Chicken Vegetable Bone Broth

This bone broth is way more seasoned and includes granulated and minced garlic and onion. I will use it in recipes in the next week or so, but WON'T give it to my Oliver. Garlic and onion are toxic to dogs. I spatchcocked and roasted a 4-1/2# Amish chicken I had in the freezer. There was 24oz. of meat that came off the bones.

The skin and bones went back in the roasting pan along with:

3 bay leaves

1 big carrot

2 stalks celery and leaves

scraps, skin and ends of 2 onions

dried minced and granulated garlic

dried minced onion

1/4c or so of white vinegar 

garlic salt and black pepper

1t-1T of Soffritto Seasoning

Add enough fresh cold water to bring everything in the pan to 2/3 full. Cover and simmer at a low bubble for 2-3 hours.

Scoop all the solids into a collendar over another stock pot. Shake this well, getting out as much broth as you can, then discard or give the carrots and celery to your dog. Strain everything through progressively finer strainers, back and forth, between two big pots, cleaning the pots each time.

 

Once the broth is clear, chill it overnight to get the collagen to gel, and bring the fat to the surface. Once the fat has solidified, you can just scrape it off and discard it - or again - give it to your dogs heated up and drizzled on their dry food. Since this fat has been heated, rendered and strained, you can also use it for browning meat and vegetables.

Heat the broth to a low boil and pour it into clean Mason jars and seal them. Store it in the 'fridge to be used within a couple weeks, or give some to your friends. This made about 3 quarts. . .Lin

Fruit, Vegetables and Roasted Chicken

Well, this was a nice surprise!

I wasn't planning to blog this (normally I use solid color plates and bowls when I do) but it turned out really well. I snapped a photo before devouring it all, plus the rest of the fruit and vegetable mix - the photo only shows half of what I made!

I roasted an Amish chicken this afternoon. I'll create more recipes with that in the next few days. It smelled so good I decided to quick cook something to go with a little bit of the chicken for an easy dinner tonight. This is only 2-1/2oz. chicken with some Lingonberries.

To serve with the chicken, I combined:

1 lg. carrot

1 slightly underripe Bartlett pear

1/4 lg. Vidalia onion

garlic salt and black pepper

2T single source EVOO

a little water

Scrub and slice the carrot, and peeled onion. Quarter and cut the pear into 1/2" cubes. Start by simmering the carrot in the water and olive oil with the seasonings. After a few minutes, add the pear and onion.

Continue to cook on low, covered, for 5 minutes. Don't overcook. Uncover, stir and continue to simmer until the liquid evaporates. Serve with a 'side' of chicken. This was DE-licious! . .Lin

Spatchcocked Chicken and Bone Broth

Wash and dry a big pasture raised chicken. Remove the giblets then cut out the backbone using a sharp separated knife and heavy duty kitchen sheers. Flip it over, onto the counter. Press down firmly to crack the breastbone and flatten out the chicken. Put it and the backbone and neck in a roasting pan. Season well and add a couple cups of cold fresh water. Today I used parsley-garlic salt and some Arizona smoked chipotle seasoning for a little smoky-peppery heat.

Cook, uncovered, at 400° for about an hour. Poke and baste it once during that time. After an hour, poke and baste again. Continue to roast until a fork inserted in the thick part of the breast comes out easily.

Let everything cool enough to pull all the meat off the bones. Return all the skin, bones and cartilage to the roasting pan. Add 8 cups of water, 1 carrot, 2 celery stalks, 3 green onions, 6 cloves of crushed garlic, roasted garlic and herb seasoning and ground black pepper. Cover and simmer over low heat for 2-3 hours. It should stay at a very slow bubble the entire time. Throw away the bones, chop the carrot, celery and chicken skin to add to your dog's dry food, but not the onion or garlic.

Strain the broth through successively finer mesh colanders and strainers. At the very end, pour the liquid through an old clean flour sack dishtowel. Heat the broth and pour it into several clean Mason jars. Seal. If the lids 'ping,' they'll keep several months at room temperature. If they don't seal, refrigerate and use within a week or so. I love having roasted chicken ready for new recipes and to share with people. . .Lin

Lemon-Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup

As a point of reference, drop down 3 recipes to see what my big spatchcocked chicken looked like when it was done roasting. 😋

After it cooled, I separated the meat, shown on the plate, and returned all the skin and bones to the roasting pan. Along with all the great browned fat drippings, in the bottom of the pan, I added some chopped celery, carrot and kale. Then I added 1/3c white vinegar and fresh cold, water to fill the pan 2/3 of the way to the top. Dropped in a few bay leaves, then brought it all to a low bubble simmer. Covered it and let it quietly do its thing for 3-4 hours.

