Chicken Prep Ideas

I only buy chicken breasts when they are on sale under $2/lb. I buy family sized packages, 5lbs+, and usually buy at least 2 at a time to last me until the next time chicken is on sale somewhere. I prep the meat all at once, freezing it for later in quart-sized freezer bags. I use the 3 basic methods below:

Whole breasts for roasting

If I am feeling really lazy I just take sets of 2 breast halves and stuff them in a quart bag, squeezing out as much air as I can and making sure that they do not touch. I don't want them to freeze together. It is best to match equally sized breasts together so they will cook for the same amount of time, but not necessary.

I usually bake whole breasts straight from frozen in 400 degree oven for an hour with some olive oil and salt. Otherwise they take a couple days to thaw in the fridge. This is why I make sure they don't touch. They are a pain to break apart when frozen.

I either use them for roasted chicken breast entrees with various seasoned bread crumb toppings, or I cut the roasted breasts into chunks for lunch wraps, quesadillas, casseroles, soups, etc.


Chunks for sauteing or baked nuggets

The other method I most commonly employ is to cut the chicken breasts into 1" chunks and put 1-1.5lbs of chunks in each bag, pressing out all the air and pressing the chunks into a flat layer as I seal the bag. The flat layer allows for easy stacking in the freezer and efficient thawing.

The sealed bags of chicken chunks thaw in the sink quickly. I put them in a casserole dish full of the hottest tap water I can run. I set a timer for 10 minutes, then I bust the chunks up into pieces as best I can, run fresh hot tap water, flip the still sealed bag over, and set the timer for another 10 minutes. The chicken is usually thawed in less than half an hour this way.

I use the thawed chicken chunks to make chicken nuggets, stir fries, and pasta skillet dishes such as Greek Chicken Pasta.


Chicken Fillets

The final method is to cut each breast into 3rds. I cut the thickest half from the rest of the breast and then filet the thickest half into 2 thinner pieces. I put 5 or 6 of these chicken breast thirds into quart freezer bags, getting the bag as flat as I can and separating the chicken pieces as best I can. If I am really feeling motivated I will pound the chicken fillets flat to even 1/3" or 1/4" thickness.

I thaw these the same way I thaw the chicken chunks above, but they take a couple minutes longer.

I use chicken fillets to make chicken picatta, chicken parmesan, katsu/schnitzel, and also I find they are the best size to poach if I want to make quick chicken broth. Pounded chicken fillets are best for breaded and fried chicken since they cook evenly and have more crispy surface area. Unpounded fillets are better for poaching.

Distracted Dish © 2013-2017

Quick Chicken Broth

This is a flexible base recipe that I use to make broth and chicken for chicken noodle soup, chicken tortilla soup, hot and sour style chicken soup, chicken and rice casseroles, or just to have some broth around because it makes everything taste better.

Broth Base Ingredients

2 quarts water
4 garlic cloves crushed, 1 Tbsp dried garlic chips, or 1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup roughly chopped celery, with leaves if possible
handful chopped fresh parsley, with stems if possible (optional)
1 Tbsp salt
10 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary (optional)
1 tsp basil (optional)
zest and juice of a lemon or splash of dry white wine (optional)

2 chicken breasts, cut into 3 pieces each (6 total). Cut off the thickest half and then slice/filet the thicker piece in half horizontally to get 6 pieces of similar thickness.

Method

Bring all ingredients except the chicken to a boil in a large pot and boil vigorously on high for 10 minutes until fragrant.

Carefully drop the chicken into the boiling water and turn the heat down to the lowest setting. Cover the pot and set a timer for 10 minutes.

Take the chicken out when done (meat thermometer tests at least 165 degrees in thickest part) and slice against the grain into slices, store it in a little of the broth to keep it moist.

Strain the broth into jars and discard the solids. Broth keeps in the fridge for at least a couple weeks and freezes well.

Poached chicken can be eaten as is or in salad, wraps, quesadillas, casseroles, added back to the broth to make soup, etc.

Distracted Dish © 2013-2017

Dried Mushrooms - Dehydrated Dish #4

Sometimes a recipe for stock or soup will call for dried mushrooms. Drying your own is much cheaper than buying them that way at the store. I used 1lb white button mushrooms. Unless you are a mushroom aficionado and can tell the difference, fungus is fungus and these will give a dish that richly earthy flavor.

The method:

Brush any dirt off the mushrooms, but I don't wash them. Cut them in half. Place them cut side down on a cutting board and slice them vertically into 4 or 5 slices. Arrange the slices on dehydrator trays, using inserts for smaller pieces if necessary. They should not overlap, but they can be crowded since they shrink a lot. I dry these out at a medium temp for the first 12 hours to keep them from molding since they tend to start out damp. I lower the temp as they dry out. It takes at least 24 hours until they are thoroughly dry.

They can be stored in airtight containers in a dry dark place for a month or two. I also grind them into powder and use it in place of bullion powder when making soup broth.

