Posted by The News Press, FL on November 05, 2008 at 11:53:05:
Don't chicken out with rotisserie birds
by drew sterwald
dsterwald@news-press.com
11/05/2008
Michelle Ann Anderson was wandering through a supermarket one day when she walked past a case of chickens cooked on a rotisserie.
"Somebody should make a book about what to do with those things," she thought to herself.
Little more than a year later, somebody has: Michelle Ann Anderson. The writer and foodie has just published "The Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook: Homemade Meals with Store Bought Convenience" (Cumberland House Publishing, $16.95). The book collects nearly 200 recipes for turning a precooked bird into appetizers, sandwiches, salads, soups, casseroles, pasta dishes and more.
The cookbook arrives at a time when Americans are eating out less to save money but need inexpensive and easy ways to put dinner on the table. A whole rotisserie chicken costs about $7 at grocery stores and yields about 6 cups of meat. That can be stretched over several meals if combined with ingredients such as rice and vegetables.
Best of all, it's already cooked a bonus for anyone intimidated by the idea of cooking a less-expensive but raw chicken from scratch.
"This is a nice balance between home cooking and eating out," Anderson said in a phone interview from Eagle, Idaho, where she lives. "It's so helpful for home cooks to get that part of the meal done."
A rotisserie chicken can, of course, be eaten as is. But with Americans consuming an average of 59.2 pounds of chicken a year, taste buds can grow tired of it. Tearing leftover meat off a rotisserie carcass can provide meat to go with greens, fold into fajitas or perk up pasta.
Rotisserie chickens are cooked on revolving spits in supermarkets, price clubs and restaurants such as Boston Market. Some are marinated to give them an international flavor such as mojo or chipotle molι.
The spinning spit helps keep moisture distributed throughout the bird, Anderson said.
"It helps keep the juices in, and you end up with a nice, moist, juicy, tasty product," she said.
Anderson didn't count her chickens while developing recipes, but she found the process relatively easy. She had a head start, having won the 47th National Chicken Cooking Contest in 2007. Her Thai Inspired Stuffed Chicken Breast and Slaw was chosen over 50 other recipes, taking the top prize of $100,000 and landing her on the Food Network.
Coming off the win, she put to work a creative spirit that has inspired her cooking since her days playing with an Easy Bake Oven.
Hence, she concocted dishes as varied as Mango Chicken Bruschetta, Chicken and Kohlrabi Soup and Chicken and Fig Casserole.
"Chicken is so versatile," Anderson said. "It will take on any flavor."
That may be one reason Americans eat so much of it. Chicken consumption more than doubled between 1970 and 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Chicken also benefits from a better nutritional reputation than some proteins. Ounce for ounce, chicken has less total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol than beef, according to the USDA.
Nonetheless, there are ways to make it even healthier.
"Normally, rotisserie chicken is going to be pretty high in fat because of the potential added ingredients to keep it moist," said Celia Hill, director of the Lee County Cooperative Extension Service. "It could be higher in sodium than if you cooked it yourself. But the other side is you can take that home and you can use it in a variety of dishes and choose the amount of carbohydrate you put in. You get to make some choices in how you use it."
If you mix the chicken with pasta or rice, for example, you'll eat less chicken and be less likely to exceed daily protein needs.
Consumers can easily cut the calories, too, when they pick apart the poultry: Skip the skin, Hill said.
One large piece of chicken eaten with skin on contains 232 calories, according to the USDA. Eliminating the epidermis takes it down to 162 calories.
"To me, it's a matter of personal taste," Anderson said. "People are going to do what they're going to do."
:: Recipes
Following recipes are from Michelle Ann Anderson's "The Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook: Homemade Meals with Store Bought Convenience" (Cumberland House Publishing, $16.95):
Chicken Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup wild rice
1 cup frozen diced onion
1 small carrot, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced
1 8-ounce package sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced rotisserie chicken meat
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Place the oil and butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Stir in wild rice, cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until rice begins to crackle. Stir in onion, carrot and celery; cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, or until onion is translucent. Stir in garlic, rosemary and mushrooms; cook additional 2 to 3 minutes.
Sprinkle flour over vegetables; cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes or until flour is lightly golden. Pour in chicken broth. Whisk until smooth and thickened, taking care to scrape up bits stuck to bottom of pot. Stir in chicken and bay leaf. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer 10 minutes or until chicken is warmed through. Remove bay leaf. Check seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed.
Makes 4-6 servings.
Avocado Chicken Salad with Melons and Honey Mustard Dressing
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons prepared Dijon-style mustard
2 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
2 cups diced rotisserie chicken
1 cup diced cantaloupe
1 cup diced honey dew melon
1 large avocado, diced
1 cup seedless red grapes
8 cups torn butter lettuce
1/2 cup cashews, coarsely chopped
Whisk together honey, mustard, vinegar, lemon zest, garlic powder, pepper and poppy seeds in a medium, nonreactive bowl.
