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Sometimes, the simplest things are perfect.
I have taken to popping a chicken in to roast on a weekday (!) and then getting two meals from it. First meal is the roast.
Cut up a couple of carrots, a large onion, a couple or stalks of celery and maybe a leek and make a little bed in the bottom of a roasting tin. Wash and pat dry the chicken, put it on the veggie bed and drizzle with oil then season the chicken as you like – we love the “chicken seasoning” from the Indian food aisle here in the UK.
Roast as per you usual method till the juices run clear. I like to turn it on it’s breast for the last 20 minutes so the bottom skin gets crispy too.
Skim the fat from the pan juices – the veg should be soggy with the cooking juices but a bit crispy and caramelized from the long cooking. They will taste A-MA-ZING. You can do a couple of things at this point:
- simply mix up a can of flageolet (or any other) beans with the drippings and the roasted veg and serve on the side
- with a stick blender whizz up all the yummy pan goodness, adding a bit of water or chicken stock if it is too thick, to make a rough gravy with all the flavour but no flour
- toss in the beans and mashed them up with the pan juices, with or without the veg
It’s all good. Sure it takes time, but it’s mostly all in-the-oven-cooking-on-its-own time so not something that has to wait for Sunday lunch (although it’s great for that too!)
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about meal two from the leftovers.
Not bad for £3.33.
It was DHs birthday and not a cheat day so I wanted to make something a little bit special. I roasted a chicken, seasoning it with Rajah Chicken Seasoning, and defatted the pan drippings. Putting it in a smaller pan I boiled it down till it was nearly syrup-y in consistency and added a can of flageolet beans. I added a spoonful or two of the “gravy” (sans beans) back to the roasting pan and put a bag of baby spinach, covered it with foil and popped it into the oven to wilt.
Served up, chicken with the bean/gravy over the top, and the spinach on the side.The caulifllower with turmeric on the side, and dinner is served.
This is an easy and delicious one! Also great to save some for the next day lunch.
8 deboned chicken breasts (not too big)
280 g jar of marinated artichokes (mine is olive oil and chilis) drained but oil reserved
2 tbls. lemon thyme
1 tbls. garlic puree or fresh garlic
1/2 cup very dry white wine
2 x 300 g cans flageolet beans
Heat a deep skillet and add 2 tbls. of the reserved marinade and the garlic – don’t let the garlic burn as it will turn bitter. Saute the chicken breasts till they are nice and golden brown. Add the chopped lemon thyme. Roughly chop the artichokes and add them, along with the white wine. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Take the chicken out and onto a warmed plate and stir in the flageolet beans – cook for just a few minutes till they are warmed through. Plate up on a bed of fresh spinach, wilted in a pan or in the microwave. Garnish with additional thyme, if you like.
Flageolet beans are lovely and tender, soft and flavourful. They won’t stand up to rough treatment, so toss them gently in the pan. This will serve two or three for dinner (depending on your appetite and the size of the chicken breasts) with leftovers for lunch or 4 for dinner.
Options:
- use chicken thighs instead of breasts. The meat is more flavourful and cheaper!
- instead of lemon thyme, plain thyme is good, as is fresh chopped basil
- if you substitute basil, omit the artichokes, saute in plain olive oil, and add halved cherry tomatoes instead!
- obviously cannelli or butter beans would work well
I suspect this would also be tasty with turkey or pork. If you don’t do wine, use chicken stock but check the salt on that and take it into consideration when seasoning. It would be good served with steamed green beans as well.
For lunch the next day, just add a few frozen spinach pods or other leftover veggies, chopping up the chicken and heating it all up in the microwave. It makes an sort of stew that is even tastier once the flavours mature in the fridge overnight.
Tonight, black bean soup is on the menu. I may need to experiment with making it slowly in the crock pot, although it is very fast to make from scratch.
