Chicken and Veggie Pasta Salad

15 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by Keebug in Main Dishes, Salads, Side Dishes and Vegetables, Uncategorized

Tags

black olives, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, pasta, pasta salad, rotini, salad, vegetables

This is the most delicious, crunchy, delicious, fresh, delicious, satisfying pasta salad you’ll ever dream of tasting. Did I mention it’s delicious?

My mom makes this one all the time and a hilariously favorite memory from my childhood is the time my mom was going to be super busy working all week one summer when my brother and I were around 11 and 14, respectively. She made a gigantic Tupperware bowl full of this salad and we were supposed to eat it for lunch all week long. You remember those green 1980’s Tupperware bowls that you could sit in? One of those. My brother was this knock-knee’d, pre-pubescent, bottomless pit and I’m sure we’d been swimming and he’d been working up an appetite all day. Well, when my mom arrived home that evening, she found him sitting Indian-style with the giant green bowl in his lap eating the last morsels of this salad with a kitchen spoon the size of his head. It didn’t even make it past Day 1. Where that kid put the food, I’ll never know.

My recipe varies just a bit from my mom’s, so I’m sure once this is posted I’ll get an email subtlety alerting me to where I’ve gone wrong. But, that’s my burden to bear. So here’s how you make it.

The ingredients:

1 lb. tri-color rotini
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 med-large FINELY diced red onion
2 cups FINELY diced cauliflower
2 cups FINELY diced broccoli
1 can large black olives, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bottle La Martinique True French Viniagrette
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
Seasonings: cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic powder

So, here’s the secret to this particular recipe. Tiny, tiny diced vegetables. I mean like half-the-size-of-a-dime tiny. And don’t buy those gross pre-sliced olives. Get the large or jumbo olives and slice them yourself, lazy. From there it’s just a tiny bit of cooking and a stir to combine.

Dice up your veggies. Remember…TINY. Cauliflower, broccoli, red onion. Toss them into a giant green 1980’s Tupperware bowl. Or a regular big bowl, as I’ve done below. You’ll lose the vintage-y aspect, but it will taste exactly the same.

Now slice up the olives and throw those in, too.

In the meantime, cook your pasta to the specifications on the back of the box and let it drain.

Now, in the same pot you’ve just poured your pasta out of, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add in the chicken breast pieces that you’ve just diced…also TINY. Season them liberally with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, a bit of salt, and black pepper. I use a lot of cayenne because it’s the only spicy thing that’s in this salad and I like-a the spicy.

Stir to incorporate the seasonings and cook until just done. Here’s what the process looks like (steamy pics to follow).

Now add the pasta and chicken to the veggies in the bowl. Season again with a bit more salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Now, just add a big dollop of dijon mustard and about 3/4 of a well-shaken bottle of La Martinique. This dressing really is imperative. No impostors will be accepted.

Simply stir to incorporate and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving. Because you added the dressing while it was still hot, it may soak it up and appear a bit dry when you’re ready to eat it. Simply add the remaining 1/4 bottle of dressing to moisten it back up. Enjoy from 2 feet in front of the TV while eating directly from the bowl with a giant mixing spoon. Or like a regular person. Your call.

Chicken & Vegetable Stir Fry with Fried Rice

23 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Keebug in Main Dishes, Side Dishes and Vegetables, Uncategorized

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Tags

chicken, chinese, fried rice, stir fry, vegetables

Most Sundays I like to sit around the house in my pj’s watching Netflix nursing an Azalea hangover until it’s Game of Thrones time. The typical hangover Sunday dinner tradition is to peruse the Shenghai II delivery menu for about an hour before ordering the same thing I always do and having one of my two favorite delivery boys, Mike or Earl, deliver it to my door while I apologize for looking the way I do. MOST Sundays.

Last Sunday I decided I didn’t want to spend $20 on takeout that I was sure to only eat about $4 of before putting in the fridge and throwing it out 3 days later. It was like I turned into a grown up for an evening. A hungover grown up in her pj’s on her couch at 5pm. It’s the best I can do. A semi-grown up in pj’s that still wanted Chinese food. Solution: Stir Fry. And, of course, fried rice. That’s right, because I’ve been absent with recipes for a couple of weeks due to a hectic schedule on my end, you guys get a two-fer this week. You’re welcome.

