocked chicken with vegetables is a beautiful dinner that is perfect for your Sunday supper or nightly meal. Although not a casserole, it has that appeal of an all-in-one dish that can impress a gathering of your friends or your family at a regular weeknight dinner.

Casseroles are one of those foods that feel truly American to me. They take me back to childhood. Do you have childhood memories of casseroles, too? Maybe a tuna casserole or green bean casserole? My mom would make this enchilada casserole that was AMAZING!

Anyways, one of the best things about a casserole was that everything you needed for dinner was in that one dish. These meals can be lifesavers when short on time or when you don’t want to spend an afternoon in the kitchen making several different courses. This roasted spatchcocked chicken with vegetables has the ease and convenience like a casserole, but seems more elegant.

What is a Spatchcocked chicken?

Are you asking yourself what the heck is spatchcocked chicken? Don’t worry. I did the same thing. I actually called this butterflied chicken at first until I realized it is better known as “spatchcocked” in the wise world of Google. A spatchcocked chicken is where you (yes, you J) have removed the backbone and cracked the breastbone to allow the “almost” whole chicken to lay flat while cooking.

Do you need to spatchcock your chicken?

You absolutely, positively do NOT need to spatchcock your chicken. If it seems daunting or something you simply don’t want to do, then use your whole bird instead. I must warn you that there are some advantages to the spatchcock method. Time!

Time is the biggest advantage of the spatchcocked approach. This recipe came about specifically due to lack of time as well as the need to adapt to a new cooking environment. My husband was sent to small town outside of Edinburgh, Scotland, called Falkirk and we went along with him. We stayed in an apartment (aka flat) that had a fully stocked kitchen, thankfully, so I was able to prepare meals rather than get take-out every night.

Marks & Spencer’s was just around the corner from our flat and the produce section was lovely. I could seriously wander aimlessly through grocery stores in another countries for hours looking at the different foods available. I was in my element!

Anyways, one of the first meals we planned to make was a simple roasted chicken and some veg. We got all the ingredients including a limited spice selection since all the apartment had was salt, pepper, and brown sauce. Yum! I picked whatever vegetables looked good at the time, which happened to be carrots, leeks (love them!), and yellow potatoes. Once back in our flat, I was short on time and working with a different oven.

Make knick in skin with knife and gently lift skin away from meat.

Use fingers to push compound butter under skin & on top of meat of raw, spatchcocked chicken

Rather than break down the entire chicken, which still takes me forever to do, I opted for what I called butterflying at the time. YouTube to the rescue! After a search and quick tutorial on “How to spatchcock a chicken”, I performed the quickish procedure on my bird. It wasn’t pretty! I probably looked like some crazy misguided butcher while doing it, but it least it cooked faster and tasted good.

Honestly, I still don’t do the spatchocking very well. One day, when I am really really REALLY bored, I will buy a bunch of cheap chickens and practice. One day, that is! Until then, I continue to watch YouTube videos on Spatchcocking chickens and fumble through the steps. You should try it at least once. If you mess up, the ugly part will be underneath, anyways.

Try to bring skin back together after putting butter inside. Sometimes hole is too big and that doesn’t work as well.

Besides the spatchcocked method, the other part that makes this recipe super tasty is the spiced butter I added to the bird. Remember, I based the initial recipe on my limited spice cabinet, but ended up keeping it the same because I enjoyed it so much. The spices and lemon zest make the butter very fragrant. As the bird heats up and cooks, the spiced butter melts into the meat and helps keep it moist as well. Then, the butter mixes with the flavorful meat drippings and takes the veggies to another level of yumminess! If you don’t have these spices, use what is in your cupboard and sounds good. It is your meal!

One last tidbit before I end this blog post. Depending on number of people at your dinner table, you may or may not have a good amount of leftovers. I adore leftovers and love finding new ways to incorporate them into future meals. My family gets something different, but I don’t have to spend as much time in the kitchen. Two of my favorite uses for leftover roasted chicken are Insant Pot chicken and rice or soups such as chicken tortilla soup.

Enjoy and cheers!

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Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken with Vegetables

This roasted spatchcocked chicken with vegetables isn’t a casserole but has the appeal of an all-in-one dish. It has the ease and convenience of a casserole with an elegant presentation. You can opt for your favorite vegetables and even ditch the spatchcocked method and opt for the whole bird, instead.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Resting15 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 466kcal

Author: Ashley

Ingredients

Compound butter

• 4 tbsp. butter room temp
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest or orange zest
• Salt & pepper

Chicken and vegetables

• Whole chicken
• 1 large leek sliced
• 1 lb. yellow potatoes cut in half
• 4 large carrots sliced in large chunks
• 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt & pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425F

Butter

• Make compound butter. Lightly toast the fennel and coriander seeds in pan until fragrant. About 60 seconds. Let seeds cool.
• In small bowl, combine softened butter, seeds, zest, salt and pepper. You can use butter immediately or store in fridge wrapped in parchment paper.

Chicken

• In large roasting pan toss carrots, leeks, and potatoes in olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper.
• Spatchock your chicken. Using kitchen shears cut along the backbone on either side and remove. Flip chicken over and use palm of hand to push into breastbone. Press until it cracks and the chicken flattens out. You can opt for whole chicken.
• Place chicken on top of vegetables in roasting pan. Using your fingers, gently lift skin away from meat and put in some compound butter. Repeat the same process all over the chicken. You can use a knife to make small opening in skin if there is not one already. You can sprinkle bits of any remaining butter over vegetables.
• Season outside of chicken with salt and pepper.
• Roast in oven until chicken is done and vegetables are fork tender. Time will vary based on oven. In my oven it took about 75 minutes.

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