Simply Frugal Roast Chicken
| Ingredient | 4 servings |
| Chicken, whole | 1 |
| Giblets | |
| Water | 1 1/2 C |
| Bay leaf | 1 |
| Fat* | 2 Tbsp |
| Onion, chopped | 2 Tbsp |
| Bread*, diced | 2 C |
| Celery | 1/4 C |
| Basil | 1/4 tsp |
| Thyme | 1/4 tsp |
| Sage | 1/2 tsp |
| Salt | |
| Pepper | 1/4 tsp |
| Flour | 1 Tbsp |
| Milk | 1 C |
Wash chicken, and remove heart, liver, gizzard, and neck.
Place neck, gizzard, and heart in water, along with bay leaf and half the onion. Simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and reserve stock.
Chop heart, gizzard, and liver fine. Saute with remaining onion in fat for a few minutes.
Combine with bread, celery, basil, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper.
Pour stock over dressing to moisten.
Stuff interior of chicken just before the chicken is put in the oven. You can double the amount, and bake the remainder in a greased casserole dish.
Place chicken in oven.
Turn on oven and set to 350 ℉ Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Pour off liquid, and allow fat to rise to the top. Skim and reserve fat.
Add flour to pan drippings. Stir until flour is incorporated. Add milk for cream gravy, add the liquid from the roast for a thinner gravy. Stir over medium heat until gravy thickens.
After the meal, place carcass and bones in a plastic bag, and freeze until ready to make stock.
*Fat, Bread, Preheated Oven
Fat: the frugal cook uses bacon fat, chicken fat, vegetable oil, or butter.
Bread: the frugal cook uses left over bread, bagels, or cornbread.
Preheated oven: the frugal cook knows you do not need to preheat the oven if you are roasting meat.
4 comments:
I often thought of starting a blog with simple, inexpensive recipes. I think people waste so much money on unhealthy, expensive, processed food.
My mom raised 5 kids and was a great cook. We ate like kings on such basic things.
Great blog! I think I'll make bread pudding tomorrow!
Feel free to add your own touches and ideas here. If you (or your mom) did something that made the roast chicken special, just drop me a comment under the recipe.
I keep the carcass together with whatever bits or shreds of chicken left over, and boil up the carcass for a couple of hours, strain, add whatever veg you have chopped up, together with the bits of left over chicken, and it makes a lovely chicken stew.
I roasted an on-sale chicken this week and my husband loved it, especially the dressing. I roasted some red potato slices in the pan during the 2nd hour of roasting and basted them once. The drippings with a 1/2 cup of flour and four cups of water made enough gravy for a simple chicken pie this weekend.
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