I’m not gonna lie, you need a shit ton of ingredients to make this particular stir fry, but you could certainly scale back on the veggies and use what you have in your fridge. This recipe also works with beef, shrimp or even tofu for you vegetarian weirdos.

The ingredients (that I used):

2.5-3 cups cold cooked white rice
2 eggs
1/2 large yellow or white onion
1 lb chicken breast
1/2 zucchini
1 large carrot
4 fresh broccoli florets
1 stalk of celery
1/4 cup frozen green peas
3 cloves garlic
2-3 green onions
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 cup chicken stock
2 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
chili oil
sesame oil
soy sauce
red pepper flakes
vegetable or stir fry oil

Not to sound all Rachel Ray-ey here, because I would drop kick that annoying, pancake-faced, flat-chested little wench given even the smallest opportunity…but the rule does apply: Need it twice? Chop it once.

Many of the same ingredients will go into both the stir fry and fried rice, so even though they get chopped differently, do all your prep work up front and then you’ll be ready to cook. The cooking goes quickly, the prep…not so much, depending on how fast you are with a knife.

Start with the chicken. I used super thin ribbony slices of white meat.

I set the chicken aside in a bowl and mixed in 1 1/2 tablespoons of corn starch, red pepper flakes (to your liking), and about 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce. That can chill in the fridge out while you’re doing the rest. With the remaining 1 tablespoon of corn starch, you’ll make a slurry. Basically, you need to mix it with a whisk or fork into about a cup of cold chicken stock and set it aside (sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step).

Zucchini. I like to chop mine into ribbons, so that they’re about the same size as the chicken. Put it on a large plate for all your stir fry veggies.

Carrot. Peel it. Cut about 2/3 the same way you cut the zucchini and the last 3 into a smaller dice for the fried rice. Separate them onto their respective plates.

Onion. I used 1/2 a large onion and diced half of it for the fried rice and slivered the other half for the stir fry.

Broccoli. Slice about 4 large florets thinly for the stir fry.

Celery. Slice about 1/2 stalk into ribbons for the stir fry.

Green onions. I used 2-3 and chopped them on the bias. 1/2 for stir fry, 1/2 for fried rice.

Garlic. About 4 cloves, finely chopped for stir fry.

Ginger. Peel and finely chop about 1 tablespoon. More if you like more ginger. Less if you like less ginger. None if you don’t like ginger. Duh. It goes on the stir fry plate.

Now you should be all ready and prepared to begin cooking. Get your ingredients all set by the stove. This goes pretty fast.

Fried rice first. Get your shit together.

Heat a pan or wok to med-high heat and coat with about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons of oil. Add your veggies (minus the peas) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Then add the eggs and scramble while you stir fry.

Next, once the eggs are just cooked, add in the cold rice and keep stirring.

Now add in about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and 1/2 tablespoon of chili oil and stir, stir, stir. I season with red pepper flake, too, but that’s your call. I like it spicy.

Finally, add the frozen green peas and stir fry for about another minute before transferring to a plate. Give it a taste. It’s delicious.

The perfect use for leftover rice any day of the week. Not just Hangover Sunday.

But wait! There’s more!

I switched pans because my wok is super small, but if you have a big wok (wink, wink), use it for both and clean one pan…like a boss!

It’s stir fry time. Get your stuff within arm’s reach. This goes fast, too.

Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a pan or wok over medium high heat. To that, add your garlic and ginger and stir fry about 30 seconds.

To that, add the chicken that has been marinating in the soy, pepper, and corn starch. Stir fry that just until it starts to get some color.

Now start adding your vegetables. They can all pretty much go in at once. Stir, stir, stir.

After about 1 minute, it’s time to add the chicken stock/corn starch slurry that you mixed up earlier. Pour that in and let it come to fast boil while you continue stirring. It should begin to thicken after boiling. Keep stirring for about 1 minute. Add in about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and a splash of chili and sesame oil.

After a couple minutes of stirring and sauce thickening, it’s all done!

Enjoy your Sunday Hangover dinner without having to open the door to a delivery boy half naked this week! Best when served hot while watching Game of Thrones.

