Chicken is justifiably one of the best loved meats in the world.
It is very lean, is a great source of protein, extremely versatile and is the key ingredient in a lot of diet recipes. If you are able to buy an organic free range chicken, even better, as it will be a purer meat, with less chance of it containing added hormones. It Is also a good idea from the animal welfare point of view, as some of the mass produced chickens are kept in conditions that are pretty shocking.

If you are not worried about weight loss, there is no need to worry, chicken is not just used in low fat recipes. All the same, the majority of recipes that include chicken will be, generally, more heart-healthy than equivalent recipes prepared using different meats.

Here’s a wonderful recipe that will definitely please both family and friends.

The recipe needs:

One chicken (approx. 3.5 lb)
2 cup of traditional cider
6 ea. Apples (pared and cut into quarters)
salt (as needed)
pepper (as needed)
1 teaspoonful cornstarch
Half cupful whipping cream (light)
One tablespoonful of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 C. of butter
Two tablespoons of oil (olive)
A quarter tsp. cinnamon (optional)
4 green onions, (finely chopped)
2 cloves
1/4 teaspoonful ground ginger
1 sprig of parsley, (chopped well, for the garnish)
Half teaspoonful thyme
Two teaspoons of cane sugar

Instructions:

Clean the Chicken and dry it well.
Mix a little salt and pepper amd smooth it into the organic chicken (both inside and out)
Pour the lemon juice over the pieces of apple.

Melt half the butter in a large frying pan then add the olive oil.
Put half of the apple pieces into the pan and fry softly for five mins. until browned slightly
Mix in the ginger and give it a few stirs, frying a short while longer to allow the ginger to give up it’s flavour.
Stuff the bird with the mixture from the frying pan and close-up the chicken by tying or by ‘pinning’ it with a metal or wooden skewer.

Add the rest of the butter to the pan and heat until it melts and then place the chicken in the pan and fry until the skin is browned a little, browning it all over.
Transfer the chicken to a large casserole pot with lid.
Take the rest of the apple, the scallion onions, ground cinnamon, thyme, sugar and cloves and transfer them to the pan.

Heat for two to three mins then add the cider and bring to the boil.

Once the apple cyder is at boiling point, add it to the casserole and replace the lid, using foil or wax paper to ensuer a good tight seal.

Put the pot in the oven and cook for about three quarters of an hour at 200C/400F

When the chicken is ready, transfer it to a warmed plate to keep warm whilst the gracy/sauce is prepared.

Skim the fat from the contents of the casserole pot and then increase the heat, boiling the liquid away until there is approx one cupful remaining.

Pour in the whipping cream and cornstarch, stirring until it is thick and creamy.
Season with salt and pepper, and then pour over the chicken

Toss some of the parsley over the top, and serve.

To make the meal into a healthy and well balanced meal, you could add side servings of steamed broccoli or butter beans and sauteed potatoes.

If you like this recipe, you can easily discover a wide variety of chicken recipes by checking out one of the free recipe collections online, or at your local library.

Chicken can be used in a great variety of ways in recipes for preparing your meals. In addition to being high in protein and low in fat and calories, chicken is readily available, fairly inexpensive and can be prepared in a variety of delicious and nutritious ways. To get the most value buy a whole chicken and prepare it yourself. With a whole chicken, you have the option to cut it into quarters or even smaller.

However, for a cost of not much more per pound, you can conveniently get packages of chicken parts. Whenever you prepare recipes with any cut of chicken, you need to take some initial safety precautions. Not only be the hands washed before working with chicken, but the utensils and counter space should be cleaned thouroughly. Raw chicken contains harmful bacteria most of the time so it is important that you keep your workspace clean so that you don’t spread contamination to other areas.

Lightly rinse your chicken and pat it dry before you begin working on your recipe. Be sure to always completely cook chicken. Consuming chicken that is raw or underdone can give you a bad case of food poisoning. While its unlikely, place it safe just in case. There are literally thousands of chicken recipes available in cookbooks and online, so it is unlikely you will ever run out of ideas on how to prepare chicken. From grilled chicken to chicken salad, you could make a different recipe every day of the week for years before getting tired of the flavors and textures available through different cooking methods and ingredients. Grilled chicken can be cooked right on the top of the stove and is the easiest recipe to cook. Dizzle olive oil on boneless chicken breats and add salt and pepper. Cook the breasts on a pre-heated grill pan for about five to six minutes on each side or until the juices run clear. The cooked meat can then be cut up and mixed with celery and mayonnaise for an easy and delicious chicken salad, sliced for sandwiches, or covered with tomato or hollandaise sauce for a quick dinner. Fried chicken,chicken parmesan,sweet and sour chicken,chicken and dumplings are few of the other favourite chicken recipes.

