One Chicken. 17 Meals.

One chicken - 17 meals...now how the hell is that possible?

Quite frankly: it's not. Well, maybe it is, but you'd for sure have to eat some pretty small portions. The whole 17 meals thing - I just thought it might be a good way to get your attention.

In any event. lemme show you how many dishes I recently stretched a single, high-quality bird into, using some pantry and fridge items I always have around...

Roasted chicken

First, I roasted the chicken on a vertical roaster, while a bunch of cut up potatoes cooked in the drippings below. The next day, I pulled the remaining meat off the bird...

Salad and stock

Which I made into a chicken salad. The bones (along with a few chicken scraps saved in the freezer) made a quart and a half of a nice, rich stock. Once you've got stock...

Making risotto

You can use it to make risotto; in this case, mushroom risotto, with both fresh and dried mushrooms (the soaking liquid from the reconstituted dried 'shrooms also goes into the making of the risotto)...

Mushroom risotto

The mushroom risotto was a big hit with Significant Eater. I always make a little more risotto than the 2 of us can eat in one sitting, because...

Frying risotto pancakes

With the leftover risotto, I make risotto "pancakes." And who doesn't like a nice, crispy rice pancake...

Risotto "pancakes"

 Served alongside a tart, peppery arugula salad?

Not quite 17 meals, but that one bird sure made for some nice eating. Next up, going to the source (almost) for a real chicken.