MOM’S Poached Chicken Salad

25 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Keebug in Appetizers and Dips, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

celery, chicken, chicken salad, onion, poached chicken

Full credit for this delicious chicken salad has to go directly to my mom. It’s her chicken salad recipe and she’s pretty famous for it. When she started making this I remember her using her blender to shred the chicken little bits at a time. It took forever. Later that year was the Christmas she got a food processor. Mostly because the whole family wanted chicken salad and we didn’t want to have to wait on it. To this day she can be overheard referring to her food processor as her “chicken salad maker”. I’m pretty sure it’s the only thing she uses it for.

I’m actually not sure if she’s going to be super pissed because I’ve shared the recipe today with all of you, but I’m going to take that chance…mostly because she lives 3 states away and out of smacking reach. She’s got a helluva backhand. Also, because it’s summer time and everyone deserves the chance to eat these chicken salad sandwiches out of a cooler on the beach of your choice. It’s the perfect picnic food. You’re welcome.

The ingredients:

For the poaching liquid:

Celery
Carrots
Onion
Bay Leaves
Garlic
Parsley
Lemon
Salt
Peppercorns

For the salad:

Poached chicken breasts
Onion
Celery
Mayo
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Cayenne

I used this entire 1.5 lb package of chicken breasts when I made this batch and it made what I can only measure as a “SHIT TON” of chicken salad. So if you make this much, be prepared to eat chicken salad at every meal for about a week. Or just be a normal person and make less. The measurements in this particular salad aren’t actually that important, just figure out a reasonable ratio and run with it. I believe in you.

The first thing you must do is to create the perfect poaching liquid for your chicken breasts. Poaching is simply cooking something in a simmering liquid of your choice. Not boiling. Simmering. Think: low boil or slow bubble. I like to prepare the liquid and let it simmer for a 20-30 minutes before I add the chicken in this recipe, just to be sure the water has taken on the full flavor of everything you’ve added. Here’s how I do it:

To a large skillet I added a big handful of baby carrots (that had admittedly seen better days but were still ok to use for poaching), the tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery, a big handful of fresh parsley, a halved lemon–juice squeezed in, one quartered onion, and a palmful of both kosher salt and whole peppercorns. Let that come to slow boil for about 20-30 minutes to really get the flavor out of the veggies then you’re good to go.

Now add the chicken breasts.

Bring it back up to a simmer and let that poach, covered, for about 20-25 minutes or until you can see no more pink in the thickest part of the breast when you slice it with a knife.

It’ll look white and boring like boiled chicken. That’s because it is legit what it is. In the end it will taste delicious. Trust me.

Now clean all the weird shit off of the breasts. Any gross fatty pieces or gummy ass ligament stuff has gots to go. Bye Felicia. Chop the chicken into manageable pieces and add them to your food processor aka chicken salad maker.

Now give that a whirl. You’re literally going for the tiniest shreds you can get. Completely toe’ up. Just when you think it’s small enough, pulse it a few more times to show it you didn’t come to play.

Here’s what it should like when you’re all said and done:

Now while your chicken was poaching, you were super smart and chopped up your veggies for the chicken salad. You need 1 onion and about 6 stalks of celery for 3 breasts, so adjust your ratio accordingly for however much you’re making. Here’s the big secret to this recipe according to Mom: everything has to be chopped super duper tiny. Like freaking microscopic. But you can’t use your chicken salad maker to do it. It has to be hand chopped for some ungodly reason. The shitty thing is, she’s right. A food processor will almost liquify the veggies and won’t chop them uniformly enough. It really does have to be done by hand. Don’t be a lazy asshole.

Celery:

and onion:

Now mix these tiny chopped vegetables with your pulverized chicken and add some mayo. I’m guessing I used about 1+ cups for this batch. Basically, you want to use enough mayo that it holds together tightly but not so much that it’s mayonaissey, get my drift? So just a bit at a time and stir it in until it feels right. I added this much at first and then started stirring.

Then I added another spoonful and the seasonings and it was perfect.

For seasoning I like to add black pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne…salt only if needed. Mayo can be salty sometimes so check to be sure.

I think the cayenne is important. It won’t be too spicy, but it will add a tiny kick. You won’t regret it. Don’t be a pussy.

Now, all that’s left to do is decide how to enjoy the perfect chicken salad you’ve just made. I like it on toast, crackers, pretzel chips, veggie chips, or on green salad. Most of the time, I just eat it with a fork out of the bowl standing in front of an open refrigerator door if I’m being completely honest, however. I do hope, for your sake, that you get the chance to enjoy it out of a cooler on the beach at least a couple of days this summer!

