Among the meats, chicken is the classic passe-partout: it is practical, tasty and versatile. Plus, it fights insomnia and depression. Both from the point of view of the body and that of the spirit, there is an abysmal difference between the 'industrial chicken' and the 'free-range', that is bred in dignified living conditions: choose the latter, even if it costs a lot more. Among other things, it contains twice as much Omega3. And in any case, not even a gram of his flesh will be thrown away. We decline our recommendations for anti-waste cooking in the chapter chicken: what to do with leftovers of a roasted chicken, grilled, but also boiled or stewed?
If you are not "provided" with pets to which you trimmed what is advanced (always taking care to eliminate dangerous bones), you must invent something to avoid waste. "Nothing is thrown away in the kitchen!", Especially if we can reuse it to prepare other quick and tasty recipes.
IF THE CHICKEN It is LESS OR HUMID
The chicken is a versatile meat that lends itself to many inviting dishes and, why not, even "schiscette" to take with you for lunch.
If we have advanced pieces of boiled chicken, we can indulge in the preparation of fresh and quick salads: they break up marinate the chicken leftovers in strips for a few minutes in a dish with oil and lemon, are added grapes or pomegranate, lettuce leaves, thinly sliced celery and lamella almonds. So we will have a plate light and tasty and a great ally for the line! And, if the salad must astound, then with white melon, chicken, broad beans, crumbled taralli and anchovy sauce we will have no rivals: you cut a white melon into chunks, they blanch the beans and peel them (if they are not in season they go well even the frozen ones) , cut the boiled chicken into slices and prepare a sauce with oil, anchovies, mint and a few crumbled taralli. Even the most demanding guest will be served.
The leftovers from the day before can solve a lunch break on the fly between one meeting and another when "the sandwich and so on" seems to be the only solution. So let's try a chicken sandwich with decomposed guacamole: it is made with thin slices of toasted bread, slices of boiled chicken seasoned with salt and pepper, avocado, spring onions, tomatoes and lime.
Recycling chicken leftovers can also become a chic remedy of the last moment. If guests come to dinner without warning and the refrigerator is half empty just prepare the chicken and Russian salad and pistachio nuts, mixing the classic Russian salad with diced chicken, serve it in small glasses and complete with a sprinkling of pistachios.
Amaze with "special effects"
Everything is possible in the kitchen! A boiled or stewed chicken can become a rib or a slice of bread with truffles, or even a plate of gnocchi!
The secret? It is in the right recycling of leftovers, which become almost magical creations:
• Chicken ribs: removing the bone from the boiled chicken legs, pressing the meat, flattening it, until it reaches the thickness of a rib; it goes through the egg and breadcrumbs and puts a piece of bone in the less wide part, so that it looks as much as possible to a cutlet. It is grilled or fried in a pan with butter … et voilà!
• Chicken bread with truffles: in the mortar the leftovers of boiled chicken are crushed with minced truffle flakes and flavored with salt and pepper. It crudes with a little broth so that everything remains firm and is placed on the bottom of a buttered mold, giving the shape of bread in the box. At this point it is passed in the oven. Serve warm or cold in slices. And so the chicken became bread!
• Potato and chicken gnocchi: mix well 200 g boiled potatoes mashed with finely chopped boiled chicken meat, add 3 egg yolks, 40 g of grated Parmesan cheese, salt and nutmeg. Rolls and then small dumplings are formed with the mixture. Now it is sufficient to boil for a few moments in boiling salted water.
The advice of the butcher Tonino, butcher of Varese, of meat and its leftovers makes it even a "mission" (as he himself declares). In his butcher's shop, which is called Novello, but for all is the "butcher shop of Tonino", no one is in a hurry to leave, so that if the time is right, the prosecco is also untapped. He does not advance the chicken, and has clear ideas about it: if the chicken left on the table is boiled, then it is the sauce that makes the difference. With mayonnaise or green or, if you prefer, with tomato sauce and some small pieces of tomato: sauté in a pan and leave to cool. A recycling to art! Tonino of ideas, as well as clear, it has several and there is no limit to the imagination …. With the aid of a mold prepares inviting cakes: they are cut the chicken leftovers boiled or stewed in cubes along with the vegetables that you prefer, you can add, even the ham.
IF THE CHICKEN IS ROASTED OR GRILLED
The remains of a roast chicken can become meatballs or a meatloaf, always considered poor dishes ideal for reusing leftovers. And, in these times, an eye to savings can not do well to our pockets!
Almost everyone, big or small, they love them meatballs, delicious balls of meat, flavored with parsley, flavored with garlic and browned in seed oil (as long as quality) or olive oil. The variations are really many and delicious. For example, there are the Tuscan meatballs: they mix boiled potatoes, eggs, garlic, parsley, lemon juice and very little milk to soften the mixture, then they are passed in breadcrumbs and fry. Or those made with Roman bread crumbs softened in milk, squeezed and passed in the mixer with chicken chopped roast, fat of cooked ham, lard, parsley, marjoram, egg, nutmeg, raisins and pine nuts. These are also passed in breadcrumbs and fried. A real treat for the palate!
When the surplus is "miserable"
Often the leftovers from a roast chicken are scarce and are not sufficient to make "new" dishes. IS however it is possible to obtain excellent middle dishes, like croutons and canapes.
For irresistible croutons brown a chopped onion with a little butter, add the tomato sauce and minced meat and cook for a minute; at the end of cooking it is adjusted with salt and pepper. The sauce obtained is placed on slices of bread, then is completed with cloves of hard-boiled eggs.
The canapés will not be less: the advanced roast chicken is reduced to mashed potatoes, then mixes with cooked ham, a knob of butter, Parmesan cheese, a pinch of pepper and chopped parsley. With this mixture mini bread sandwiches are filled. Capers and slices of cucumber can complete the canapes.
The advice of the butcher And if the chicken is roasted or grilled? No doubt, you do the "vitel" tonnè: the advanced chicken is boned and cut into slices, then placed on a plate and covered with the tuna sauce (it is obtained by blending: tuna, hard-boiled eggs, capers, anchovies, oil and broth to dilute). The result will be perfect.
Tonino with leftovers also does the pizzaiola: two slices of mozzarella, a little tomato and a "turn" in the oven. And if the ingredients are available in season, you can not miss in his "top ten of leftovers", the spring chicken: tomatoes, basil, beans, onion and a leg of celery are added to the chicken leftovers. And the surplus is served ….
CURIOSITY: THE APP THAT HELPS YOU NOT TO DISCONNECT THE CHICKEN
Pwe also control waste from our mobile phone. "W il pollo" is an app created by the Unione Nazionale Consumatori (click here), in collaboration with Unaitalia (click here) – free download from the App Store and Play Store – which helps to orientate itself in the world of chicken. The app contains information on provenance, how to choose and store chicken and many recipes divided into five categories.
And so, if at the end of the meal there is a bit of chicken left, we have all the tools to recycle those leftovers and we could have "made it completely rude" by eating it all and with gusto even in the days after.
Ornella Guess
September 2016
updated to January 2019
Carra Traverso Saibante
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