Fresh chicken can be frozen easily, thus try to find and stock up on it when it’s on sale. Just make sure you freeze the chicken in airtight packages. You can defrost it in one of three ways, refrigerate for a couple of days, microwave on the defrost setting, or soak in a sink of water. Never leave chicken to defrost on the counter! For Americans chicken is a staple and can be worked into many recipes.

If you’re on a tight budget, like many people are these days, chicken can be a great help in keeping your food expenses down. Try some tonight!

The other night I was with a friend of mine and we were feeling ambitious, so we decided to tackle a pretty tricky Mango chicken recipe , despite the fact we were missing a lot of the ingredients. The main ingredients are present chicken, mangos, onions, orange juice, soo the rest can be consider optional.

It seems we weren’t aware that lacking sufficient orange juice for the recipe would make a difference, therefore we went ahead with it. The best way to cook chicken is to thaw it first, cut it into desired sizes and deep fry until it turns golden brown.

When the chicken is almost ready add a half chopped small red onion. Now add a third of a cup of orange juice, leaving the rest for later, and that will sit for a while.

This is how the very bland sauce was started. When the water is sligthly bubbling add the mangos. If you don’t have fresh, used a frozen one. Still, everything was cooking nicely. We were getting there. I thought it was an easy chicken recipe. I was wrong.

The final step was to add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in hot water to thicken the sauce.
Lacking cornstarch, we substituted flour. Our mistake was not adjusting the water/flour mixture. Because we had very little orange juice we should have added less to the sauce even though it serves as the flavor for the sauce. The sauce looked pretty good despite the fact that it thickened too fast and had a consistency not unlike baby food.

When we tasted it we were surprised. In the orange juice sauce we had to look really hard the orange. The flaour captivate all the taste. Otherwise the recipe was nice, the chicken was cooked nice although it certainly could have used some spices.

More onions would have also improved the flavor. We finished up our bowls of mango-chicken-flour slop and marked the recipe. It sure would taste good if we had made it right! It tasted even better than the chicken wing recipe  my mother always prepared for us.

By Jim Nettleton

Here’s another tasty recipe from my private collection. Enjoy!

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INGREDIENTS

4 chicken leg quarters, skinned

2 large cans chicken broth

1 small package saffron yellow rice

1 small package Velveeta cheese

1/2 pint heavy cream

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. ground rosemary

1 tsp. poultry seasoning, preferably Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry Magic

2 tsp. dried minced onions

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tblsp. flour or cornstarch

In a large pot place chicken broth, garlic, rosemary, poultry seasoning, minced onions and pepper. Add chicken. Cover pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to active simmer. Cook for 40 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, prepare rice according to package instructions.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

When chicken is done, remove from pot and save pot contents. Place chicken in lightly buttered baking dish and put in oven to crisp for about 15 minutes – keep an eye on it to avoid overdoing the crisping.

While chicken is baking, strain liquid in the pot, then return the liquid to the pot. Pour off all but about 3 cups of the remaining liquid.

Cut Velveeta into small pieces to aid melting. Add cheese to the pot. Add the heavy cream. Over medium heat, stir thoroughly until the mixture is smooth. Mix flour or cornstarch with a small amount of warm water to smooth, then add a little at a time to thicken the sauce, while stirring constantly. Mixture should be thick enough to pour slowly.

Place a bed of rice on each plate, place 2 leg quarters on top of the rice and smother thoroughly with the sauce.

Serves 2.

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Here’s another tasty treat that will caress your taste buds. It’s another recipe from my private collection that I’ll be sharing from time to time. Each recipe is designed to ease the burden of creating interesting, unusual meals. Enjoy!

CHICKEN CHIPOTLE

Ingredients

A thick chicken breast

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 large roasted sweet Italian peppers, chopped into 1 inch portions

4 tblsp Extra Virgin olive oil

2 tblsp capers

6 slices Monterey-Jack cheese cut into strips about ½ inch wide by 2 inches long

½ cup Progresso Italian bread crumbs

½ cup Key West Brand Chipotle sauce - if your store doesn’t carry this brand, substitute another chipotle sauce.

Split the breast, but do not cut through. Pull the split line apart as much as possible to create a large cavity to hold the ingredients of the filling. Fill the split with the cheese, roasted peppers and capers. Place the breast in a dish with concave dimensions or on aluminum foil with corners curled up, after using Pam or a similar product to avoid sticking.

Saute the garlic in the olive oil very briefly – just flash the garlic quickly and remove from heat.

Pour the garlic and olive oil over the breast. Cover with the bread crumbs and evenly distribute the Key West Chipotle sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

This recipe is for one serving – multiply for more.

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About the Author

Jim Nettleton is a radio and television professional who loves his food. He has been cooking and preparing gourmet meals for decades and loves to share his recipes with those who enjoy good food. He highly recommends The Secret Recipes From Your Favorite Restaurants - http://tinyurl.com/ypo2a8. Visit his French Gourmet Food blog for cooking tips, tricks and recipes at http://frenchgourmetfood.blogspot.com/