However you enjoy it, be sure to give full credit to my mom when anyone asks about the recipe. She is a sweet lady but she’s definitely not too proud to smack the shit of you. I warned you about that backhand.

Rotisserie Chicken and Gravy

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by Keebug in Leftover Rotisserie Chicken Challenge, Soul Food

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Tags

celery, chicken, leftover rotisserie chicken, onion, rice and gravy, smothered chicken, soulfood

Ever buy a rotisserie chicken, eat half of a breast for dinner standing over the kitchen counter, then put it in your fridge to throw the rest away 3 days later? Yeah, uh huh, me either.

Actually, this used to be my M.O. until I started making a conscious effort to waste less food. When you live alone but love to cook, it’s not an easy thing to do. Especially when you’re not a fan of reheated leftovers.

I give loads of meals away to friends and my favorite bartenders, and I freeze what can be frozen for later, but still lots was getting tossed into the garbage. The leftovers from the go-to easy dinner grab, rotisserie chicken (found ready-to-eat in practically every grocery store), always seemed to end up there.

This post begins our series on great ideas for rotisserie chicken leftovers. There are tons out there! Tell us about yours in the comments below!

The other night after about 8 straight days of working without a break and surviving on Cheez-It snack packs and granola bars, I started craving rice and gravy…a southern girl staple. I happened to have a 3 day old rotisserie chicken in the fridge, mysteriously missing half a breast, so I got to work.

Your ingredients:

Leftover rotisserie chicken
1 yellow or white onion
4-5 stalks celery
2 tablespoons olive oil (or preferred cooking oil)
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken stock (warm on the stove)
Seasonings: salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, thyme, kitchen bouquet

Start with your chicken. Separate the individual chicken pieces and then make slices with your knife in each piece. I leave the bones in the dark meat but remove the breasts from the bone. Set aside.

Next, finely chop one onion and 4-5 stalks of celery.

fizz22

Begin to saute the onion and celery in a large skillet over medium heat in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add salt, pepper, and a pinch of thyme to season. Stir and cook until the vegetables soften.

Next, add about two tablespoons of flour and stir for a few minutes over medium heat until the flour is cooked.

Now, slowly, begin adding your warm chicken stock about a half cup at a time, whisking as you go to incorporate it without lumps.

Bring this back up to a simmer and allow it to thicken into a gravy. This should take just a minute or two of simmering. Now, add a capful (from the 4 oz bottle) of kitchen bouquet. I’d bet that’s about 1 teaspoon. A little of this stuff goes a long way. That’s going to make your gravy nice and brown and add great flavor, too. Once that’s mixed in and everything is simmering, give it a taste and reseason to your liking.

Now add in your chicken pieces, cover and simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes, or until the chicken is falling apart. Stir it often during this time to ensure nothing sticks to the pan.

Serve over steamed rice and enjoy!

Turkey and Chicken Chili Verde with Garbanzos and Hominy

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by Keebug in Soups

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Tags

Chick peas, chicken, chili, chili verde, cilantro, cumin, garbanzo beans, hominy, mexican, turkey, weight watchers

I cannot say enough about this high protein, low fat chili verde. It’s a recipe invention that came from a desire to figure out what the fuck a tomatillo was. I can say proudly today that I’ve made the tomatillo my bitch. And I’m going to share with you now how to make tomatillos your bitch, too. Here’s how:

The ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey
1 lb. chicken breast
1 can great northern beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can white hominy
1 small can chopped green chilis
1 1/2 lbs. fresh tomatillos
3 cups chicken stock
1 yellow onion
2 fresh jalapeños
1 bell pepper
5 toes garlic
1 bunch cilantro
1 lime, quartered
cayenne pepper
red pepper flakes
salt
sazon goya (without the red color)
garlic powder
hot chili powder
cumin
oregano
coriander

First things first, chop your chicken into bite size pieces and add to a large pot to cook with ground turkey.

You have to season at this stage to give the meat plenty of flavor. So it’s now that I add 2 packets of Sazon (Hispanic food aisle, it makes Mexcan style dishes taste more Mexican), a 1/2 tablespoon each of salt and oregano and hot chili powder, 1 teaspoon each of cayenne, coriander, garlic powder and red pepper flakes, and a tablespoon of cumin. Stir that all in and cook the meat through.

