Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Leftovers 101 - rotisserie chicken

This rotisserie chicken from Costco ($4.99) can feed six.



Bound to have leftovers when there're only two of us. Leftover rotisserie chicken can be used to the bones. After savoring the chicken on its own for dinner, shred them into strips and keep in refrigerator (up to 2 days) and in the freezer if longer. Yes, keep the bones as well. I used most of the bones to flavor up my chicken noodle soup. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...Yes, FIVE. That's the total number of different dishes I've whipped up with that ONE rotisserie chicken.

1. Eat the chicken on it's own, the day it's bought. Serve them with sides such as broccoli and carrots

2. Whip up a pasta dish - Chicken Penne with Celery and Sun-Dried Tomatoes


Chicken Penne with Celery and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (serves 2)
Ingredient:
-1/2lb pasta (I've used penne)
-2 cups shredded chicken (leftover from rotisserie chicken)
-1 bunch celery, cleaned and sliced into bite-size
-1tbsp sun-dried tomatoes (from bottle)
-some water (from boiling pasta)
-some olive oil
-pepper to taste

Method:
-Boil penne for 7-8 minutes till al dente. Sprinkle some salt while cooking the penne to flavor the pasta
-Drizzle 1 turn of olive oil onto frying pan
-Add in chicken and celery and stir fry for 5-8 minutes, pinch of pepper to taste
-Add in sun-dried tomatoes and mix well
-By this time, the pasta is cooked. Drain pasta, and add the pasta into the frying pan to mix well with the chicken, celery and tomatoes
-If too dry, add in some boiled pasta water from cooking the pasta. Serve

3.Use shredded chicken as sandwich filler, grill the sandwiches for lunch


4. Chai Buey Soup



Previously, I've not used any leftover meat to officially make it chai buey (菜尾- Mandarin), meaning "leftover dishes" in Hokkien. But with leftover rotisserie chicken, I can finally make it real. Find the recipe here. Just substitute (blanching part not required therefore) the poultry part with leftover chicken meat and some bones, add in 2 medium-size fresh red chilli (de-seed) with the tomatoes and pickled mustards, into the slower cooker and let the soup cook. This is defintely tastier than this.

5. Chicken Noodle Soup

Follow partially, the recipe here. Just substitute boiled chicken with leftover rotisserie chicken meat and all the remaining bones; and replace rice with noodles. The rotisserie chicken (meat and bones) will make the soup very flavorful! Garnish with some sliced fresh red chilli, fried shallots, and cilantro.

Thanks to Rachel for hosting Leftover Tuesdays. I'm having chicken penne with celery and sun-dried tomatoes today!

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