Lunch 2025

[blue_dolphin]

I followed the recipe for Swordfish Cavatappi with Cherry Tomatoes, Mint, and Fresh Chiles from How to Cook the Finest Things in the Sea by Ari Kolender except with a different pasta shape.  The sauce is a puttanesca-like flavor bomb with anchovies,  onion, fennel, garlic, capers, olives and plenty of fresh herbs.  
The recipe is available online here.

[Smithy]

You'll have to use your imagination for this one. That's a come-down from @blue_dolphin's post immediately before this one, so if you're of the sensitive sort then just switch to another page.

 

I've been noshing on a rotisserie chicken from my favorite grocery store for a few days. Today I'm home, so I stripped the remaining meat from the carcass, chopped it with a bunch of basil leaves, and mixed in mayonnaise. Here's a sample:

 

 

Now. Imagine that atop the sliced and toasted halves of a ciabatta bun, then topped with chopped Campari tomatoes and baby spring greens. You'll have to just imagine that, because it's already gone.

 

Pretty darned good. Pretty darned easy. And the carcass has joined the other chicken bones I've been saving, and they're all in the Instant Pot being pressure cooked for broth. I was out of broth. I won't be.

[Shel_B]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

@Smithy[...] And the carcass has joined the other chicken bones I've been saving, and they're all in the Instant Pot being pressure cooked for broth. I was out of broth. I won't be.

 

Quite a few times over the past decade, Sweetie and I (mostly Sweetie) have made stock from leftover rotisserie chicken. The result has always been too salty for me, but Sweetie found it acceptable for her taste. I'd make the stock for her when I had a rotisserie chicken (always from Costco) ...

 

Now, with the Instant Pot, I tried making "carcass stock" a few times, and saltiness was still a problem.  I stopped adding the skin, started adding fresh chicken, and cooked it longer in larger quantities of water. That helped tone down the saltiness to an acceptable level, but it still minimized the choices for which I'd use the stock.

 

So, how have you dealt with the saltiness, or has it even been an issue for you? How do you prepare and cook the bones? I'd like to get more use from the bones.

[Kerala]

I'm in Norfolk on the coast this weekend.

Bit of a splurge at Gurneys Fish Shop. 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Shel_B said:

 

Quite a few times over the past decade, Sweetie and I (mostly Sweetie) have made stock from leftover rotisserie chicken. The result has always been too salty for me, but Sweetie found it acceptable for her taste. I'd make the stock for her when I had a rotisserie chicken (always from Costco) ...

 

Now, with the Instant Pot, I tried making "carcass stock" a few times, and saltiness was still a problem.  I stopped adding the skin, started adding fresh chicken, and cooked it longer in larger quantities of water. That helped tone down the saltiness to an acceptable level, but it still minimized the choices for which I'd use the stock.

 

So, how have you dealt with the saltiness, or has it even been an issue for you? How do you prepare and cook the bones? I'd like to get more use from the bones.

 

I must be in Sweetie's erstwhile camp. I've never felt that the stock made from the carcasses was too salty. Granted, I don't usually put the skin in (because I've already eaten it, or shared it with my dog). I'm a bit surprised that skinless carcasses still produce too salty a stock for you; most of that salt should be in the skin, or the meat that was already taken from the carcass. Granted, in my case the wing tips and joint cartilege go into the pot; maybe there's some residual salt there?

 

As for what I do: it's pretty pedestrian these days. Pull the meat off the bones; break the bones at the joints so they'll fit more compactly in the pot (this includes breaking up the breastbone and the spine); cover with water; pressure cook for 50 minutes. I haven't bothered with any aromatics the last few times I've done this. Then, if I've used the IP as I did this time and had the carcass in a basket, I just pull the basket out, drain the juices into the rest of the stock, and simmer the stock to intensify it a bit. Right now, after 4 hours of sitting in an open pot on the Slow Cook mode, I'm still looking at around 4 quarts of stock. I could probably boil it down more, but this will do for my purposes.