While your meat is cooking, get ready to handle up on those tomatillos. Essentially, you’re about to make a salsa verde. Break out your food processor. It’s gonna be easy. Promise.

Tomatillos come wrapped in their own little papery skin. You have to peel that skin off, then give them a good rinse to wash off the sort of sticky film that lies underneath. After that, simply quarter them up and toss them into your cuisinart.

To the mixer you’ll now add a big handful of fresh cilantro, 5 toes of garlic, and two whole fresh jalapeños…seeds and all. Too hot for you? Take the seeds out then, pussy.

Now give that goodness a whirl until it’s all puréed. Set it aside.

Chop up one yellow onion and one bell pepper into a small dice and add that to the cooking meat. Open your small can of chopped green chilies and add those, too. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Now add your puréed salsa verde to the pot and toss in a couple-few bay leaves.

Now rinse and drain your beans. I really like using this mix of great northerns, garbanzos, and white hominy. The different textures and flavors are perfect for this chili. Add the rinsed and drained beans and hominy to the pot.

Give the pot a big stir and add three cups of chicken stock and a quartered lime (squeeze in the juice then just drop the lime right in). Bring the pot to a simmer and cook over medium heat for about 25 minutes.

Now serve yourself up a steaming bowl of chili, add a dollop of sour cream and garnish with some fresh cilantro. Enjoy your fiesta!

Pepe’s Sauce Picante’

23 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by Keebug in Cajun dishes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

acadian, cajun, chicken, creole, rice, roux, sauce, sauce picante, sausage, spicy, tomato

I come from magical place known as Louisiana. A place where friends are family and where the men can often times out cook the women. Herein lies a recipe that encompasses both of these phenomena.

pep

Behold! The mythical Eskimo-Coonass hybrid otherwise known as Pepe Hill. Renowned for his tight embraces, rapier wit, warm personality, and magical cooking skills. The photo above portrays him at his happiest, in his natural environment: smoking grill nearby, natty light in hand, big smile across his face, and those ripped abs just gleaming in the summer sun. Pep is my brother from another mother. Our relationship surpassed the “friend” zone long, long ago and moved directly into family. When this little blog was born, I just knew he had to be a part of it. Pep cooks Cajun dishes from the heart and anything you recreate from his kitchen (or backyard, or whatever random parking lot he happens to be set up to cook in…) is bound to be delicious! Trust me.

Today, you’re getting his world famous Chicken and Sausage Sauce Picante’ recipe. Pepe made this particular sauce picante’ with chicken and sausage but he and any old coonass will tell you it is delicious made with just about any meat, seafood and game included.

Here’s Pepe’s how-to (with photo credit to Melissa Minella and stand-around-and-drink credit to Clay Keown and Erica Hill):

Ingredients:

1 lb. bacon
1 large white or yellow onion
1 green bell pepper
4 toes of garlic
4 pounds chicken (white or dark meat, your call)
1 pound Cajun smoked sausage
3 15-ounce cans of tomato sauce
Tony’s
Salt/Pepper
Roux
2 quarts chicken stock
(serve over white rice)

If you are anything like Pep Hill then you will have your ingredients neatly contained when preparing to make your dish. The container is a requirement according to Pep. Pep may be a tad OCD (ask me about how he eats his crawfish).

Cooking outside is not a requirement for sauce picante’ but it sure does make it a lot more fun!! At least this way you aren’t the bitch stuck cooking in the kitchen.

First things first… fry the bacon (1 lb). Because all good meals start with bacon. If you don’t have a cast iron pot, use any heavy bottomed pot.

While the bacon is frying, cut the veggies. Dice 1 large onion, 1 green bell pepper, and 4 toes of garlic.

Cut 4 pounds of your favorite chicken (bone-in, boneless, dark, or white) in one inch cubes. Pep likes to get whatever is on sale because this meal should be cheap AND delicious! Get one pound of Cajun sausage and cut in half inch slices.

Once the bacon is finished frying, remove it from the pot. See, now you have a delicious snack…

Slowly brown the sausage in the most amazing bacon grease on a low/medium heat…

Remove the sausage, set it aside, and add chicken. Don’t brown it, whiten it!

Add about a tablespoon each of Tony’s, salt, and pepper.

Remove the chicken and boil out the extra moisture to get back down to the amazingness of… the grease.

