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    Sunday, August 21, 2016

    Take One Rotisserie Chicken and a Pile of Fresh Vegetables

    I'm always looking for dishes for the kids and also for a friend that is having to eat soft food

    I found yet another chicken dish that I wanted to make
    Off the Better Recipes site
    Submitted by Bree De

    Chicken and Cheese Bake

    The chicken recipe suggested using a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket
    Good idea
    So with just one rotisserie chicken
    A bunch of vegetables
    And some of the usual suspects, that you find in your fridge and pantry
    Using the waste not, want not theory
    Voila
    3 Delicious Dishes including a soup with a surprise ingredient
    I made some changes to the recipe for the Chicken dish
    First I didn't want to use canned soup so I made my own
    But please use bought soup if you wish
    However...It worked
    Whenever I have leftover bread I turn it into breadcrumbs
    Just pop into plastic bag and freeze
    So useful
    Ingredients:

    3 cup chopped, cooked rotisserie chicken
    1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
    1 cup Sour Cream
    1 cup Mayonnaise
    1 head Broccoli cut into florets and blanch

    1 cup Cream of Mushroom Soup

    For Topping
    Croutons sautéed in olive oil till just starting to get golden
    Sprinkle with a little sea salt
    Or if you'd rather...Breadcrumbs whatever you have on hand
    I really like the croutons best. It was a great crunch
    Directions:
    Preheat the over to 175C and lightly grease a Gratin dish.
    In a bowl, add the chicken, broccoli, cheese, sour cream, mayo and mushroom soup.
    Mix all the ingredients well

    Place in gratin dish and top with Croutons or Breadcrumbs
    Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes until bubbly and slightly brown on top.
    I served it with some green peas
    Perfect match

    The other dish I devised was a Vegetable Bake

    Plus the soup
    Pumpkin, Carrot and Cantaloupe in Chicken Stock
    Loved it
    First I needed to cook the vegetables
    I blanched the  broccoli in salted water, drained it
    Kept the water and cooked the carrot and pumpkin till just tender
    Drained and reserved the water
    Base for soup of course


    Once I had shredded the chicken the bones went into
    The vegetable water with a tablespoon of Vegeta Chicken Stock, for extra seasoning
    Plus a bay leaf
    Bring back to boil and simmer for 30 minutes
    Strain through wet paper towel in a sieve
    Beautiful Stock


    So for the Spicy Vegetable Bake
    1 head broccoli cut into florets
    2 carrots sliced
    1/2 buttercup squash pumpkin
    1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
    2 sticks of celery chopped
    100 gms butter
    1/2 cup flour
    Sea salt and freshly found black pepper
    1 cup chicken stock
    2 cups whole milk
    1 tsp Sriracha sauce more if you want it

    Toping
    Grated cheese

    Blanch the broccoli florets in boiling salted water
    I also use the stalk just peel it and cut into batons
    Put the stalks in first for about 3 minutes
    Add the florets just blanch for another 2 minutes
    Drain, reserve water and cool quickly under a little cold water
    To keep the colour

    Add the carrots and pumpkin to the water and
    Cool till just fork tender
    Drain
    Reserve the water

    In another pan melt the butter
    Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, cook till tender
    Add celery cook another couple of minutes
    Add flour
    Cook for about 3 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste
    Add hot chicken stock
    Keep stirring till it starts to thicken
    Add 1 cup milk
    Keep stirring
    Add more milk as needed
    Not too thick just want some substance
    Simmer stirring often
    Set aside
    Arrange vegetables in dish
    Smother with Onion Sauce
     Cover with grated cheese

    This can now go into the freezer
    Or if you want to cook straight away
    Into 180C oven for 20-30 minutes
    Yumo

    For the Soup
    Pumpkin, carrot and rock melon
    Peel the pumpkin and chop
    Chop the carrot
    Remove skin from Cantaloupe and chop
    Add all to chicken stock

    Simmer for about 30 minutes
    Whiz in a blender
    And serve, with my famous  Corn Muffins of course

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