Garlic Chips - Dehydrated Dish #3

Add these to soups, stews, sauces, and pasta/rice/potato water for extra flavor. Being cooked softens them up and mellows the intensity. It saves me from burnt garlic, spoiled garlic, and fingers that smell constantly like garlic.

The method:

Separate 2-3 bulbs of garlic into cloves. Skin the cloves by cutting the ends off, slitting the skin end to end, and slipping the cloves out. Slice the skinned cloves crosswise into thin rounds. You can see I've tried both crosswise and lengthwise. Crosswise chips dry more evenly.

Spread the rounds on dehydrator trays. I have some inserts that I have to use for this since the normal tray holes are too big to accommodate small garlic bits. I dry these at a lower temp (around 120 degrees) so as to not dry them out too quick. They will smell burnt in that case. This will take 1-2 days. Wait till they are thoroughly dried and crumble or snap when you attempt to break them or they are likely to spoil.


Store them in an airtight container. You can leave them as is, or pulverize them in a spice grinder into powder. I've had the powder last up to a year. but it's impossible to get the smell out of the grinder so I usually leave them as chips and use them up within a couple months.

Apple Chips - Dehydrated Dish #2

My second favorite thing to dehydrate, so far, has been apple slices. If I slice them thin enough, and dry them long enough, they come out nice and crisp. When stored in an airtight container, they seem to get more crisp over time too.

Ingredients:

1 lemon (or 2 - 3 lemon cubes)
About a dozen apples (depends on dehydrator size and apple size)
1 tbsp sugar (try lemon sugar or vanilla sugar)
1 tbsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg or cloves (optional)
dash or two of salt

Cut the lemon into quarters or melt the lemon cubes in a small dish.

Scrub the apples, then cut 3 of them in half. Place them cut side down on a cutting board and slice them horizontally, across the core. Use your best knife and slice them as thinly as possible, 1/8" thick or less. The widest side of a box grater works too. The apples should not need to be cored as the seeds will fall out with such thin slices. Just remove the ends, seeds, and any larger core pieces with the tip of the knife. Don't worry too much about the core fragments, most of the smaller ones will dry right up and not be noticeable in the finished chips.

However you get your slices, place them in a large non reactive bowl (glass or plastic) as you go. To keep them from browning, after you cut the first 3 add 1/4 of the lemon juice and toss to coat. Add another 1/4 with the second 3, and so on until all the apple slices have been coated. Finally, add the sugar, spices and salt at the end and make sure the slices get evenly coated with that too.

Arrange the slices on the dehydrator trays as close together as possible, without overlapping, since they will shrink. Dry them at around 135 degrees for up to 2 days until they are very dry and have a bit of snap to them when bent. It's ok if they bend a little, they will crisp up over time.

These are addictive to eat like chips. They are also good to crumble up and mix with dry oatmeal to make homemade instant flavored oatmeal packets. They keep for at least a couple months in dry airtight containers.

Lemons - Dehydrated Dish #1

I bought a dehydrator a couple years ago for a specific project, drying soaked and sprouted grain, which I have long since abandoned. This happens pretty often with me and cooking projects. Usually the abandoned equipment gathers dust until I eventually give it away. Not so the dehydrator. It's become one of my most used small appliances. Here begins a short series on easy dried bits.

The first thing I really got into making with it was lemon salt and sugar. It's easy and quite versatile. In fact, I'm posting it since I will be referring to it constantly as an ingredient in other posts.

The method:

Zest 2 lemons for every 1/2 cup of sugar or salt that you want. A microplane grater makes short work of this. I usually do 4 lemons total, half for sugar and half for salt. I like the texture better with course sea salt and turbinado sugar, but it would work with finer grinds. Save the juice (see below).

In a small bowl, mix the zest with the sugar or salt until it's evenly distributed. It will probably clump up. Once mixed, spread on a solid plastic dehydrator tray. Mine came with a couple inserts for making fruit leather and that's what I use here. Separate the clumps and make sure the zests are spread out as much as possible so that they dry evenly.

I dry it on the setting used for nuts and seeds (105 F), since I don't want to ruin the lemon oil with too high of a temperature. It will usually be dry by morning, so 8 - 10 hours max.

Remove the salt when the zests are dry and crumble when touched. They can be ground up finely in a food processor, but I usually just leave them a little rough for texture. As you can see, I store them in glass mason jars and they keep this way for at least a couple months on the shelf. The flavor starts to go after that.

Lemon salt is good for finishing dishes, making margaritas, and for adding a hint of lemon. Lemon sugar is good in everything! Limes and oranges also work well, but I've found lemon to be the most versatile flavor.

Juice the lemons while you are at it and freeze the juice into ice cube trays for lemon cubes. Once frozen, pop the cubes out of the tray and store in a freezer bag. They're great in tea or for brightening up soups, pasta, and sauce dishes. Microwave lemons for 15 seconds to get them to juice easier. Juice them over a strainer into the tray to avoid getting seeds in there.

Between the salt and the lemon cubes, we will never be caught without "fresh" lemon flavoring again.