Next up… fry 3-15 ounce cans of tomato sauce over a low/medium heat for about 20 minutes. Stir constantly because it acts like a roux (a bit of a pain in the tail but worth it). It will bubble, pop, and squirt…be prepared.

This is at about 25 minutes. Notice the color change. It also smells much sweeter than it did to begin with.

Time to add the veggies with another tablespoon each of Tony’s, salt, and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Once the veggies are finished add the meat and stir.

Add 2 quarts of chicken stock.

Once it comes to a boil, add 2 tablespoons of roux and stir. Pictured here is what Pep considers to be a tablespoon.

Now, take a big whiff!!

Let that simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over warm rice with a side of warm, buttered French bread.

Thanks, Pepe! We can’t wait for your next guest appearance on The Fizzle! xoxox

Homemade Chicken Stock…a necessity.

15 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by Keebug in Soups

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

broth, chicken, fresh, stock, vegetables

I have a dark confession to make. At any given moment in time I have multiple bags in my freezer with the word “carcass” written on them. It’s a Dahmer-like obsession with rich and delicious stock…that good, homemade stuff that makes Swanson cry with shame. Chicken carcasses, turkey carcasses, ham bones…just because you’ve devoured all that meat doesn’t mean there isn’t still some greatness inside those bones. I toss my sad, little skeletons (sorry vegans…but, really, why are you even here reading this?) into freezer bags and save them for when I have an hour or two free to turn them into something delicious.

Tonight I was making soup, so I pulled a bag labelled “chicken carcass” out of my freezer and promptly got to work.

This super simple recipe serves as a delicious base for so many more main dishes, gravies, and soups.

After cooking your stock, let it cool and ladle it into quart sized freezer bags, then lay them flat to freeze for easy storage. Simply pull one out every time a recipe calls for broth, stock or even water and dazzle your guests with rich flavor. That’s right…DAZZLE.

To be more metal about the whole thing, consider labeling your stock bags “carcass soup”…just an idea.

Stock will keep for about 6 months in the freezer.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients:

1 chicken carcass (this one is from a chicken I roasted around Valentine’s Day)
1 onion
1 lemon (or not)
handful of carrots (baby or quartered full size)
bay leaves (about 4-6)
4-6 stalks of celery
handful of parsley
salt/pepper

Place your carcass of choice into a large, heavy stock pot. Like I said, this little chicken’s frozen and not looking too appetizing right now. Tossing him in frozen is just fine.

Dump in a big handful of carrots.

Add 4-6 bay leaves. I use bay leaves in anything with liquid. It’s just what I learned growing up in LA. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even entirely sure what flavor they add. Having said this, I remain steadfast that are imperative and cannot be left out. 😉

Now quarter an onion and add that to the pot.

Now’s the time when I quarter a lemon and add that to the pot. There’s some dispute over the lemon addition so if it’s not to your taste, feel free to omit it. I just think it adds a fresh, bright flavor.

Now all that’s left to add is your celery and parsley. Just shove ’em in there.

Now add a palmful of salt and a palmful of black peppercorns to season.

All that’s left to do now is cover it all with water, up to the brim, and bring to a rolling boil. I lay a wooden spoon across the top of the pot to keep it from boiling over. I found that little gem of a tip on a “life hack” blog. I like to read those to keep an up to date list of people who I think deserve to die for using the phrase “life hack”.

After about ten minutes, turn the heat down but keep your stock at a low boil for about an hour or until the water line has gone down from the rim at least an inch and a half or two inches. Then, make yourself a little setup like this one (always in the sink to avoid catastrophe), and slowly pour out your pot…bones, veggies, carcass soup and all.

The colander will catch the solids and leave you with a bowl of rich, delicious goodness that’ll have you ready to get busy cookin’ or get busy dyin’ (gratuitous Shawshank reference for no reason at all).

Enjoy your new found Swanson-less, flavor-full life. You’re welcome!

thefizzlenet

~ Food and Funnies

Tag Archives: chicken

Chicken and Veggie Pasta Salad

Chicken & Vegetable Stir Fry with Fried Rice

MOM’S Poached Chicken Salad

Rotisserie Chicken and Gravy

Turkey and Chicken Chili Verde with Garbanzos and Hominy

Pepe’s Sauce Picante’

Homemade Chicken Stock…a necessity.