Chicken

It's Finally Friday. Hooray! Here are six chicken recipes to help you through the weekend, including Stupid Chicken and Grilled Barbecue Chicken and Potato Kabobs. And before you wonder, "Is chicken your new Friday thing, like Meatless Monday or Taco Tuesday?" Nope, just happened that last Friday's and today's posts are chicken recipes. Enjoy!

SPICE-RUBBED SPATCHCOCKED CHICKEN

This is from Melissa Clark in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Melissa wrote, “A spatchcocked chicken, also called a butterflied chicken, cooks more quickly and evenly than a whole bird, giving you juicy white meat as well as dark meat in less than an hour. Here the chicken is marinated in a brown sugar and chile spice rub before being roasted until its skin is crisp and deeply flavored. If you aren’t up for spatchcocking your own bird, you can ask your butcher to do it for you.”

Yield: 4 servings

This was featured in “A Chicken-Roasting Method All Good Cooks Know” and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

1 chicken, 3 1/2 to 4 pounds, patted dry

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ancho or New Mexico chile powder

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

2 bay leaves, torn or cut into pieces

Lime or lemon wedges, for serving

Preparation

Spatchcock the chicken by using poultry shears or kitchen scissors (or a sharp knife) to cut along one side of the backbone until the chicken opens. If you like you can cut along the other side of the backbone and remove it, or leave it attached to roast with the rest of the bird. Open up the bird and place it so it lies flat, breast side up. Press hard onto the center of the breast until you feel a pop, and the breast lies more or less flat.

In a small bowl, mix together sugar, salt, chile powder, paprika, mustard powder, oregano, pepper, allspice and bay leaves. Smear the mixture all over the chicken. Lay chicken, skin side up, on a rimmed baking sheet (or plate) and refrigerate uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. If the chicken isn’t on a rimmed baking sheet, transfer it to one. Roast chicken until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pricked with a fork (an instant-read thermometer plunged into the thickest part of the breast will read 150), 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove from oven, cover bird with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with lime or lemon wedges on the side.

5-INGREDIENT LEMON-ROSEMARY GRILLED CHICKEN BREASTS

This is from Grace Parisi in the Today Show cooking e-newsletter. According to the newsletter, “Grace Parisi is a New York City-based food writer, cookbook author and food stylist. Her book, Get Saucy, was nominated for a James Beard award. Her latest book, Quick Pickles comes out in Fall 2016.”

For this recipe, Grace wrote, “Crispy chicken skin is so delicious, but it's not easy to find boneless breasts with skin in the supermarket. You're more likely to find boneless, skinless chicken breasts or bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Most butchers will debone a breast for you, but it's easy enough to do yourself and you get to keep the bones for making stock in the future.”

She added this Note: “If you decide to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead, using a meat pounder, gently pound the chicken breasts so they are about 1/2-inch thick all around.” Active Time: 15 minutes; Total Time: 2.25 hours or overnight.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

4 chicken breast halves on the bone with skin, 10 to 12 ounces each, or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to about 1/2-inch thick

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary, plus 2 sprigs

1 lemon, zested and cut in half

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation

Prepare the chicken breasts:

Debone the skin-on chicken breasts: Using a sharp knife, make a small incision near the wing joint. Leaving the skin intact, slip your finger into the incision, close to the bone. Working your finger back and forth, separate the meat from the bone as best you can. Use the knife to fully separate the meat. (Reserve the bones in the freezer for stock.) Using a meat pounder, gently pound the chicken breasts so they are about 1/2-inch thick all around.

For boneless chicken breasts: Using a meat pounder, gently pound the chicken breasts so they are about 1/2-inch thick all around.

In a small bowl, combine the oil, garlic, rosemary, lemon zest and 1/2 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Rub the mixture all over the chickens, add the rosemary sprigs and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 8 hours.

