What is the best way to manage a large chicken when there are just 2 of you and you are trying to make your food go a little further to reduce the pressure on our food suppliers?  Well whilst it was very tempting to roast it whole on the Big Green Egg and then use the left overs in other dishes – we decided to portion the chicken and then make the most of each of the portions.  A chicken is really easy to butcher, and whilst we have still not done a video of that yet, there are lots available on the internet.

One advantage of portioning your own chicken (other than the economy of doing it) is that you can keep the skin on the portions – and for many dishes this greatly adds to the taste!   I have to say I normally just use the wings to make stock (sorry all you BBQ wing lovers!).  But in the spirit of making our food go further we decided to bone out the first section of the wing and then stuff the space with some chopped mushrooms and a little chorizo that we had in the fridge.  These bulging pockets were closed off with a couple of cocktail sticks.

The wings were then coloured in a pan in the EGG which had been set up for indirect cooking at 160-170C.  As wings and legs take more cooking than the breast these were started about 15 mins before the breast – and this way we managed to get some good colour onto the skin.  Once we had reached this stage it was the time to cook the breast.

As the breasts were quite substantial (and as we had the stuffed wings too) we decided to just do one of the breasts.  This was added to the pan, skin down to colour the skin and render any fat from below the skin. Probably around 70% of the cooking should be done with the skin in contact with the pan.  Partly through the cooking of the breast, the excess mushrooms and chorizo that we weren’t able to pack into the wings was dropped into the pan to fry off in the rendered chicken fat.  These would be sprinkled over the salad that we were intending to serve with the chicken.

The Chicken breast was then turned over to finish the cooking.  Our aim was for a core temperature of 70C (the recommended safe temperature UK Food Standards Agency – 65C and hold for 10 minutes, 70C and hold for 2 minutes, 75C and hold for 30 seconds) – although this can lead to dry chicken when cooked conventionally, cooked in the EGG it will be very moist!

The chicken wing and half the chicken breast was served on a tossed salad with a citrus dressing for each of us.  The fried mushroom and chorizo were simply scattered over the top.  The dish would have been finished with some parmesan shavings but as we didn’t have parmesan we used cheddar which worked nearly as well!

It was a great dish and whilst the breast was lovely and moist with a lovely crisp skin, the revelation was the chicken wings.  It took a little time to bone out the first part of the wing but once stuffed it was really worth the effort!  And from the whole chicken there will be so much more to come too as you can see (to say nothing of the stock made from the carcass too!)

………………………………….hopefully more of that in future posts (here)!

Roasted chicken breast and mushroom stuffed wings

April 2, 2020

Servings: 2

Prep: 25 min

Cook: 30 min

Total: 55 min

Difficulty: moderately easy

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Chicken wings stuffed with mushrooms and chorizo served with roast chicken breast

By: Mark

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken wings
• 5 mushrooms
• A little left over chorizo
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Directions

• Step 1 The first thing is to bone out the chicken wings to the first joint by sliding a filleting knife along and around the bone. This is the only difficult step. The bone should be removed by cutting through the joint. This leaves a pocket for the mushroom stuffing.
• Step 2 Chop 5 mushrooms and a little chorizo and stuff into the pockets created in the wings where the bone was removed. Close the pocket using a cocktail stick sewn through the chicken wing.
• Step 3 Colour the wings in a pan or on a plancha in the EGG which should be set up for indirect cooking at 160-170C.  Start the wings about 15 mins before the breast. Turn to get good colour on the skin
• Step 4 Once the wings have some good colour add the chicken breast skin side down to colour the skin and render any fat. When the skin is well coloured turn over to finish cooking the breast – cook to a core temperature of 70C
• Step 5 Part way through cooking the breast add the mushrooms and chorizo that you weren’t able to pack into the wings and fry off in the rendered chicken fat.  These can be sprinkled over the salad when plating.  
• Step 6 Serve the chicken wing and half the chicken breast on a tossed salad.  Sprinkle the fried mushroom and chorizo over the top and finish with some parmesan (or other hard cheese) shavings

Whilst chicken can be bland it really doesn’t need to be!  This is a really simple recipe and almost a one pan dish too.  We had taken 2 chicken breasts from a large free range organic chicken.  The skin was left on the chicken and the breasts were lightly dusted with a Shawarma seasoning from Angus and Oink.  They were set aside for an hour or so.  We paired this with chorizo sautéed potatoes, based on our earlier recipe with asparagus, so whilst the chicken was marinating the new potatoes were halved and parboiled and also set aside.

The BGE was set up for direct cooking at around 180C.  A handleless sauté pan was brought up to temperature and the chorizo was fried in rapeseed oil added to the pan.  This both cooks the chorizo and in turn spices the oil.  The chorizo was removed from the pan and replaced with the breasts of chicken, skin side down.  The idea is to do around 80-90% of the chicken cooking with the skin side down with the skin protecting the chicken from the heat.  The chicken was flipped over to finish off the cook.  The parboiled potatoes were added to the pan to sauté the potatoes in the chorizo infused oil.  The chicken was removed from the pan when the core temperature hit just above 70C.  They were wrapped in foil and allowed to rest whilst the core temperature rose to 74C.  The cooked chorizo was added back to the potatoes as they finished being sautéd.

The chicken was sliced and served on roasted cauliflower together with the spicy chorizo potatoes.  The level of spicing will depend on the type of chorizo you choose!

…………………………a great way to spice up your chicken!!

Footnote: Also see reflections here

Spicy Charred Chicken Breast with Chorizo Potatoes

July 15, 2019

Servings: 2-3

Prep: 15 min

Cook: 20 min

Total: 35 min

Difficulty: Easy

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Spicy Chicken breast roasted with chorizo sautéed potatoes

By: Mark

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts skin on
• Shawarma seasoning from Angus and Oink
• New potatoes
• Chorizo 3 inch piece
• Rapeseed oil

Directions

• Step 1 Leave the skin on the chicken and dust lightly with Shawarma seasoning. Set aside for an hour or so.  Meanwhile halve the new potatoes and parboil then set aside.
• Step 2 Set up the BGE for direct cooking at around 180C.  Use a handleless sauté pan and bring to temperature. Fry the chorizo in rapeseed oil. Remove the chorizo and replace with the breasts of chicken, skin side down.  Cook without moving until around 80-90% cooked.  Turn the chicken and finish off the cook. Add the parboiled potatoes and sauté.
• Step 3 Remove the chicken from the pan when the core temperature hits 70C.  Wrap in foil and allow to rest to allow the core temperature to reach 74C.  Add the cooked chorizo to the potatoes as they finish being sautéd
• Step 4  Slice the chicken and serve with the spicy chorizo potatoes