Rotisserie chickens to the rescue! : how to use the already-roasted chickens you purchase at the market to make than more 125 simple and delicious meals

360 Pages·2003·1.29 MB·English

by  Carla Fitzgerald Williams

Praise for Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue!
Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue! features loads of family-friendly meals,
including Snappy Smothered Chicken. We devoured every morsel of this recipe
during testing.
—Southern Living
Dedicated with love to the memory of
my wonderful parents
and to my terrific husband and boys
for the joy they bring me!
Contents
Title Page
Praise for Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue!
Dedication
Introduction
Getting Started
Chicken Picking
Quick Starts
Standout Salads
Which Came First?
Soups in a Snap
Scrumptious Stews
Say Sandwich
Cozy Casseroles
Dinner in a Pot or a Pan
Knockout Noodles and Glorious Grains
Great Glazes
Sizzling Side Dishes
Index
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
INTRODUCTION
Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue! was born because I am a time-starved cook
who is too stubborn to give up home-cooked meals just because time is tight and
my life sometimes borders on chaotic. The concept for this book started with a
simple dinner and grew into a quest for letting rotisserie chickens help me do
what I have always loved doing: tinkering with recipes, serving myriad different
flavors in home-cooked meals, and having the energy to enjoy the meals with
everyone else.
My love affair with rotisserie chickens began after I invited friends who were
passing through town to come for a spur-of-the-moment weeknight dinner.
These friends remembered when I used to mix and roll my own pasta and chop
tomatoes to make the sauce. With two young sons and very little time, those
days were clearly behind me. As I wandered in the grocery store, children in tow
and mumbling to myself about needing another pair of hands, I spotted the case
filled with rotisserie chickens. The culinary lightbulb went off. The extra pair of
hands was right in that case!
I knew the chickens were tasty because I had bought them on occasion as a
take-out alternative for my family. But they were much more than that. Here was
a fresh, already-roasted chicken with tender meat just waiting to be used as the
base for an even more exciting, more enticing dish. I realized that day that a
rotisserie chicken could be used as an ingredient. A spice blend here, a quick
chop there, and Hurry Curry and my love affair with cooking with rotisserie
chickens were born. Dinner was delicious and on time, and I was not the least bit
frazzled. My guests wondered how I did it. Since I had known them for so long,
I divulged my secret weapon. “It was easy,” I replied. “A rotisserie chicken
came to my rescue!”
HOT OFF THE ROASTING RACKS
Spit-roasting, the precursor to rotisserie chickens, is one of the oldest
methods of cooking. Rotisserie chickens as we know them first cropped up in
American supermarkets in the 1950s. Flavored with barbecue seasonings, they
puttered along through the ’60s, an era when new homes often had built-in ovens
with a rotisserie. I still remember my mother proudly inching a freshly roasted
chicken off the rod. The National Chicken Council informed me that the trend
toward in-store roasting appeared to taper off until the 1990s, and then they
moved full-speed ahead. You would be hard-pressed to walk into any
supermarket and not find these deliciously convenient and reasonably priced
chickens waiting for you. In addition, with rotisserie chickens blooming in
popularity, there are the countless chickens roasted at home. Chances are you
have a roasted chicken in your refrigerator right now.
NOT “JUST CHICKEN” ANYMORE
In Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue! I share my secrets for transforming a
simple rotisserie chicken, store bought or home roasted, or part of a rotisserie
chicken, into something different and delicious using readily available
ingredients, easy-to-do techniques, and everyday kitchen equipment. These
plump, ready-to-eat treasures can be chopped, sliced, or shredded to become a
springboard for creating everything from delicious appetizers and sandwiches to
tantalizing soups and casseroles, all with very little time and effort—and no
special skill required. You can start with a rotisserie chicken and serve
everything from Quick Coq au Vin and Chicken and Biscuit Pot Pie to Hot and
Sour Soup and Speedy Skillet Paella. Or they can be doused with an easy
homemade glaze for an extra-quick flavor boost. You can even cheat a little by
warming the whole chicken and surrounding it with a zippy side dish for a
presentation you will be proud of.
The recipes in Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue! have the flavor,
convenience, and flexibility we look for in cooking and eating. You buy or roast
a chicken, open this book, and suddenly you are not serving “just chicken”
anymore. Each scrumptious recipe includes the preparation necessary to
maximize flavor while minimizing time and effort. I save even more time
without sacrificing the good tastes we all crave by taking advantage of the
growing bounty of easy-to-use fresh produce, exciting sauces and salsas, and
flavorful ethnic ingredients. Never again will you be faced with having to serve a
rotisserie chicken plain or tossing out uneaten chicken a few days later. This
book will show you that when you have a rotisserie chicken, you have
possibilities!
REAL, NOT FANTASY, COOKING
I love food fantasy as much as the next food lover, but my family and I need
to eat every day. These recipes reflect that. The recipes in this book are ones that
real people can cook within realistic time constraints. A few recipes are a tad
more involved—for instance, the Muffaletta Salad requires a fair amount of
chopping—but most can be on the table with much less to do. In fact, if a recipe
became too involved, I thought about the reality of my life and rethought the
recipe because your life is probably as busy as mine, and I want you to use these
recipes.
Why These Recipes Will Work for You
One of the things I hope that my book will do is get people in the kitchen
cooking, and to do that the recipes must be practical. I use ingredients that are
readily available in grocery stores. These recipes were developed, tested, and
retested using nonprofessional home ranges because that is what most of you
have and I want these recipes to work for you just as I have created them.
Professional ranges are much more powerful and can yield different results in
different time frames. If you happen to have one, adjust the cooking times as you
need to. The only special equipment I used were a food processor in a few
recipes and a slow cooker in a smattering of others to take advantage of their
convenience.
To help ensure that these recipes will work for you, I used the same safety net
that big companies do: I engaged other professional testers to double-check
them.
FAMILY FRIENDLY
Feeding a family can be a tricky business. Tight time frames, varied
Feeding a family can be a tricky business. Tight time frames, varied
preferences, and multiple schedules can make it challenging to feed a family at
home. I have two young sons, and they dined on the recipes in this book. The
thumbs-up were many and the thumbs-down few. (I would not expect a six-year-
old and a three-year-old to want Muffaletta Salad, but I am all for exposing them
to new things.)
I decided not to label recipes that I thought were especially appropriate for
children because each child is different. Instead, I worked to develop recipes that
would appeal to several age groups, and they have been tasted by everyone from
preschoolers to grandmas. Good descriptions and spice recommendations are
included to assist you in selecting what is right for your family. You know your
family, and you are the best judge of what they will enjoy. I can tell you, though,
that they are sure to like the recipes in this book.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
There are no secrets to using Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue! It is simple
to use. The recipes are straightforward, and the ingredients are easy to find. I
have offered tips here and there along with the recipes to make this book even
more useful. Among the tips you will find are:
Notes—Tips on ingredients or cooking
Lighter Touch—Ways to reduce fat or calories
In a Pinch—What to do if you are really tight on time or are out of an
ingredient
Play It Again—Ideas for using leftovers
These tips and others are there to help make Rotisserie Chickens to the
Rescue! even more fun and practical to cook from.