Light a grill and oil the grates. Grill the chicken, lemon halves, and rosemary sprigs over high heat, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and firm to the touch, about 10 to 12 minutes. Squeeze the grilled lemon halves over the chicken and serve.

TEX-MEX CHICKEN & RICE BAKE

This comes from FamilyTime, and begins, “Got 5 minutes? That's all you need to put together this tasty, picante-spiked dish. Then just pop it in the oven, and in less than an hour, you'll have a cheesy, family-friendly dish.”

Serves: 4 servings; Prep Time: 5 minutes; Cook Time: 45 minutes

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

1 cup Pace® Picante Sauce

1/2 cup water

1 cup whole kernel corn

3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast half (about 1 pound)

paprika

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Stir the soup, picante sauce, water, corn and rice in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with the chicken. Sprinkle with the paprika. Cover the baking dish.

Bake at 375°F. for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender. Sprinkle with the cheese. Let stand until the cheese is melted.

Flavor Variation: for Picante Chicken & Rice Bake, use 1 jar (16 ounces) Pace® Picante Sauce and omit the soup. Proceed as directed above.

GRILLED BARBECUE CHICKEN AND POTATO KABOBS

This is from Tablespoon (tbsp.), and begins, “You don’t need to slave over the grill for delicious barbecue flavor. These kabobs get the job done fast!”

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

8 (10-inch) bamboo or metal skewers

Slaw

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 package (14 oz) shredded tri-color coleslaw mix

1 unpeeled apple (Fuji or Gala), cut into matchstick pieces

Kabobs

1 lb baby red potatoes, quartered

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon barbecue seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 medium sweet onion, cut into 1-inch wedges (1 cup)

1 1/4 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch wide strips (about 6 thighs)

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

Directions

Heat gas or charcoal grill. If using bamboo skewers, soak in water 10 minutes; drain.

In large bowl, beat vinegar, honey, mustard, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt with whisk. Beat in 1/4 cup olive oil in a thin stream. Add coleslaw mix and apple; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate.

In large microwavable bowl, mix quartered potatoes and water. Cover; microwave on High 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once, until just tender when pierced with a knife. Carefully uncover and drain; set aside to cool.

In large bowl, mix 1/4 cup olive oil, the barbecue seasoning and 1 teaspoon salt. Add potatoes and onion; toss to coat. On each of 4 skewers, alternately thread potatoes and onion, leaving 1/4-inch space between each piece. In same bowl, place chicken; toss with remaining oil and seasoning in bowl. On remaining 4 skewers, thread chicken.

Place kabobs on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook 5 minutes. Brush kabobs with barbecue sauce; turn, and brush other sides with sauce. Cook 3 to 6 minutes longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center and vegetables are tender and browned in places. Serve with slaw.

CROCKPOT MAPLE BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICHES

1/2 C. maple flavored syrup

2 T. prepared mustard

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

2 t. lemon juice

1/2 t. chili powder

1/4 t. garlic powder

4 boneless, skinned chicken breasts

Place all ingredients in crockpot & cook on LOW for about 7 to 8 hours or until chicken is done.

You can either eat the breasts whole or shred them on buns or rice for more points.

4 servings = 225 calories, 4g fat, 1g fiber.

5 points per serving

From: Weight Watchers crockpot email list

STUPID CHICKEN

This is from a free e-cookbook from RecipeLion, and begins, “Don't be fooled by the name of this dish... it may be stupidly easy to prepare, but the end result is brilliantly delicious. If you've been looking for a foolproof slow cooker chicken recipe to add to your collection of easy weeknight dinner ideas, this is it!”

Ingredients

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 (28-ounce) can Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes

1 envelope Herb and Garlic Recipe soup mix (Lipton’s or similar>

Hot cooked rice or pasta

Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

Cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Mix chicken, tomatoes and soup mix together, and pour into slow cooker.

Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Serve over rice or bow tie pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Notes

If you have an oven, you can do this in an oven-browning bag. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Zucchini and mushrooms are nice additions to the recipe.