The roast chicken challenge

A roast chicken dinner has got to be one of my favourite meals especially on a cold, soggy weekend. While I love to eat the clucky, feathery, idiots (the chickens I have met have been rather foolish if adorable birds), I also want them to be happy chickens up to the point that they squawk. So this means free-range, truly free-range means outdoor space to roam not just a slightly larger cage space (and even then you have to be careful as definitions of free-range can be rather stretched, meaning what is labelled as free-range isn’t necessarily the green field image it conveys … investigating and finding a good brand is worthwhile). As we all know, free-range birds tend to be a little bit pricier in the supermarkets than their unhappy factory squashed counterparts. So in order to spring for the pricier, happy chickens without making me squawk at the checkout till, I need to make the bird stretch for more than just a meal for two and maybe some sandwiches the next day. 

 

My parent's chickens in England lead a very good life, though they are
strictly not for eating ... unless that blasted Mr Fox gets lucky again!

There are lots of blogs/recipes out there for making a chicken go the distance so I thought I would set myself a little chicken challenge a couple of weeks back. How many meals can I get out of a size 14 bird. Now I don’t mean meals where the main ingredient is chicken meat, I’d be starving in no time, but meals where a significant ingredient originated from this one bird! I kind of surprised myself.
 

First up was of course the roast chicken, a generous portion of breast meat for the 2 of us, accompanied by all the trimmings. Although I wasn’t stingy, I was a little less heavy handed with the chicken and upped the veggies … not so much that it was noticeable though.  I put all the leftover meat in a tupperware and the chicken carcass in another.   I did contemplate putting a padlock on the chicken meat tupperware as, let’s face it, cold meat is prime grazing material! Instead I issued stern hands off warnings to myself and husband. (2 x portions).
 

Delicious roast goodness, there is nothing better!

I also couldn’t deny another favourite the next day, cold roast chicken sandwiches, with just a little mayo and salt & pepper, delicious. (2 x portions)

Now here is where it gets serious. The next day carcass was placed in a big saucepan along with carrots, celery etc etc to make stock. This is also where the bird really gives you it’s money’s worth.

 

I used this recipe here and got just under 2 litres of stock.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/leftoverroastchicken_92286

 

The grisly remains - carcass for stock and half the left over chicken for soup

 

From that stock and half the left over chicken I made a batch of soup, chicken and vegetable, nothing better for a cold evening and a great way to use up veggies from the garden if you have more than you can eat. I made some to eat straight away and the rest went in the freezer. (6 x portions)

 

Chicken soup packed with veggies, healthy, warm and delicious

 

With the remaining stock and chicken pieces I made a paella, adding in some chorizo and vegetables, unfortunately it got eaten far too quickly for me to remember to take a photograph!  It did however add another three portions to the tally (a meal for 2 with some leftover for lunch the next day!)

 

So at the final count:

• x2 Roast chicken dinner
• x2 Roast chicken sandwiches
• x6 Chicken and vegetable soup
• x3 Chicken and chorizo Paella

Not a bad effort, one bird contributed to 13 meal portions!  Have you gone one better?  Have you tried a similar challenge with another cut of meat, lamb shoulder perhaps?  Of course there are the Christmas Turkey leftovers that challenge most people each year, I'd love to hear?

Dad's chickens even travel in style, making a dashing
entrance in a wicker basket