16th September 2020

We bought a whole chicken yesterday and since we only used the breasts, we had leftovers for today so made peri peri seasoned legs and wings with baked sweet potatoes and a lovely rocket salad.

It is great to know how to break down a whole chicken so you can buy a whole chicken rather than pieces. There are a few reasons I prefer it. Firstly cost, a whole chicken is much better value than pieces and also you get left with the chicken carcass, which you can use to make chicken soup or stock.

Chop the carcass, brown off in a large pan, when golden add soffritto and cook until soft and translucent, add herbs if you would like, deglaze with hot water or stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and cook for 1½ - 2 hours until it has a good chicken flavour.  Pass through a muslin cloth lined fine sieve.   For stock you are done. For chicken noodle soup, put into a clean pan, put onto a high heat, add noodles and cooked cut up chicken breast, check for seasoning and cook until the chicken hot and the noodles cooked through.

Potatoes are lovely to cook over the fire but it takes time so on a weekday, take your washed potatoes, put them into a washed plastic carrier bag, seal the potatoes in the bag and microwave for 5 mins, move the potatoes around and put back on for another 5 mins.  Put oil on to each potato and salt then put onto your braai (bbq) and cook until golden - about 40 mins.

Maple and mustard dressing is really good on rocket - 1½ tbsp olive oil and cider vinegar, 1 tbsp finely chopped shallots, 2 tsp whole grain mustard and maple syrup, season and mix.  It goes very well with chicken also.