Rotisserie Chickens: What can I say? I love 'em! Do you?? Our local grocery has them hot and fresh every day and my absolute fave flavor is "Honey Jalapeno"--which is sweet and spicy-hot all the way through the chicken, their other flavors, Honey Mesquite and Lemon Pepper are also quite good. The Wally-World deli carries the last two flavors, but not the first, and I'd say a heck of a lot of grocery chains probably offer rot. chickens too.
What's so great about them? I don't have to roast chickens! Which as you know takes a while-- fine for Sunday dinner, but not so great during the week when you are pressed for time. I must share an encounter I had with a very genial black gentleman in my grocery story. He looked to be in his mid to late 40's and had a toddler boy with him, either his son or grandson I'm guessing, sitting in the child seat of the cart. They passed by as I was contemplating the selections of rotisserie chickens. As I reached for the beloved "Honey Jalapeno," I heard a voice say: "Now, you know you should be cooking your own chicken at home!," and I looked up to see him smiling beatifically at me. I was rather stunned that he had the nerve to say something so paternalistic to a strange woman, but he had such a friendly and slightly mischievous look on his face that I did not think he was trying to insult me, probably just rib me a bit, so I did not snap his head off or inquire why his Baby-Mama was not there pushing the kid around in the cart and doing the grocery shopping while he knocked back a few with the boys. Instead I laughed as if I got the joke and moved on. Later in my foray through the store, I came up with a perfect rejoinder, alas too late: "Well, when I get a rotisserie grill in my kitchen, I'll roast chickens at home!" Which is true.
The rotisserie roasted chickens are great because they've been marinated in great flavahs and then slow-roasted, during which a lot of the fat drips out instead of accumulating, like they would in the pan. When they take them off the grills and put them in containers, plenty of juices still ooze out for use in making a gravy or helping to start a soup stock. I find that the combination of marinade and slow roasting tends to help the spice or other flavor soak deep into the chicken flesh so you don't need to keep the skin on to maintain any sort of flavor, like you might if you slathered some bbq sauce on the skin, and roasted the chicken quickly in a high heat or grilled quickly. And really, you should not eat the skin--it is quite fatty. I always remove it. If the chicken is cooked well, marinated, and basted etc., it should be flavorful and juicy. One can serve the meat with a splash of the juices, or (and this is kid-friendly) have a dipping sauce made out of whatever you marinated the chicken in or whatever sauce/marinade you have around--I like to keep lots of Lawry's marinades around for this purpose. They go great as extra sauce with chicken as well as marinade, and as a base for some kind of stir-fry or casserole-y mix of meat and veggies (and/or pasta).
Since there are only two of us I can get lots of meals out of one chicken--we'll eat one breast or one and a half breast as a meal the first day, and then I'll pull off the rest of the meat to use in another dish or make soup out of. In your 4 member family, alas, you probably have to choose: either eat it as the main course for one meal or pull off the meat to use in a dish or soup. Other than rotisserie chickens, I would usually buy skinless chicken breasts or 'tenders', since they are all ready to go and cook relatively quickly--I can't remember the last time I tackled a whole chicken mahself...and that probably involved a crock-pot and ended as chicken and fluffy Bisquick dumplings .
Anyway---here's the soup I love to make out of rotisserie chicken left-overs:
Quick Rotisserie Chicken Soup (no two-day marinating, roasting, stock-boiling, refrigerating, fat-skimming, ingredient-assembling, 3 hour simmering affair, yay!):
Your favorite flavah of Rotisserie Chicken--the flavor of the chicken will help determine the spice combination in your soup--I like to add cumin and maybe a splash of lime and/or salsa to the stock if I am using Honey Jalapeno and go more traditional with Lemon Pepper (sage/poultry seasonings, lemon/citrus pepper, typical green herbs like marjoram and oregano); I am usually using mostly dark meat and some white-meat left-overs, if you were making lotsa soup you might use whole chicken. Taking the meat off the bone would be the most time-consuming, and you could either do it in advance or while the veggies were broiling (see below).
Stock:pour however many cans of chicken soup stock you will need to make enough soup for your family in a stock pot. Pour in the juices from the rotisserie chicken container (if you've refrigerated the chicken, the juices, and some fat, will have solidified in the bottom and you will be scraping, not pouring). Toss in some garlic and whatever spice/herbal combination goes with your chicken/mood--taste often to make sure you've got enough--nothing worse than bland chicken soup, thus I will usually also add either a half or full packet of Lipton Recipe Secrets (like Savory Herb and Garlic or Onion--or if your grocery store sells soup mixes in the produce section that combine pre-cut fresh veggies with a powdered stock-starter, toss the starter in. Cover and set on low to start heating up and simmering. Add chicken whenever you are ready.
Prepare veggies: If you've got the pre-prepared fresh veggies for soup use these, otherwise either use some pre-chopped veggie mixes you can get in bags in the produce section, OR use a frozen mix that would be good for soup--I've seen veggies specific for soups and stews in the frozen veggie section of the store. I usually also end up adding chopped onions if those are not in the mix and garlic. Spray a roasting pan or cookie sheet with Pam or olive oil, spread veggies out on pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with pepper and put under the broiler. Here you don't want to burn them to crisps or cook them until they are mush. You just want to start the cooking process that can be finished when you bring the soup to a boil and leave them in just long enough for the veggies to start to get a little charred--for extra flavah. I usually take it out and stir them around once.
Combine chicken and veggies with soup stock, bring to low boil and simmer for just a bit--I usually mix about between two tsp and tbs of corn starch into some cold water to emulsify and then add to the soup to thicken it.
Serve with salad and crusty bread. MMMMM. Tastes even bettah the next day!
Vic's Coleslaw==Easy-Peasy, low-fat and TASTEEEEEE!
1 bag of coleslaw from grocery store produce section--or more than one bag if you wanna make lots (WHO has time to chop up a head of white cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots?? NOT I!)
"light/lite" or "fat-free" salad dressing, between half and whole bottle depending on how much slaw you are making, how big the bottle is, and how "wet" you like your slaw. My favorite flavors of dressing to use for this, which end up tasting more "traditional," are either Ken's brand "Vidalia onion" dressing or a poppy-seed dressing. There are surely other possible alternatives: perhaps Ranch, a "Green Goddess" avocado-based dressing might be interesting, or a citrus-based dressing. Either way--use light or fat-free--see, we are trying to avoid the whole
"mayo phenomenon" of ruining perfectly healthy meats and vegetables by basically slathering on congealed oil and egg yolk and busting out our arteries. I usually like to toss this with some extra dill--which I now have in my garden.
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