by Joyce Rosencrans
The Cincinnati Post Convenience and chicken are two very popular words in most cooks' vocabularies.
These recipes call for cooked, diced chicken in two cases (think rotisserie deli-birds or boneless breasts quickly simmered).
The third recipe relies on a slow cooker (such as a Crock-Pot) for the cook's peace of mind and a bottle of pre-fab teriyaki sauce for most of the flavor.
A political promise during the Great Depression of the '30s was a chicken in every pot. Today, we see a rotisserie chicken in every grocery cart.
Line up in any supermarket checkout line from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The rotisserie birds in their see-through plastic clamshell containers will be riding along every checker's conveyor belt on their way to the American dinner table.
Clever cooks are not necessarily taking them home and slapping them down on the nearest platter--a whole, cooked bird just as it came from the market. No, they're using the rotisserie birds for all the dishes that call for already cooked poultry, such as barbecue-chicken pizza, casseroles, salads and club sandwiches or heroes.
Entire cookbooks have been written about chicken salad, but here's one version you probably haven't tried.
The Underground Chicken Salad (recipe below) is so-named because it calls for two root vegetables: potatoes and pickled beets. The recipe was tested with pretty pink-skinned new potatoes and some deliciously mild pickled beets from a grocer's salad bar. Be sure to mix the chicken salad just before serving it at room temperature or the beets' red pigment will bleed into the mayonnaise-sour cream dressing. No one likes pink chicken salads.
Speaking of rosy colors, a red onion is called for, but that variety can be strong and hot. Taste it before adding to any salad. If it's too strong, dice the onion and soak it for 30 minutes in cold water with a touch of sugar and dash of vinegar. Drain after it soaks up a bit of the moisture and becomes milder, then use in the salad. If you don't have a red onion, use a new-harvest sweet onion, such as a Vidalia or Walla Walla.
Crumbled bacon and toasted walnuts are this salad's crowning touch. Both flatter the beets, and they're good for a little crunch. Serve it on watercress, if available.
The scalloped potato dish layers thinly-sliced Yukon Gold potatoes with cooked, diced chicken, whipping cream and grated Parmesan cheese. It's fine with a green vegetable, such as fresh, wilted spinach and crusty bread.
Slow cookers, those popular plug-in crocks, entered the market more than 25 years ago, and they seem even more relevant in the new millennium. Cooks still clamor for slow-cooker ideas because they can "fill it and forget it."
U.S. consumption of meat and poultry has increased steadily to a current rate of 220 pounds per person per year. Chicken accounts for the largest share of growth, according to the National Chicken Council. Two-thirds of the heat-and-serve products in grocery stores include chicken.
For health's sake, meat or chicken should be eaten with plenty of vegetables and whole grains. So spoon the Slow-Cooker Chicken Teriyaki over brown rice, and don't skimp on the vegetables.
Recipes:
Underground Chicken Salad
Scalloped Chicken and Potatoes
Teriyaki Chicken
Underground Chicken Salad
(Recipe from National Chicken Council and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association)
Ingredients:
4 chicken-breast halves, boneless, skinless
1 cup diced salad-bar beets or canned pickled beets
2 cups diced, cooked potatoes (not bakers)
1/2 cup sweet or red onion, minced
1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
1 bunch watercress, washed, trimmed
3 strips bacon, cooked, crumbled
1/4 cup walnut pieces, toasted
Preparation:
Place raw chicken in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, cover and simmer for eight minutes, just until the meat is opaque and firm. Remove chicken from pan. Cool.
Dice beets to make one cup, place in a small bowl and set aside. Chop cooked chicken into smallish bite-size chunks and place that in a large bowl. Stir in the cooked potatoes (red-skins with the peel left on are best for this salad), beets, red or sweet onion, dill pickle, mayonnaise and sour cream. Add salt unless the potatoes were cooked in heavily salted water and the chicken was salted. Grind in black pepper or a mixture of pink, white and green dried peppercorns.
Line a large platter with watercress. Top with salad, then sprinkle with bacon bits and walnuts that have been toasted until crisp and fragrant in a small, ungreased skillet over medium heat. Serve at room temperature for best flavor.
Tip: Do not make this salad ahead of time unless you wait until the last minute to add the diced beets. Otherwise, the beets' red pigment will bleed into the dressing.
Yield: 4 serving
Preparation time: 45 minutes (or less if using rotisserie deli-chicken)
Scalloped Chicken and Potatoes
(Recipe adapted from National Chicken Council and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association)
Ingredients:
2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
1 Tbs. flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. precooked diced chicken
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup milk or chicken broth
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg (less freshly grated)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. milled pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Preparation:
Spray a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish with nonstick oil spray. Lay half of the potato slices on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle evenly with flour, garlic and chicken. Top with remaining potato slices. Preheat oven to 350 to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cream, milk or broth, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour over the potato layers. Sprinkle Parmesan evenly on top. Cover dish tightly with foil, then bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 30 minutes more, until lightly browned on top.
Yield: 6 servings
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes, plus 30 minutes
Teriyaki Chicken
(Recipe from Rival, maker of the Crock-Pot)
Ingredients:
2 lbs. chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
one 16-oz. polybag frozen broccoli, carrots, cauliflower
1 small can sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 Tbs. quick-cooking tapioca
1 cup chicken broth
4 Tbs. brown sugar
4 Tbs. bottled teriyaki sauce
2 Tbs. dry mustard
1-1/2 tsp. grated orange peel
1 tsp. ground ginger
hot cooked rice
Preparation:
Cut chicken into one-inch pieces, then wash your hands, cutting board and knife with hot, soapy water. Place frozen vegetables and water chestnuts in a large slow cooker. Sprinkle with tapioca granules. Place chicken on top of vegetables.
In a small bowl, mix chicken broth, brown sugar, teriyaki sauce, dry mustard, grated orange peel and ginger. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover with a slow-cooker lid and cook on low for four to six hours, or speed things up by cooking on high for two to three hours. Stir and spoon over hot cooked rice.
Yield: 8 servings
Slow-cooker cooking time: 2 to 6 hours
(Joyce Rosencrans is food editor of The Cincinnati Post.)
