Easy Chicken Dinners

Most people don't buy whole chickens. They buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts or maybe wings or drumsticks. However, it is a little cheaper to buy a whole chicken and cut it up and cook it. You can get so many more meals for your money, plus bones for broth.

Here's how to cut up and use the entire chicken.

Chicken Thighs and/or Drumsticks -
Braised Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes
Lidia Bastianich
Serves 4

2 1/2 pounds chicken
salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 pound red bliss potatoes, preferably no bigger than 2-inches across
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or more
2 medium-small onions, peeled and quartered lengthwise
2 short branches of fresh rosemary with plenty of needles
1 or 2 pickled cherry peppers or pepperoncini

Trim off excess skin and all visible fat from chicken.
Season the chicken on all sides.
Put enough olive oil in the skillet to cover the bottom. When the oil is very hot, lay the pieces skin-side down, an inch or so apart— watch out for oil spatters. Don’t crowd the chicken: if necessary you can fry it in batches.
Let the chicken fry in place for several minutes to brown on the underside, then turn and continue frying until golden brown on all sides, 7 to 10 minutes or more.
Meanwhile, rinse and dry the potatoes and slice each one in half. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Put the potatoes and onions into the skillet scattering them around.
Lay the rosemary branches and the peppers around the pan.
Cover and put the skillet in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes and check to see if the chicken is done and the onions and potatoes are caramelized.

This recipe can be completed revamped using:
artichoke hearts, olives, and lemons
garlic, oregano, spinach, chickpeas
apples, apple cider

Chicken Breasts -
Parmesan Chicken
Barefoot Contessa
Serves 6-8

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup all-purpose flour
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
11/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
Unsalted butter
Good olive oil
Baby salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry
Lemon Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Pound the chicken breasts until they are ¼-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper on a dinner plate. Beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water in a large shallow bowl. On a second dinner plate, combine the bread crumbs and the 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.  
Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, dusting off the excess, then dip both sides into the egg mixture, and finally dredge both sides in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing lightly.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large (12-inch) sauté pan over medium-low heat and cook 2 chicken breasts at a time for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until just cooked through. Remove the cooked chicken to a plate (or keep warm in the oven; see below). Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts.  
Toss the salad greens with the lemon vinaigrette. Place each chicken breast on a plate and pile mound of salad on top. Serve hot with shaved or grated Parmesan on top.
Notes: You can pound the meat between two sheets of wax paper, plastic wrap, or directly on a board.
To keep the cooked chicken breasts warm, place on a sheet pan in a 200-degree oven for up to 15 minutes.

Lemon Vinaigrette

(Makes 3/4 Cup)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup good olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Measure the lemon juice in a 1-cup glass measuring cup. Add the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and whisk together.
Variations:
You can use boneless pork chops for this also. Just pound them thin.

Chicken Wings

These can be frozen and saved until you have enough for a meal of Buffalo chicken wings or used in the Rosemary Chicken recipe or others.

What do I do with the chicken carcass and bones?
You can save the carcass and the bones by freezing it in a zip bag or throw it right into the Instant Pot and make broth....

Chicken Broth -
This can be as simple as a chicken carcass, some peppercorns and some water. Or you can add herbs, onion, celery and carrots. You can save your vegetable scraps – onion peelings, the ends of carrots and celery – by freezing them in a bag until you make broth. Then throw them into the pot.
Pressure cook for about 40 minutes under high pressure. Strain the bones out and jar the broth up. You can freeze it or pressure can it. It will only last in the refrigerator for a week, so if you won't use it by then, freeze it.
Use the broth instead of water to cook rice, use it in stews, soups, casseroles, etc.

Chicken Soup -
Chicken Noodle Soup
Barefoot Contessa
Serves 6

2 quarts homemade chicken stock
2 stalks of celery, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
2 cups wide egg noodles
Parsley
Chicken meat, shredded
Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot and add the celery, carrots, and noodles.
Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked.
Add the cooked chicken meat and parsley and heat through.
Season to taste and serve.

One whole chicken – 3 or more meals