Chickenfatoats

MJ baked chicken thighs the other night. I got one spindly thigh and a plateful of salad for dinner. It’s a good thing I’m trying to lose weight.  Leftover was the pan the chicken was baked in, full of Maillard goodness and chickenfat. Maybe some olive oil as well. What’s an oataku to do?

Well, he could try dumping the oatmeal in right after dinner, and letting it sit overnight to absorb the fat and juices. In the fridge if you must. Then in the morning add a cup of broth and defondify it. I found that a two minute zot in the microwave warmed the broth enough to dissolve the crusty bits. I also threw in a couple of chicken thighbones someone left laying about. Sloshed everything around and poured it into my usual saucepan for the usual time.

Setup: 1/3 cup of stone ground rolled oats, dumped in the baking pan while the fat is still absorbable and left to absorb, two dinner teaspoons of potato flakes, one cup of chicken broth, salt.  Pour the broth into the baking pan, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes or so, depending on the exact style of oats. Stir frequently to absorb the fond that ‘s come along. Remove any spare thighbones and add the potato when you take it off the stove.

Results: Exceedingly good. The roast chicken flavor came through quite well. When you think about it, this is the equivalent of making chicken gravy with the pan drippings. And who doesn’t like chicken gravy?

Rating: ***** my first five star rating

8-Ball Chicken

No, this isn’t the programmer joke that ends with “assume a spherical chicken”. This is a recipe I came up with for 8-Ball squash.

Now, your 8-Ball squash is just a spherical zucchini. It’s a little bigger than a softball, maybe 4″ in diameter. The shape makes it a perfect for stuffing — slice in half along the equator, scoop out the seeds, fill with…fillingstuff. The trouble is, that’s a fair amount of food on your plate. Maybe half a squash isn’t bigger than your head, but it’s still a little much for one person of sedentary habit.

We got an 8-ball squash from a friend (ours seem to have disappeared into the squash jungle), and have been trying various techniques for slicing them. Mostly, it’s been slice it in wedges along the meridian, like a green orange and then fry however many look good that night. More on that anon.

The other night, however, we tried slicing them in multiple slices along the various lines of latitude, as if we were preparing an example for a calculus text. Once we had cleaned out the innards, we had a bunch of 1/2″ thick green donuts. Donuts with a 3″ hole in the center. Our next step was to trim some boneless/skinless chicken breasts so they’d fit in the hole. Trimmings were saved to combine with an extra breast for stir fry.

Put the 8-Ball slice on the toaster oven broiler pan, plop the chicken breast in the middle. Spray with the petrochemical cooking oil of your choice. Sprinkle with the herbs of your choice — we used Italian herb mix. Cook in the toaster oven at some appropriate temperature for an appropriate amount of time. If you’re feeling particularly Iron-Cheflich, finish with a sprinkle of cheese and two minutes under the broiler. The end result looks a little like a big fried egg, maybe from a small dinosaur.

Result: Very Good, in a primordial chicken sort of way. MJ was sick and had no appetite, and so didn’t lick her plate afterwards.