A roasted chicken dinner is a classic that everyone loves – especially when the weather starts to get grey like it is now in Vancouver.
I’m a big fan of roast chicken, and make it often for my family – namely because I love how many meals you can get out of it. I—like many—am a big fan of soup, so quite often t I have prepared a roast chicken dinner just so that I can make a bone broth. A bone broth made from the bones of a roast chicken has a deep flavour, amazing health benefits and is super easy to make!
Just to prove it to you, I have included the recipe below… along with my favourite roasted chicken and chicken soup recipes. Enjoy!
Herbed Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
1 4lb organic roasting chicken
1 lemon, sliced
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped into large chunks. Don’t peel apart the layers
1-2 cups chopped fresh brussell sprouts
1 head of garlic, mince 4 large cloves and peel the rest but leave the cloves in tact
6-8 carrots, chopped in to big chunks
Fresh herbs of your choice – I like sage, thyme and rosemary, minced
Sea salt
Organic butter about 1/4 cup plus extra for the pan to roast the veggies, about 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 350
In a small bowl, mix all the herbs, minced garlic with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Place chicken in a roasting pan, breast side up. Then gently lift up the skin (try to not tear the skin but it’s OK if you do) on top of the breast and gently place half of the herb mixture under the skin of each breast (1/2 on each breast using all the herb mixture up). Place lemon slices under skin on top of herb mixture. Place a few pats of butter on top of the chicken and season the whole bird with sea salt. If you have any left over lemon or herbs place them inside the cavity of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots and whole garlic cloves around the chicken in the roasting pan. Add the remaining butter and coconut oil to the bottom of the roasting pan to help caramelize the veggies.
The place the chicken in the oven. I check it every 20-30 minutes and move the veggies around and baste the chicken. At 1 hour check the temp, insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. Once it has reached 165 degrees celsius it’s done. Mine usually takes 1 hour and 20 minutes. Once your chicken is done, let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting it.
Serve with green salad and brown rice or roasted yams.
Delicious Bone Broth Recipe
Sally Fallon is a great author and advocate of eating whole real food. Her summary on the benefits of bone broth hits the nail on the head;
“Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons–stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.”
One thing Sally doesn’t mention however is how healing a good bone broth is for your gut! It also boosts your immunity and helping you kick a cold! Hence why it’s often recommended to you when you’re sick.
Health benefits aside, I assure you – once you make a bone broth you will never be able to go back to eating store bought broth ever again. Especially after you have tried this recipe which was inspired by my good friend, Dani who first made it for me 3 years ago.. and my family and I have been enjoying it ever since. In fact, my family and I just had this meal the other night and both of my kids ate huge bowls of it! So be prepare for not having leftovers 😉
Ingredients
Left over chicken carcass
Juice from the pan and any left over veggies (don’t use brussell sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, or asparagus as it will make the broth bitter)
I also add any other veggies of bits I have on hand, they can just be chopped into large chunks
Onions, garlic (the more the better, do not be shy here. I use a whole head plus any leftovers that roasted in the pan with the chicken)
Celery
Herbs
Sea salt, to taste
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar or lemon juice (This is essential as this helps leach the mineral from the bones and into your broth)
Directions
Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cover with water. Place on low. I do this at night and let it simmer for 24 hours. 18-24hours is ideal.
I then strain over a colander and pick out any good pieces of chicken to save and add back to the soup. Discard the rest. You can now either freeze the stock or keep in the fridge for a few days until you are ready to make the soup or make the soup now. You can also just drink the broth or save it for future uses in recipes that call for broth.
Best Ever Chicken Soup!
Believe me when I say this – this soup is incredible.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium leek, diced
1 whole head of garlic, minced – YES I mean head not clove!
4 large organic tomatoes diced
3-4 cups of chickpeas, can use soaked uncooked or canned
2 cups of chopped kale
Any other herbs you would like to add
Any leftover chicken that you took from the carcass or leftover from the roasted chicken dinner
Sea Salt Herbamare to taste
Directions
Heat coconut oil in a medium-large sauce pot
Add the onions, garlic and leek and saute over medium heat until soft and translucent
Add the chickpeas. If they are dried and soaked they will need to cook for 90 minutes. If they are canned you can go straight to the next step.
Once chickpeas are almost cooked add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes then add the kale and season
After that, your soup will be ready to enjoy!
I serve this with a loaf of organic spelt bread from Bread Affair. But you can serve it with whatever you like.
Though there are not many ingredients in this soup, it’s high on flavour. My philosophy is that if you add simple, yet complimentary ingredients, the flavours will speak for themselves – and this soup is a perfect example of that.
I use a lot of Garlic—since it has almost endless health benefits—but if you really don’t like it or feel like it is too strong, you can use less accordingly.
Cooking should be fun and is a form of self expression, so feel free to add anything else that you like to this soup. The best part about this recipe—and most recipes for that matter—is that there are no rules. So be creative, use what you have and enjoy!
