Chicken bone broth (Instant Pot)

Equipment

• Instant Pot (at least 6 quarts, big enough to hold a whole chicken)
• Strainer
• 4-5 Quart Mason jars

Ingredients

• 1 small whole frozen chicken
• 2-4 Frozen chicken feet (if you can get them)
• Salt
• Water

Method

1. Put the chicken in the pot, and fill almost to Max with water.  You could go all the way to Max if the chicken is fully submerged, but if anything is poking out give yourself a little leeway.
2. Add 1 Tablespoon of salt, or a little less
3. Seal the Instant Pot, turn venting off.  Set to Meat/Stew for 90 minutes.
4. When it's done, you can release manually or naturally.
5. Remove the chicken from the pot.  I usually put it into a glass baking dish, and spread out the meat to cool slightly.
6. If you need some broth for a recipe, remove it.  It's pretty darn good right now.  
7. Use the chicken meat for something delicious like Kota Soupa Avgolemono or Chicken Casserole (recipe TBD).
8. When you can, start separating the skin and bones and other inedibles, and put them back into the pot with the broth.
9. Add the chicken feet to the pot.
10. Close the pot again, and leave the vent open.  Slow cook as long as you can -- 20 hours is good!
11. When the broth is done slow cooking, strain it into the quart jars.
12. Cool the jars, and when you need to use the broth, skim the fat off of the top.

I do this about every other week.  Every three days, I'll open up a quart, skim the fat and drop in a Gingermericube.  The next morning, I shake it up and then pour out a mug and heat it in the microwave, and drink it as my breakfast.  Delicious!  I don't get sick very often at all -- just recently, I did get a cold for the first time in two years, and I hadn't been drinking my potion recently.

Chicken with Prosciutto, Sage and Fontina

Meli and I were at a loss the other day.  Sometimes dealing with gluten-free and Kiddo's pickiness can be exhausting.  So I used the "what do we have on hand" method, googled a few recipes and did some melding and modification to produce this, which was fantastic over gluten-free pasta.

I started with this: http://www.marthastewart.com/339345/chicken-with-prosciutto-and-sage

But instead of flour, used Masa. Also I added cheese and used all whole sage leaves and finished in the oven and used Masala instead of white wine...and the preparation was like this.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup masa
• Course salt and fresh ground pepper
• Two skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 8-10 fresh sage leaves
• 2oz prosciutto, sliced thinly
• 2oz fontina cheese, sliced thinly
• 3/4 cup masala wine
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• Gluten-free pasta, prepared according to package directions

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Combine the masa, salt and pepper in a dredging pan.
3. Slice the chicken lengthwise with a thin knife into 2-3 slices per breast, depending on the thickness of the breast
4. Dredge the chicken in the flour.
5. Melt half a stick of unsalted butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium heat.
6. Add 8-10 fresh sage leaves, fry briefly until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
7. Add the chicken and fry on one side until lightly browned, then turn over.
8. Brown the other side of the chicken.
9. Top each slice with a slice of prosciutto and a slice of cheese. Fontina was great, mozzarella would be less salty, also good.  Add wine and broth to the pan, put it in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.
10. Serve over gluten-free linguine, and add the fried sage leaves as garnish.

Moroccan Crock-pot chicken

Last night I was working late, and sometimes in my work I have to start processes, wait a bit and then go back and check things, fix things, start another process, panic, write emails, etc. In one of the lulls, I saw that a friend had posted a very intriguing crock pot recipe, and since I'm flying out on Sunday, needed to empty my fridge and had most of the ingredients on hand resolved to try it.

What I had on hand wasn't quite what was called for...but collaborating, we figured it could work. What I did is below, followed by the original recipe. It was delicious, although benefiting from a bit of table salt. My friend Ms. P came over and we thoroughly enjoyed it with some Prosecco and a nice Tzaziki salad, before proceeding to dismantle my Xmas tree. (Thanks, P!) I figure my version is probably less fatty, is a little easier because no de-fatting is required and is more appropriate for a small supper for four people -- sounds like Mr. B's feeds a crowd.

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, about 1.4 lb

1 small onion, chopped

1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs fresh ginger, minced or shredded

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

3/4 cup dried fruit, I used black cherries

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp turmeric

Chicken broth to cover, about 24 oz.

1 cup whole wheat couscous

Put everything except for the couscous into a crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours. Spoon out the solids (the chicken will shred nicely into the stew) and add the couscous to the crock-pot, cook for about 5 minutes.

The chicken did not dry out at all, which was Mr. B's chief concern with using skinless/boneless breasts.

The original recipe from my friend Barry Campbell:

Here's one of Uncle Barry's favorite crock pot recipes, by request of G.S..

4 large bone-in chicken breasts
2 cups cooked chickpeas (or use a big can drained and rinsed)
Chopped onion, garlic, grated fresh ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, raisins, etc to taste
(I do not use a recipe for this, but - two big handfuls chopped onion, a good half-handful or more of fresh grated ginger, etc.)
Juice of one lemon
Vegetable or chicken stock to cover the above

Slow-cook on high for 4-5 hours. If you like the raisins to look like raisins, don't add them until the last 30 minutes or so; I like to put them in at the beginning and cook them to mush.

Pull the chicken breasts out at the end - the meat will shred nicely. Skim fat, and then use some of the reserved cooking liquid to make couscous. Add some green veg or a salad and it's a nice supper.