Buying a whole chicken is often described as being a much more economical way to enjoy it. Plus, learning how to joint or bone it is both rewarding and very useful. There are many excellent guides on how to joint a chicken on the Internet and once you have tried it you will find it relatively easy as long as you have a good, sharp knife. I don't, so it's never really easy but I still enjoy doing it. Buying an organic chicken may seem expensive but 4 meals can be made from one chicken or possibly more, so it's cheaper and better for you in the long run.
I cut the chicken into two legs, two breasts and two wings. I removed the backbone and carcass which can be used to make a soup with a surprising amount of flesh still on the bones. Especially if your jointing is not so hot - like mine! So this extra meat helps to make a satisfying bowl of soup.
I roasted the two wings for my lunch with salt, pepper, a little oil and chili powder at 325oF for about 50 minutes. (I like them really crispy) (Meal no.1)
For the second meal, I have a great cookbook called 'Gourmet food for a fiver' by Jason Atherton
One recipe that really intrigued me was 'Chicken confit'. I have eaten duck confit many times and have seen numerous recipes for garlic confit, but never before seen it prepared with chicken. An advantage of using chicken, of course, is that you don't need to use chicken fat, which would be difficult, unlike a true duck confit which requires duck fat. I decided to try the recipe with the two chicken legs and placed them in the salt brine with herbs and aromatics on Friday afternoon, with the intention of preparing the chicken on Saturday evening.
My first mistake with this recipe was the fact that I went to a party on Saturday night and forgot about the fact that the chicken was sitting in a very salty brine for a day too long. No matter, I thought, it'll be OK. The chicken and the brine were placed in a deep lidded casserole and the cooking oil added with more salt, herbs and garlic. Ensuring the oil covered the chicken, I placed it in a very low oven, (205oF) for 2.5 hours. After 1 hour of cooking, I was concerned that the oil didn't seem very hot, but continued with the recipe.
After the further 1.5 hours of cooking the chicken looked like this. I was expecting a much crispier skin and was a little concerned that the flesh was a little pink, but I was reassured that there was another step to get the skin crispy and the long, slow oil poaching makes the flesh look and feel different to a roasted chicken. The next step was to fry the chicken in some of the confit oil and butter and constantly spoon the fats over the skin to make it crispy. It worked a little, but it certainly wasn't the shatteringly crisp outside and meltingly tender inside usually associated with confit. However, the worst thing was how puckeringly salty it was. Let this be a lesson, do not leave anything in a brine for longer than recommended!
One really big hit with this meal was the Parmesan cauliflower wedges I made, the recipe again taken from 'The Low Carb Gourmet'. Cut into very thin slices, coated with egg and cream and Parmesan, these were tender, cheesy, salty and a little meaty after being baked in a hot oven (400oF) for 15 minutes. An unusual vegetable accompaniment. I also boiled some kale and this weird looking veg below in some chicken stock for 20 minutes and made a sauce from the frying butter, a little vermouth and cream. The next two meals will hopefully be more successful!
Recipe : Chicken confit
2 complete chicken legs including the thigh
Dry brine
2 tbsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
10 sage leaves, chopped
8 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked and chopped
4 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
Confit oil
1.5 - 2 litres of vegetable oil
1 tbsp salt
1/2 head garlic, peeled and finely chopped
5 sprigs each of rosemary and thyme
Place the chicken legs in a deep dish and mix together the dry brine ingredients in a bowl.
Rub the brine into the legs, making sure they are covered, cover and refrigerate overnight (only).
After refrigerating, remove and pre heat the oven to 200oF. Put the chicken and brine into a heavy cooking pot.
Mix the confit oil ingredients together and pour over the chicken. It should be fully covered, use more oil if you need to.
Cook in the oven for 2 - 2.5 hours until the chicken is cooked through and very tender. Remove to a plate.
Heat a little of the confit oil in a frying pan over high heat. Put the chicken in skin side down and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Turn over, add about 2 tbsp butter and spoon over the chicken to crisp as it melts. Remove when crispy and rest for a few minutes before serving.
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