Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Once a week, my mother cooks what the family has taken to calling the "faux Thanksgiving dinner." It's a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy — and it's delicious.
So this week, I set out to make the first faux Thanksgiving dinner of my own. The ingredients — 1 medium sized (free range, but not organic because that doubles the price) roasting chicken, a bag of Yukon gold potatoes, an onion, a garlic clove, a bag of frozen peas, and a bag of carrots — totaled $11.
I'm sure most already have a trusted roast chicken recipe, but I'll share mine anyway because it's my mom's and it turns out perfectly every time.
Dice two potatoes, a medium onion, 1 garlic clove, and 2 carrots and put in roasting pan. Salt vegetables and cover with 2 cups of water.
Season chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, and sage. Trim excess fat off of chicken and roll into six twine-like strips to place over breast area (this will keep the breast moist). Set chicken in roasting pan rack.
Roast in the oven at 400* for 90 minutes.
GRAVY:
After you've removed the roasting pan, take all of the vegetables and purée them in a blender or food processor. Add water until you reach a consistency you want in your gravy.
Add the puréed mixture back to the roasting pan (or a sauce pan). Add salt & pepper to taste, and simmer until you're done carving up the chicken.
My husband and I ate heaping portions of chicken, mashed potatoes, peas and gravy for dinner and still had lots left over. So the following night, I made a stew out of leftover chicken, potatoes, peas, chopped potatoes, onions, carrots, thyme and gravy. Exact same ingredients as the previous night's dinner just left to cook in a Dutch oven on very low heat for an hour. We ate generous portions of the stew, and still had leftovers (enough for a fifth meal, which I had for lunch today).
And with the remaining chicken carcass, I followed James Delingpole's recipe for a simple, delicious chicken stock.
So long as we're living in Obama's America, I figure there are a lot of us out there who could use ideas on tasty ways to stretch our pennies. So bring your suggestions.
Image of whole roasted chicken via Shutterstock.
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Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Reese
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Diane Ellis, Ed.
What are twine-like trips? · 45 minutes ago
"Trim excess fat off of chicken and roll into six twine-like trips to place over breast area (this will keep the breast moist)."
I think she mistyped twine-like STRIPS, i.e. to form the fat into ribbons and lay them across the the breast area. I'm not clear if breast is up or down. I'm sure she'll be along soon to clarify. · 1 hour ago
YES. Sorry for the obnoxious typo...it was meant to say 'strips.'
Breast is up.
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Can you explain how this is done? Do you reduce it by merely cooking it longer? (Sorry, I'm brand new at the homemade stock thing...always just used the store bought til I received my stock pot as a wedding gift)
May '11
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Can you explain how this is done? Do you reduce it by merely cooking it longer?
Yes, basically you cook it longer. The best way to do this is to make sure you have strained the stock and have minimal particulates. Add the stock to reduce into a pan, ideally one that is wider rather than taller. Remember, we are looking to remove the water from the stock, so the more surface area the better. Now, using relatively high heat bring the stock to a boil. As it boils it will begin to reduce as the water evaporates. I usually take a toothpick or chopstick and take an initial measurement by sticking it into the stock until it hits the bottom of the pan. I mark this area on the toothpick/chopstick. This is now my measuring stick. As it boils, remove the scum on top as you did when making the stock originally. Periodically stick your toothpick/chopstick into the liquid and measure it against your initial mark. Once you have reached about 60% or the stock is of sauce consistency, you are done.
Next time I'll teach you how to fortify your stock. ;)
Edited on September 27, 2012 at 5:51amApr '11
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Reese
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Diane Ellis, Ed.
What are twine-like trips? · 45 minutes ago
"Trim excess fat off of chicken and roll into six twine-like trips...
YES. Sorry for the obnoxious typo...it was meant to say 'strips.'
Breast is up. · 23 minutes ago
Not obnoxious. Just a typo. But I did puzzle for a while. Thought maybe it was some slang. "What does that mean?" Like, "Drag it through the garden."
Or maybe, you were dictating to a Siri or something, like James Lileks this morning but the robot got the dictation wrong: "I love meatloaf. My wife loves me." In context (not given here-- read it at his 9/26/12 Bleat), I believe he meant "I love meatloaf. My wife loves meatloaf." That doesn't preclude the first version of the sentence, but I'm worried.
May '10
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
I use either dumsticks or thighs for this; bone in and skin on. Dry them off with a paper towel, lay them out on a plate or other dish, spray lightly with PAM, sprinkle to taste with poultry seasoning, garlic powder, and Spice Islands Hickory Smoked Salt. Turn over and spray and season the other side. Then place on a heated grill over low heat for 25-30 minutes, then turn and cook another 25-30 minutes. And then feast. They are no work and they come out tender and juicy with a nice crispy skin.
My wife does chicken wings the same way, except on a broiler pan in the oven. Very easy and so good tthey whenever we go to a party we always get requests to bring her wings.
Jun '11
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
To balance the conversation, let me speak up for the chicken. 49 cents a pound is amazing, but even at the dollar a pound I pay, chicken is a ridiculous bargain. I have chickens as a hobby,and they have a pretty nice free range lifestyle. I have killed and butchered some, and would have to charge $30/pound to make money. The economical production that gives us bargain chicken has to come at the cost of a pretty poor quality of life for the chicken, and probably for the poultry processing workers too. On the chickens' behalf I almost feel chicken should be more expensive so their sacrifice is not held cheaply!
Hope I haven't forfeited my invitation to Thanksgiving dinner.
Aug '12
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Here is a sure-fire way to turn inexpensive ordinary chicken drumsticks into food for the gods:
http://www.fumblingfoodie.com/fumblingfoodie/2007/11/chicken-legs-wi.html
May '11
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Left over roast chicken works quite well in my recipe for turkey jello.
May '10
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
I love this. This is a true conservative piece. Well done, Diane
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Glad to hear someone make this point.
I pay $1/lb at Trader Joe's for the free range, but am too frugal to pay for the $2/lb free range and organic.
I wonder when chicken is labeled as free range, whether it actually got to roam around a bit, or if a cage where the chicken can make 2 paces in each direction qualifies for that designation.
Jun '11
Re: Five Meals & a Pot of Stock for $11
Diane Ellis, Ed.
I wonder when chicken is labeled as free range, whether it actually got to roam around a bit, or if a cage where the chicken can make 2 paces in each direction qualifies for that designation. · 3 minutes ago
My son worked at an organic, free-range chicken farm. They were let out in small pastures, better than two paces each way I think and they got to see the sun for a few weeks. Their lives were still quite limited! and real short- eight weeks. When he would unpack a new set of chicks (they arrived by mail) into a brooder pen he'd murmur "You don't want to know what happened to the last guys who were here."