Chicken recipes and solution for a fussy eating boy

Today would normally be a day that we go and have lunch with my Grandmother.  Unfortunately she has had the stomach bug that is going around so has told us to stay away this week.  Its a pity because I really enjoy our Wednesday lunches,and I love the fact that my children have a good relationship with their great grandparents.
So its another day at home for us, which isn't too bad as I really do need to tidy up the house a bit!

I think I mentioned the other day being inspired by Wild Kitchen and her budget meals.  Well when I went shopping I found whole chickens on special (labeled 'Festive Chickens' so left over from Christmas) and went to town on it!  I roasted it on Monday night, stripped the carcass yesterday and froze the rest of the meat and made stock from the bones.

My Roast Chicken Recipe
1 chicken
butter
garlic
favourite herbs and spices
olive oil
salt and pepper

I seperate the skin from the breast meat (have the chicken so that its bottom is facing you, put a spoon between the skin and the meat and work it loose) and put some butter underneath the skin.
Peel some garlic and place in the cavity - I don't stuff anything else in a chicken or any other bird.   I watched a Jamie Oliver program recently that pointed out that if you put stuffing in a bird the heat can't get into the cavity and it takes longer to cook.
drizzles some olive oil over the skin and sprinkle with your favourite herbs and spices and the salt and pepper.    I used oregano, basil and a delicious smoked chilli a friend brought me back from Chile.
Whack it in the oven at 180 C for about 25 minutes per 500 grams.  I use a meat thermometre to tell when it is done - when the temp is about 80 C when you stick the thermometer between the thigh and the breast it is done.

This was so moist and tender.  I know there seems to be a lot of fat in it when you shove butter under the skin, but it all melts and just keeps the meat really tender - most of it ends up in the tray underneath.

'Gravy' from pan juices
I didn't have any Gravox, so made a sort of 'gravy' by making a roux with the pan juices and some flour then adding warm chicken stock and seasoning.  It was a bit floury, so I'll probably use less flour next time, but it made HEAPS so I have frozen the left overs.  It'll make a great pasta bake sauce or other similar uses.

Chicken Stock

1 Chicken carcass
carrots
onions
garlic
pepper corns
sea salt
parsley

I preheated the stock pot with a bit of olive oil and cut the onions in half.  I also peeled the garlic and chopped the carrots into thirds.  I then put them in the stock pot to cook slightly and caramelise a bit.  I find this gives a better flavour.
While the  vegies were caramelising, I whacked the chicken bones with my big knife - this cracks the bones and enables you to take aadvantage of all the delicious goodness in the marrow.
Once the vegies had a bit of colour I put in the chicken and filled the stock pot with water.  Once the water heated I turned it down as low as it could go and left it with the lid on for the day.  I have it so low that the water doesn't move, but is still really hot.  If the water isn't moving you get a clearer stock as the impurities don't get jostled out of the ingredients.  I could do it hotter and clarify it, but that requires a lot of eggwhites and mince that you can't eat afterwards, so seems like a huge waste to me!
I let it cool overnight and today I'll portion it up and freeze it.

So out of that one chicken I have 8 - 10 packages of chicken meat in the freezer, about 10 litres of chicken stock (so about 10 meals there too) and 3 packages of the 'gravy' that will make 3 meals too.  So potentially21 ish meals out of one chicken!  I won't get that many of course, because I'll combine some of them I'm sure, but it will keep me going for quite a while!

I also tried something new with Ianto yesterday - instead of waiting for him to be hungry, I filled his lunch box with healthy snacks and put it where he could get it.  He didn't eat all of it, but it was a lot less stressful when he could just go and get his own food.  Interestingly, he wasn't saying he was hungry as much either.  So that is definitely something I will be repeating!  One of the major things that stresses me out is that every time I try to do something he is asking me for food and I think I have found the solution :)