I decided to concentrate the second show on just the chicken. It’s an economical, tasteful marvel and I rarely cook it in pieces. With the incredible benefits of bone stock which I spoke about previously and the cost savings of a whole chicken versus parts it simply makes sense! I rarely stuff the bird, sometimes I will add a halved lemon or a few vegetables like carrots or onions but I feel the bird cooks more evenly if I do not. I go by the old standard of 165 degrees f. for internal temperature. The USDA has information on internal temperatures and food safety and I recommend check it out.

Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart

The spices I used to make my chicken rub are: pink salt, ground pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, smoked paprika, ground sage, and ground mustard.

The spices I used in the stock are: pink salt, ground pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, juniper berries, whole mustard, whole peppercorns, and the chopped garlic.

For the chicken soup you have a few options. You can add noodles. I prefer to cook them till almost done before I put them into soup so they don’t absorb too much of the stock. You can also par cook some rice or any variety (or a mix of them) and add that in. I also like to sometimes add a bunch of finely diced potatoes and corn for a nice chicken corn chowder. I also love chicken and dumplings. For the dumplings you mix: 2 cups flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup milk, and 4 tablespoons oil. Combine into stiff dough, do not over mix. Drop by tablespoonfuls on surface of soup an leave 1/4 inch in between as they will expand. Leave dumplings in top of soup, cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Dumplings should be crisp and flaky on top half and soft on the bottom.

I use several different recipes for chicken salad. My favorite is the simplest. For one cup chopped chicken I use a tablespoon of mayo; plus pink salt, pepper, ground mustard, smoked paprika, and marjoram. I chop up some onion and celery (with leaves) to taste and it’s done. Sometimes I will add chopped hard boiled eggs too. There are countless recipes for chicken salad!

For chicken a la king you sauté’ a half cup diced peppers and a cup of sliced mushrooms in butter. Add half a cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook over medium heat until flour smells nutty and them add 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 1/4 cups homemade stock. Boil for a minute until it thickens and then add your diced chicken (about 2 cups) and a 2 ounce jar of pimentos (drained). Serve over rice, noodles or toast!

There are so many things you can do with a whole chicken. I hope you enjoy my recipes and please feel free to ask any questions!

On my first show I talked about a basic marinara sauce. Here are a few words plus the ingredients for each recipe!

My basic marinara sauce usually contains a piece of chicken, as mentioned in the video our family uses chicken in the sauce to ‘sweeten’ it. We never make a vegetarian sauce, but it can be made that way easily. I cannot stress enough how important it could be to use organic tomatoes. Tomatoes get 35 different pesticides, and with stores like Aldi’s offering store brand versions they are becoming very reasonable in price. Onions however, are not susceptible to pesticides so conventional onions are just fine! If I am making meatballs I usually bake them on my broiler pan and then finish cooking in my sauce, sausage and ground chuck are also cooked before putting in the sauce. Any decent Italian will tell you you must flavor the meat before putting in the sauce! I always save leftover sauce in the freezer, even if it is a small amount. I always have a few small snack bags of sauce tucked away for when the kids want fried mozzarella.

Basic marinara ingredients: (in order in the video) pesto, diced onions, sliced garlic, salt, pepper, tomatoes, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and tumeric.

Carbonara was first created in Rome, Italy in the mid 20th century. The word is likely from carbonaro meaning ‘charcoal burner’ and is thought to be “coal miners pasta”. Guanciale was the original meat used which is a bacon made from pork jowl, most use pancetta or bacon. Bacon and eggs, provided by American soldiers after WW2, made the dish sought after and popular. If you use cream, or just making with egg and worried about scrambling your eggs, you can temper the eggs with hot cream or pasta water to slowly warm them before adding to the hot pan. Any type of pasta shape can be used for this sauce.

carbonara sauce ingredients: pancetta (bacon or guanciale), salt, pepper, egg yolks and fresh chopped parsley.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Ciao!