Dinner tonight: whole chicken but don't fancy a roast

[Hdocheub820]

We have a whole chicken to cook. Don't fancy a roast tonight so what can I serve with it or have for dinner tonight?

Some form of rice dish, chips or salad.

Salad and crusty bread

We're having ours with a Caesar salad and homemade garlic flatbread.

I did think rice or chips but we have chicken and chips/plain rice fairly frequently so after something different!

Are you able to carve up the chicken so you have breast/thighs/wings etc. Try making up a Peri Peri sauce and serve with salad and potato wedges. Nando's style

Poached whole in a little stock with garlic, onions, celery. Then reduce liquor, add cream and any herbs you've got. Lovely with rice or crusty bread.

Spatchcock it, rub it with harissa paste and squeeze some lemon over. Serve roasted with couscous, crusty break, roasted veg?

Chicken and rice mixed together with cheese in a wrap and salad

I do a flavoured couscous when I can't be bothered to do a full roast. Chicken, couscous (sometimes spicy) and a salad/roasted med veg. Yum

I often do a fast roast that doesn't feel like a roast. You might not have these ingredients, but I do this...

Put the chicken in a deep roasting tray.
Put a cut lemon and some fresh thyme inside the chicken.
Cut up potato, sweet potato, butternut squash, carrott and onion into big chunks. Put them around the chicken.
Pour in some white/rose wine and chicken stock until the liquid is deep enough to go half way up the veg.
Rub the top of the chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic so that you get crispy skin.
Roast on 220oC for an hour.
It's a truly one-pan dish.

Cous cous, roast veg, hummus or tzatziki

Given the weather, either pie or soup and dumplings.

If just roast it now and then use the chicken however you like - risotto, pie, curry, fajitas, whatever.

Roasted whole new potatoes, coleslaw and salad with corn on the cob.

I've started making a hot salad of grilled halloumi chunks, cherry tomatoes fried off with the halloumi then squeeze garlic and blanched green beans tossed in and heated with it all. It would go very well with chicken.

I'd do it Nando's style with a peri peri marinade, and serve with peri fries, corn on the cob and mexican rice.

Mix baby potatoes or small chunks of potato with larger pieces of pepper, onion, maybe carrots and mix together in a bowl with salt, pepper, oil, a bit of white wine if you have it plus lots of garlic. When the chicken is about 45 mins from beinr roasted, lift it out and tip the potato mixture into the roasting tin and put the chicken back on top (it's better if it can nestle amongst the veg and potatoes but your tin mightn't be big enough. Back in the oven for the required time for chicken to cook then remove the chicken from which all the lovely juices will have mixed in with the veg and potatoes. While the joint is resting, put the potatoes and vwg back in the oven at a higher heat to finish off. I add a good sprinkling of feta cheese at this stage which when you mix it with the potatoes, veg and juices at the end makes almost a sauce, it's delicious. I've also cooked rice in with a roast chicken, using either a Joloff spice mix with stock, canned tomato, peppers, onions etc. Or rice with stock and white wine and shallots and garlic with parmesan at the end. The latter is quite risotto like. All these dishes are based on being happy to have the chicken fat and juices within your meal, I think it tastes great especially if using a good quality, at least free range chicken.

I like this, but I find two lemons a bit much and prefer to just use one: www.nigella.com/recipes/chicken-in-a-pot-with-lemon-and-orzo

Crusty bread, roast chicken, roasted toms and peppers, cheese- made into a hot doorstep sandwich. Side salad.
Leftover chicken used for stir fry tomorrow.

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/roast-chicken-recipes/roast-chicken-margherita/

Thanks all. Some delicious ideas!

I've started boning my whole chickens again. Well, cutting the legs and breasts off anyway. I keep the carcass in the freezer until I have 3 and then roast them and make stock with it.
I've gone off roasts a bit. Our family, including me all prefer the dark meat and I usually end up eating the majority of the breast. Daft really.
I've got 2 chickens. One will be dismembered today and legs cooked in oven. Breasts will be sliced and breaded tomorrow (family are always happy when I do that.) 2nd one is dated the 14th so I've still got a wee while to decide what to do with it. But it'll likely get similar treatment.

Last one I did teriyaki chicken with the breasts and egg fried rice. Legs were just cooked with a wee bit salt.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz
This sounds really good!

I made this the other day which my DC loved… It was a good, different option for a roast chicken and I’m definitely adding it to our list of meals.

realfood.tesco.com/recipes/pot-roast-chicken-with-lentils-and-spinach-pistou.html

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pot-roast-bombay-chicken