This week finds me typing merrily away as my homemade chicken stock reduces over a low heat, ready to be labeled and frozen in one cup-size containers.
Also just in the freezer are the remaining three portions (in individual containers of course!) of the batch of Chicken Paprika that I made for our dinner tonight. I had made my Roast Chicken Othello on Sunday, you see, and had saved the carcass for just this purpose. As it was a small carcass, I also roasted a couple of chicken thighs and added them when it came to making the stock along with:
- a couple of onions
- a couple of carrots
- fresh thyme – the remainder of which also went straight into the freezer for future use
- two bay leaves
- some black peppercorns
- and a healthy dash of salt
Then let it simmer away for several hours. I always take the lid off for the last hour or so, so the stock reduces and intensifies in flavor.
The Roast Chicken Othello, by the way, is quite the nicest way to roast a chicken.
What you do is
- blend together three tablespoons of runny honey and one tablespoon of softened butter
- slather it over the chicken
- roast at the highest your oven will go for the first 20 minutes – basting from time to time – or until the skin turns a very dark brown (hence the dreadfully un-pc name).
- turn the heat down to medium for the remainder of the cooking time. This, by the way makes for a shorter cooking time, so check the chicken about fifteen minutes before you would usually.
It also almost hermetically seals the chicken, and makes for an unbelievably juicy and sweet bird, so much so that you don’t even need gravy.
Don’t stuff the bird, but instead shove a lemon half and a clove or two of garlic in the body cavity to balance the sweetness of the honey and you have yourself a feast o’ fowl.