I had a chance to actually cook something and not just eat a sandwich with tomato and lettuce, and a homemade mayonnaise (1 cup canola oil + 1 egg).  I was excited because I knew I would have leftovers from this meal or so I thought.

Snacking isn’t really a big for me because I normally eat bigger meals through the day.  I’m not on a diet or anything so I don’t really pay attention to what I eat or when I eat it but as this hunger week is going on those little snacks are starting to become necessity and I’m really starting to look forward to when the food is ready.  I take a lot of time when I cook because I want it to turn out right and I pretty much have 60% of the use of my left hand since that injury at work.

When things take longer I notice myself rummaging through the food that was set away from the hunger challenge.  If I eat this celery stick will it be enough for the soup tomorrow? If I eat this carrot will it be enough for the carrot puree the next day? Normally, celery sticks or carrot sticks are indispensable but I actually have to have them planned for something it makes things a little more stressful. I do have money to buy more but I don’t want to just gorge myself and jump away from my plans.

I started this chicken dish by pouring a little clarified butter (click here) into a 10 inch cast iron pan with 4 inch high sides. I set the oven to 250F then dusted a little bit of kosher salt and black pepper on top of the chicken.

I took the chicken and placed it in the hot cast iron pan with butter then proceeded to sear each side until I achieved a golden brown color.  It gives a nice crispy texture and contrary to popular belief it does nothing to “trap in the juices” (don’t sear it then weight it before and after and you will find that you lose the same amount of juices when you sear it).  Searing the meat on the outside is more about texture than juices.

While the meat was searing I did a little chopping, slicing, and a concasse of tomato (click). Below you see the leeks, carrrots, and the tomato concasse. All three give a depth of flavor and will later be served with the dish as the accompanying vegetable.  Normally I will toss the vegetables that were seared with the meat then during the last 30 minutes of cooking add fresh vegetables to the braise but like I said, I want to eliminate waste, if it’s edible then I would rather eat it than throw it in the trash.

The chicken is looking like it’s just about to the color and texture I want so I started placing the vegetables in the pot along with 1 1/2 cups of that chicken stock I made.  The key is the have liquid going about 3/4 of the way up on the meat and making sure the liquid stays at that amount so having a another 1/2 cup to 3/4 of a cup of stock is a must. I made about a gallon of chicken stock from the 1 chicken carcass so using a maximum of 2.25 cups is no big deal.

Vegetables on are on, stock is in, cast-iron pan goes in the oven for 2-3 hours. You can actually cook it longer if you want. This would be great a dish for a crock pot but you can’t sear in a crock pot and having crispy anything is delightful so go with this method instead. After about an hour or two I start prepping the potatoes.

Nothing crazy, just some fresh herbs, a little clarified butter, salt, pepper, and a touch of white wine vinegar.

I cover the potatoes with foil and place them in the oven until they are tender.   At this point I remove the cast -iron pan and strain the juice out of the pan.  I place it in a smaller pan and reduce the juices by 50% then add a little bit of flour to thicken it.  Normally I would add wine to the mix to give the sauce more flavor but that’s not an option.

The sauce is to the right consistency so I take some whole butter and slowly work it into the sauce to finish it off. I know what you’re thinking, “sounds like you use a lot of butter through this whole recipe”.  It sounds like it but I have only used about 2-3 tbsp. total….for everything.

I plate ti all up and pour some of that sauce over the chicken then ta-da!  Worth the wait, inexpensive, and definitely not a lame tomato and lettuce sandwich.

I make this dish completely different when I can use whatever I want.  To compare check this out (click).

Here are a few words from the United Way of King County about hunger.



Many local food banks don’t have enough capacity to store all of the fresh and frozen produce they receive and are frequently forced to turn it away. You can help by supporting “Yes We Can,” a project which will help a local cannery save fresh foods that might otherwise perish. The newly canned food will be distributed to local food banks, reducing their need to purchase such items, and helping hungry people access healthy food. The project is a partnership of United Way of King County, the South King County Food Coalition and Northwest Harvest. Click here to give and learn more about this innovative program. Taking the Hunger Challenge? It’s “day three” of the Challenge. How much money do you have left in your budget? Share your experiences on our blog.

Did you know? United Way is working with community partners to end hunger in King County. Learn about our Hunger Relief Now! Plan.