cooking advice?

[vaznetti]

Last night I was tired, so I made fairly simple baked chicken -- a cut-up chicken in a baking dish with some cloves of garlic and shallots and the juice of a lemon and an orange squeezed over it. (Also olive oil, salt and pepper.) I ate a piece of it and put the whole pan in the fridge.

Tonight, I took it out for leftovers and discovered that the pan is full of jelly and fat, all full of orange and lemon and chickeny goodness. And I'm wondering if there's something I can do with that stuff, because it smells like it might be tasty. Some kind of gravy, I guess, but I don't have any use for that.

Any advice?

Comments

[kerlin.livejournal.com]

Maybe using it as stock to start some rice? Or adding it in with some rice to simmer?

[vaznetti]

That's quite a good idea, actually. I might try it tomorrow.

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

Now you know why vegetarians don't eat Jell-O; it's rendered from animal bones, and you've just made some at home! As soon as you heat it up, it will liquefy again. I'd just skim the fat off while it's chilled and then heat it up and have it as a nice sauce over rice or cous-cous with the leftover chicken. Sounds yummy!

PS - It could also be a nice rich soup base, but the citrus makes it a little iffy for soup. Works better with something less acid.

[vaznetti]

I think you can actually but vegetarian gelatine nowadays! But yes, it is the same stuff.

I was wondering about using it as a soup base. But I might use it to start some stock for risotto or something.

[elanurel.livejournal.com]

I definitely second the iffy-ness of using it as a soup base. We make a lemon chicken recipe for SCA events with a similar sauce (olive oil base, lots of lemon juice and garlic) and my husband came up with the idea of using it for soup. It was...odd. Not anything we couldn't eat but also not terribly appetizing.

OTOH, scooping off the fat and using it as a sauce sounds lovely. ;-P It might also be nice on veggies, too...

[vaznetti]

Thanks for the advice -- it hadn't occurred to me that the citrus would be an issue, because citrus and chicken just go together in my head.

[elanurel.livejournal.com]

It may have been the amount of lemon juice we use in the sauce, as it's almost equal parts to the olive oil, but it was an interesting flavor in a soup. I didn't like it. John says he could eat if he had to... ;-P

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

Oh yes - vegetarian gelatine is made from agar-agar, a sea vegetable. It is the style more common in Asia. Also in kosher gelatine. It's not as durable as the animal-based kind, though.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I use chicken goop for risotto, since it's being diluted with lots of water anyway.

[vaznetti]

I am thinking risotto might be the way to go, here.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

The next time you baked some kind of poultry, if you leave out the citrus (which alters the taste a great deal) and use rosemary and thyme instead and again have this jelly and fat, you can make chicken and dumplings or home made chicken and noodles that are delicious and simple. If you are interested, I could send you some homespun recipes on this kind of thing (I come from a v traditional background where I learned to cook from the ground up like this and use and reuse meat and other things to make other meals, weird considering, but true all the same).

[vaznetti]

If you are interested, I could send you some homespun recipes on this kind of thing (I come from a v traditional background where I learned to cook from the ground up like this and use and reuse meat and other things to make other meals, weird considering, but true all the same).

I would totally be interested in that -- generally leftover meat just becomes tomorrow's lunch or dinner in my universe, but interesting things to do with leftover chicken in particular would be welcome. And dumplings, which are alien to me because my mother never makes them.

Doesn't everyone reuse meat or whatever, though? I mean, OK, I don't usually render my own chicken fat any more, but it's not like I didn't grow up that way.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

I think we're just old, my dear. Ok, let me type some stuff up for you! I am making a chicken pot pie from left over chicken today myself as a matter of fact.

[ultraviolet9a.livejournal.com]

Ow man. This post made me go all hungry. And seems like the advice I was going for has already been posted, so... :)

[vaznetti]

Ha! It was very tasty.

[ultraviolet9a.livejournal.com]

So how did you cook it after all?

[jood.livejournal.com]

MEOW.

(Also jelly from gefilte fish.)

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