Mix together chicken, melons, avocado and grapes in bowl with dressing. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or until completely chilled.
Arrange lettuce on a large serving platter and mounds with chicken salad. Sprinkle cashews over top and serve.
Serves 6-8.
Pronto Chicken Marsala
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 8-ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1 12-ounce jar mushroom gravy
2 cups coarsely shredded rotisserie chicken
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
12 ounces cooked penne
Grated Parmesan
Place oil and butter in large skillet over medium heat; stir in mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly. Pour in wine, stirring to scrape brown bits on bottom of skillet. Stir in gravy and chicken; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir in oregano. Place pasta on serving platter; top with chicken Marsala. Garnish with Parmesan and serve.
Serves 4-6.
An average rotisserie chicken yields about 4 cups of white meat and 2 cups of dark.
Separating the meat from the bone is easiest after letting the chicken cool just long enough so that it doesn't burn bare fingers.
For recipes that call for carving the bird into parts, use a sharp pair of kitchen shears and a small boning knife. First remove the silicone band or plastic parts holding the legs and/or wings. Start with the drumsticks by pulling them up to locate the joint, and cut them off using the knife. Tackle the wings and thighs by carving them out with the knife, first pulling them to locate the joint.
Use shears to cut breast meat. Starting at the bottom cavity, with the shears just slightly off center of the breast bone, cut towards the neck. Then cut down the back to cut the breast loose.
For slicing breast meat, refrigerate at least 30 minutes. You'll be able to slice thinner pieces.
-Michelle Ann Anderson, "The Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook: Homemade Meals with Store Bought Convenience" (Cumberland House Publishing, $16.95)
Following three recipes are courtesy of Publix Super Markets:
Rotisserie Chicken Enchiladas
1012 sprigs fresh cilantro (rinsed)
1 small tomato (rinsed)
1 chilled deli rotisserie chicken
cup refried beans
2 (10-ounce) cans enchilada sauce
6 (10-inch) flour tortillas
1 (2.25-ounce) can sliced black olives with jalapeρo (drained)
1 cups Mexican-blend cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Chop cilantro coarsely, place in medium bowl. Chop tomato finely; set aside.
Remove meat of chicken from bones (discard skin and bones) and chop coarsely; add to cilantro. Stir in beans and 1 can of the enchilada sauce.
Spoon chicken mixture equally into center of tortillas. Roll tortillas around filling and place, seam side down, in baking dish. Pour remaining can of enchilada sauce over enchiladas.
Sprinkle tomatoes, olives, and then cheese evenly over enchiladas. Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated and cheese is melted. Serve. Makes 6 servings.
Southwestern Chicken Salad
2 cups refrigerated leftover rotisserie chicken
8 slices precooked bacon
1 small red onion
4 teaspoons green onion (optional)
4 cups romaine lettuce
1 avocado
1 cup grape tomatoes
Olive oil cooking spray
cup light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon barbecue sauce
ounce blue corn tortilla chips
4 teaspoons pimento (optional)
Preheat large sautι pan on medium for 2-3 minutes.
Rinse and peel red onion, cut in half and slice into -inch strips (about cup).
Spray sautι pan with cooking spray. Add onion, cover and brown thoroughly for 7-9 minutes, stirring often. Place onions in medium mixing bowl and set aside for 2-3 minutes to cool.
Cut chicken and bacon into -inch chunks and add to onions.
Stir mayonnaise and barbecue sauce into chicken.
Rinse lettuce, green onions and tomatoes. Line serving plates with lettuce leaves.
Place blue corn chips around outside edge of plate (or crumble chips over lettuce). Place chicken salad in center of each plate. Sprinkle with pimentos.
Cut green onions into -inch slices, using up to 1 inch of green tops. Sprinkle over chicken salad.
Cut avocado lengthwise into quarters. Remove seed and peel. Slice into bite-size chunks. Place avocado and tomatoes around chicken salad.
Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 (32-ounce) boxes reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon adobo with pepper
teaspoon pepper
1 chilled deli rotisserie chicken
1 jalapeρo pepper (rinsed)
1 avocado (rinsed)
2 green onions (rinsed)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 lime (for juice, rinsed)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
5 cups bite-size corn tortilla chips (about 5 ounces)
Combine chicken broth, adobo, and pepper in large saucepan; bring to a boil on medium-high. Meanwhile, remove meat of chicken from bones (discard skin and bones) and chop coarsely. Cut jalapeρo pepper in half (discard seeds); chop finely and add to chicken. Set mixture aside.
Cut avocado into quarters; then cut into bite-size pieces. Slice onions; set both aside. Combine water and cornstarch in small bowl.
Stir chicken mixture and cornstarch mixture into broth; let boil 23 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat; squeeze juice of lime into soup. Stir in butter, avocados and green onions. When ready to serve, stir in tortilla chips or line serving bowls with chips and spoon soup over chips.
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