“Wouldn’t it just be easier to buy a rotisserie chicken from the deli?” That was my editor’s suggestion a few years ago to having cooked chicken on hand for casseroles, soups, and sandwiches. I explained that, unless the stores guarantee its safety, store-bought rotisserie chicken may be marinated in
gluten ingredients or be cross-contaminated during handling in the store.
A far better solution is to cook your own
gluten free chicken and then you’ll have what Mom called leftovers––but I’m a
“cup is half-full kind of gal,” so I call them planned-overs.
One of my favorite planned-over meals is Roast Chicken, one of the easiest dishes to prepare and one that can yield many more meals. Just season the whole chicken (or chicken legs, thighs, or breasts for faster cooking) with salt and pepper, then put it in the oven to roast at 400 degrees until it’s done. No stirring or turning is required, but you should check it at least once to make sure the juices in the bottom haven’t run dry. If they have, add ¼ cup water or chicken broth and continue roasting, basting the chicken with the pan juices at least once for terrific flavor. Serve the chicken to your family, remove any remaining chicken from the bones, and freeze it in plastic freezer bags. Now you have cooked chicken ready for soup, casseroles, or wraps.
To make your own
gluten free chicken broth, add the bones to a large pot of water, along with a carrot, onion, a tomato, a few stalks of celery, salt, and pepper and your favorite herbs. (You’ll find a recipe for homemade broth in many cookbooks.)
A splash of lemon juice will help leach nutrients from the bones and make your broth that much better. Simmer it on Medium-Low for 2 to 4 hours, skimming the top if necessary to remove any unwanted foam. Taste it and add more salt if necessary. Strain the broth through a sieve and freeze in 2-cup containers. Use it just as you would use any store-bought chicken broth. And, next time you’re coming down with a cold, sipping hot broth is very soothing.
So, that’s how I make the most of my time and money by cooking a chicken and re-engineering many more future meals from it.
What are your secrets for re-engineering food for future meals? Share your ideas and at the end of October, the winning blog post wins a copy of my latest cookbook,
1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes (Wiley, 2008).
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