I scooped out all the solids, threw those away, then strained the broth several times through successively finer mesh strainers. At the very end, I filtered it all through a big clean dishtowel into a big pot with a tightly fitting lid. This was then chilled outside, overnight, in a snowbank. In the morning I scraped off all the fat. . .and now all 5 quarts of it is ready to use in soup, or just heat a cup and drink it to fight off a chill or virus.

For this soup, I cooked 6oz. thin spaghetti to al dente, drained and rinsed it well in cold water. Then add the following chopped vegetables to a big pot.

2-3T single source EVOO

2c+ celery and tops

4 med. carrots

1 ex. lg. purple shallot

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1" cube of ginger - minced

2 dark kale leaves (remove spine)

1-2t ground poultry seasoning

3T± Better Than Bouillon - chicken

8oz. bite size pieces of roasted chicken

Sauté the prepared vegetables gently for 5-10 minutes, over low-medium heat, while stirring. The object here is to just warm everything up to begin to release flavors, NOT to brown anything.

Measure out 10c of bone broth. Add 2 cups now, cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring a couple times. Add the seasoning and soup base now, once that's stirred, in add the remaining 8 cups of bone broth. Stir, cover and simmer another hour over low heat.

Check the celery and carrots for doneness. Once those are the way you like, basically the soups done regardless of the time it's cooked. Add the chicken and cooked, cold pasta now. Stir and bring everything to a simmer for a couple minutes. . .Soup's Ready!!

My prayer for you today, is that you stay healthy. If you catch something in your travels, rest, eat well, sleep, stay properly hydrated with lemon water and tea. . .Lin

Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken and Vegetables

It's a cool 55° rainy day today and I seem to be fighting a cold, which may be winning at the moment. I'm going to hit it hard, with some good healthy roasted chicken and vegetables.

4T each: EVOO and butter

1t each: garlic and herb seasoning

 ~ bell pepper and garlic seasoning

 ~ orange ginger spice

Melt the butter in a large glass bowl. Add the oil and these, or any of your favorite seasonings - Cajun, Lemon Pepper, Italian would all be good choices. I started with just the first two, but the bitterness of the peppers, herbs and garlic needed to be balanced with a little sweetness. The orange ginger spice has sugar.

Scrub and cut the vegetables into chunks, add them to the bowl and stir to be sure everything is coated.

3 big carrots

3 stalks of celery

1 big purple onion

2 big red skinned potatoes

1 4# Just Bare whole young chicken

To spatchcock the chicken, follow these simple instructions. (I don't skewer mine, but I do put the backbone in the center of the roasting pan, under the chicken, so it also gets roasted and flavorful for a future soup.) Clean away any tiny bone fragments, then put the chicken, cut side down, in the pan and pour the buttered-oiled-seasoned vegetables over it, arranging them around the sides of the pan. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the bowl and put the butter mixture on the chicken skin.

Preheat the oven to 375° then bake, covered, for 40 minutes.

At the end of this time, your house will be scented by Pure Heavenly Comfort Food 😊 The second photo was taken at this time.

Move the vegetables around, poke the chicken to release some juices and baste everything. There will be a lot of liquid. Uncover and return it to the oven, increasing the temperature to 400° for another 20 minutes. Baste once toward the end of this time and cover the wingtips with foil, if needed, so they don't burn. The vegetables were done, so they went back in the big bowl and were covered. Using my turkey-chicken baster, I removed 2c of liquid for gravies or soups, basted the chicken using the last of the pan drippings then returned it, uncovered, to the oven for another 10 minutes to brown up.

After that time, I wanted it even browner, so I poured about a cup of water over the chicken, moved it around the pan, basted it with these drippings and continued roasting another 10 minutes. So after an hour and 20 minutes, it was done the way I like it. To be sure yours is fully cooked, poke the center of one breast with a fork, if it pulls out easily - it's done!

I drizzled some of the pan drippings over everything on my plate, and right now. . .It's What's For Dinner! . .Lin

Spatchcocked Roasted Chicken!!

I love to grocery shop!  Have I mentioned that lately?

It's snowy right now, so it made sense this morning to just stay local, at the Super One, only 4 blocks from my house.  Although I knew I needed to stock up, I took a big cart.  I wasn't expecting to spend $213.00! I found so many great things though! This beauty was sitting with its friends, in the chicken case, quietly calling my name. I started it even before unpacking the rest of the groceries! Cooking a spatchcocked chicken is exciting!!

First, remove the package of 'innards' and wash it, inside and out, with cool water then dry it.  Put the chicken on a big cutting board or your kitchen counter - breast side down.  Using sharp kitchen shears, cut through on either side of the backbone.  If you have trouble with the scissors, use a sturdy, sharp knife.  Turn it over and push down on the breastbone to flatten it.  You'll probably hear a few snaps.  Put it in a big roasting pan that has a cover.

