CHICKEN TO THE RESCUE

 

                                     Chicken to the rescue

          June is a busy month and arrives waving its flag-on-Flag Day, the 14^th day of this Semiquincentennital year for USA. In addition, we have Juneteenth, Father’s Day and the Summer Solstice not even counting all the graduations and weddings clustered in this thirty-day period. While parties and gatherings all involve food, the home cook can be overwhelmed with such preparations and is likely to look for quick shortcuts to come up with tasty and satisfying regular meals.

          At times like this the home cook loves roast chicken as a staple not only for a delicious dinner, but also as source for tasty ready-cooked meat for additional meals. One of the benefits of our modern food purveyor system is the ready availability of Rotisserie chicken at our supermarkets which comes as a time saving boon for the cook. After the initial meal of roast chicken, there are limitless delicious possibilities for the remaining chicken meat and even the rest of the carcass for soup.

                                        Lemony creamed chicken

          Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a large pan and sauté 2 cups cut up mushrooms with 2 sliced shallots and 1tsp. salt for 5 minutes. Stir in 1and ½ tbsp. flour and when incorporated, stir in 1 and ½ cup chicken broth and juice of ½ lemon. Cook on low heat to make a smooth sauce for about 2 minutes. Stir in 2-3 cups bite sized leftover roast chicken for 2-3 minutes to heat thoroughly then stir in ½ cup half and half and heat without boiling. Serve hot on rice, pasta or toast with a green salad.

 

                                                 Tangy Chicken salad

          Prepare the dressing by mixing thoroughly: ¼ cup sour cream, 1-2 tsp. white wine vinegar, ½ tsp. lemon pepper, ¼ tsp. celery seed, 1/3 tsp. dry mustard, 1/3 tsp. onion powder and ½ tsp. salt.

Salad: coarsely chop 3 cups of leftover roast chicken, 1 chopped stalk of celery, ¼ cup chopped dill cucumber pickles, 1 tbsp finely chopped onion and 1 chopped hard-boiled egg. Thoroughly mix the salad with the dressing and serve on lettuce.

                                                   Spring vegetable soup

          Sauté 1 large, chopped onion in 1 tbsp. olive oil for 5 minutes in a 3-4 qt. pot.  Add leftover bones from 2 roast chickens (one previously saved frozen), 4 cups water, 2 tbsp. tomato paste, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp. salt, 4 cloves, ½ tsp. lemon pepper 1 tsp., thyme, 2 large carrots and 2 stalks celery halved. Add additional water to cover all solids, bring to boil, lower temperature to simmer and cover to cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

          Remove carrots to set aside, strain the liquid through a sieve and return to the pot. Cut the carrots in bite size and return to the pot. Add ½ cup Ditalini pasta, 2/3 cups frozen string beans, 1 cup frozen peas and cook for 8 minutes, add ½ cup frozen corn and cook for additional 2 minutes. Stir in 1 tbsp. pesto and serve hot with crusty bread.

          As the 13^th century old English song states with some translation: “Summer is icumen in, Loudly sing, Cuckoo!”

     (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day…”and “Uncharted Journey from Riga”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)