In preparation for our Seder next week I made my chicken soup a week or so ago.
When I have the time I like to take the finished soup, refrigerate it overnight and recook it the next day with some fresh additional raw chicken, and vegetables, and herbs, as if starting from scratch.
Yes, you read that right! I, too, was in disbelief when I read it for the first time in a favorite, beautifully photographed cookbook I have had for many years. It is called the Jewish American Kitchen.
In it, at the end of the recipe for Chicken Soup, the author states the following…
For a really superb soup, start again, using this broth, with a second batch of vegetables and a second fowl. You made need to add a bit more cold water to cover the fowl and vegetables. Before serving, reheat the soup and taste carefully for seasoning.
I have done this many times and it truly does make a delicious soup more delicious, and a rich chicken broth richer.
This time, however, for the first go round I had a large chicken and several backs and necks in the pot so when it came to the next day I decided to just add the legs and thighs and the neck of another large chicken for the second cooking.
This left me with a whole bone-in chicken breast which is something I can safely say I have never purchased.
Most of us have made a whole bone-in (or boneless) turkey breast at some time, but whole bone-in chicken breast? Not so much.
Here’s the recipe for the delicious Garlic-Roasted Whole Bone-In Chicken Breast you see above.
While this recipe from Martha Stewart is for 2 whole roaster chicken breasts I cut it in half since I was just making the one whole bone-in breast. I also threw in a few fresh carrots because I love them roasted with the chicken juices.
Below is the original recipe for two whole bone-in chicken breasts which would be great for a dinner party, as it provides 6 servings.
If you need less servings, but want to make two chickens there will be plenty of leftovers for enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken sandwiches, or simply extra shredded chicken in your bowl of chicken soup!
Garlic Roasted Chicken Breasts ( Martha Stewart)
In this dish, roasting softens and mellows the garlic. The garlic tops serve as a rack for the chicken. Garlic bottoms are flipped halfway through to soak up juices.
Ingredients
4 heads garlic
8 sprigs fresh oregano
2 whole roaster chicken breasts (3 and ½ pounds each), rinsed and patted dry
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
1. Preheat oven tyo 400 degrees. Slice tops from garlic heads, reserving the bottoms; arrange tops, cut sides down, in the center of an11-by-17-inch roasting pan. Place 1 sprig of oregano over each garlic top, and arrange chicken breasts over garlic.
2. Place reserved garlic bottoms, cut sides up, next to chicken in the pan. Drizzle chicken and garlic bottoms with the olive oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper; place remaining 4 sprigs of oregano on top.
3. Roast chicken for 30 minutes; turn garlic bottoms cut sides down, and rotate the pan. Continue roasting chicken until skin is browned, juices run clear, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the meat registers 165 degrees, about 30 minutes more.
4. Pour pan juices into a measuring cup; skim the fat from the top. Serve juices with chicken and roasted garlic.