Decide on your 'fat' and seasonings. I thought about using butter or coconut oil with some really good lemon pepper, but then decided on bacon and a black, green and red, dry pepper seasoning blend.  Oil-browned poultry is also excellent! If you'd like to try that, use a good quality dark, single-country-source, Italian or Moroccan, EVOO and season with finely ground Italian seasonings, Mediterranean seasoning, Cajun seasoning or just Himalayan pink salt and fresh ground pepper. Now. . .your chicken is ready for the oven. 

I always roast chicken, Cornish hens and turkey, in a way that's opposite everyone else. What I like to do is quick brown them, uncovered, in a 400°- 435° oven. Listen for it to start sizzling.  Once it's scenting your kitchen, after about an hour from the starting time, remove it from the oven. Quickly poke and baste it a little.  If it's getting brown and crispy you can put it back another half hour at 400°, or if you'd rather, you can cover it now and reduce the temperature to 325°. Mine is 6-1/2# and roasted an hour at 435°, and an hour at 325°.

Roast until a fork inserted into the breast and thigh comes out very easily. At the end of the cooking time, you can also uncover, poke, baste, and turn the heat up again, to crisp it up even further.

I don't have specific plans for the meat.  Once it's cool, I'll pull all the meat off the bones and into 4oz. portions, for individual servings. I can use several for soup or casseroles. I'll return the skin and bones to the roasting pan, add 6-8c fresh, cold, filtered water, whole black peppercorns, ⅓c apple cider vinegar, and simmer on very low heat, for 6-8 hours to make bone broth. The vinegar is an important element since it will pull the collagen out of the bones. You can add vegetables, onion tops and bottoms, carrot peelings or a couple carrots, bell peppers--seeds and cores, celery bottoms and stalks, all cut in chunks, celery greens, garlic. . .for flavor.

Chicken's in the freezer
Broth is simmering - 4 hours to go. . .

After the broth is simmered, strain out the bones and skin by pouring through a big colander. Chill it overnight. Remove the fat. You can melt this on your dog's dry food, or melt and strain it well, refrigerate and use it to sauté meat. Pour everything remaining through smaller mesh strainers a couple times, then finally through several layers of cheesecloth. Now it can be frozen, or refrigerated to use soon as fresh bacon infused chicken stock.

It's Winter! Buy a chicken to spatchcock! . .Lin

Almond Curry Chicken Salad

⅓c raisins

3-4 green onions

⅓c sliced almonds

5oz. chopped chicken

⅓c mayonnaise

½c sour cream

1t sugar

1t curry powder

½t black pepper

½t pumpkin pie spice

Put the raisins in a small-medium bowl and add 3T hot water.  I just heated up my lemon tea, so I used that.  Let them rehydrate while you slice the onions.  Add all the ingredients to the bowl, mix well.  This can be plated over romaine leaves as a salad, or made into a sandwich or a wrap.  This makes 3 nice size servings. . .Lin

Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken

I've always prefer roasting a whole chicken, stuffed - I love stuffing, but when trying to keep carbs low, that isn't a good option.  I found this gorgeous 7# chicken for only $5.25 (yes, 75¢ / pound) and new once roasted, this would make a lot of great chicken dishes.  If you're not familiar how to do this, I found a YouTube video that's clear and concise.  The previous time I did this, I followed the instructions exactly.  This time I only made one cut, right down the center of the backbone, since I wanted to keep that long piece with very little meat with the rest.

The photos, from left to right, shows the chicken right out of the packaging - washed inside and out and dried well.  The second after spatchcocking, the third is flipped, seasoned, and ready to go in the oven, preheated to 400⁰F for 30 minutes with the pan uncovered.  Keep the door shut during those first 30 minutes, no peeking, poking or basting!  Season your chicken however you'd like.  Today I drizzled mine well, with rosemary infused EVOO, then sprinkled it generously with the seasonings shown and my Rosemary Seasoning.

After the 30 minute sizzle time, poke in a few places and baste. Return to the oven and drop the heat to 350⁰ for another 40 minutes. Check for doneness. It should reach an internal temperature of 165⁰ with a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest meat, either the thigh or breast.

Another reliable method is to poke those areas with a fork. If the fork pulls out easily, it's done. Spatchcocked, and spread out like this, it will cook quicker than a whole compact bird. If these directions seem backwards to you. . .they are!


I've found I like the idea of getting the skin all crispy and sizzling first. It totally scents my kitchen. By the end, if it hasn't retained the crispiness, you can always baste it, then bump the temp back to 400⁰ for the last 15 minutes or so.

Now for the next fun part. What to do with all this chicken? Tonight one of the leg quarters is dinner for me with some  simmer-steamed seasoned, buttered vegetables. Kumquat-Cranberry sauce on the side and the meat drizzled with pan drippings. I was really hungry! Check back in the next couple days to see what this chicken turns into. What dishes would you make? Experiment!! There are no hard and fast rules in cooking!

Cooking is Art -- Baking is Science. . .Lin