Rotisserie Chicken Recipes

Rotisserie Chicken Recipes

To provide the nutritional needs of a growing family, I think you have to go a long way for to find something better than a rotisserie chicken. More and more people are buying their own rotisseries for use at home, and you can also obtain them from most supermarkets and larger butchers.

They are normally sold with a choice of various seasonings; our particular favorite is cooked with cracked peppers and Atlantic sea salt. This family favourite requires no cooking at home, is inexpensive and quite versatile.

A Mediterranean Fancy

We live in the Greek islands for six months of the year and quite often when we return home I can’t resist adding a touch of the Mediterranean. After a starter of Tsatsiki, I carve the bird, and then my wife serves it with a Greek salad and lots of freshly baked bread.

The taste of vine tomatoes, cucumber and delicious feta cheese tossed in extra virgin olive oil (which we normally bring home from Kalymnos) and vinegar is a real treat in the winter months.

As a treat for the children we occasionally serve them chicken wraps. In fact, the whole family loves them. Place slices of rotisserie chicken in a freshly cooked tortilla and add some lettuce, thinly sliced onion, tomatoes, shredded cheese, Greek yoghurt or honey and mustard dressing. As a rare treat, we may include some French fries for the kids.

Easy Recipe Options

For an easy chicken salad, chop or shred the rotisserie chicken into bite size pieces and combine it with either yogurt, mayonnaise, crème fraîche or your preferred salad dressing. Adding the dressing makes it easier for the children to swallow the chicken.

You could season the meal with a little thyme or perhaps some cumin for an extra kick and finish with zest from a grated lime or lemon. Serve it with a baked potatoes and home-made coleslaw.

Leave no waste to make a delightful tasty broth. Remove all of the excess chicken from the carcass and bones and set aside for another meal or sandwiches may be. Place both the bones and carcass into a large saucepan and add sufficient water to cover contents of the pan; if you have a stock, then use that. If you don’t have stock, next add a chicken stockpot (or cube), some diced onion and carrots, a bay leaf and a selection of other fresh seasonal vegetables as desired.

Bring to the boil and then let the mixture simmer over a low to medium heat for approximately one hour at least. Allow the broth to cool, and then strain the contents of the saucepan through an appropriate sieve, making sure that none of the bones or smaller parts of the carcass is allowed to pass through it. Reheat the broth and season according to taste before serving.

Chicken Recipe for Children

To make tasty chicken noodle soup take some of the broth as prepared previously, and then sauté some additional diced onion, celery and carrot in a small amount of butter mixed with olive oil (extra virgin preferably), and season.

When ready, add the mixture to the broth, as it will add an extra flavor, along with a some dried spaghetti pasta (or pasta of your choice) broken into pieces of approximately 1-2 inches long. Simmer the mix until the pasta is cooked al-dentè. At a time near to the end of the cooking period, add some of the chopped or shredded rotisserie chicken (to re-heat it) and a pinch of dried oregano.