What to do with leftover chicken

[jgm]

Okay, I ate at a restaurant last night, and brought home a lovely chicken breast. It was left over from a wonderful dish called "Chicken Milanese", described as chicken "sauteed in olive oil, roasted garlic, mushrooms and artichokes; finished in white wine and lemon sauce." (I brought home only the chicken.) It was served with smashed red potatoes, asparagus and broccoli; the sauce was so good I was willing to eat all of the broccoli after dipping it in the sauce. I normally am way beyond bored with steamed broccoli and rarely touch it.

Normal behavior for me would be to heat it up and eat it as is, with various vegetables and potatoes. This time, I'd like to do something different, but I have no clue.

Please give me some ideas on what I can do with it that will allow me to stretch my thinking a bit. If I use it with pasta, what else to put with it? Or in a sandwich? Ideas, anybody?

[Daniel]

I think this is a perfect oppurtunity for you to look for a Chicken Milanese recipe.. If you look around the net you will run into several recipes for this dish..

As for the chicken, perhaps you can cook up some brocoli rabe or spinach, or some type of bitter green with garlic and olive oil.. Heat a pan of olive oil and add chopped garlic and cook at a low temp.. Then add the slighty steamed Greens.. Even artichokes and mushrooms too.. You could also if you made the lemon,butter white wine sauce you can cook the greens in that instead..

Heat the chicken a little in the oven.. Take the chicken out, put a layer of spinach, put a piece of ham down, then some mozzarella or sharp provolone.. Broil until the cheese melts..Put on a roll.. And thats an awesome sandwich!

You could make a pizza dough and do the same recipe above as a pizza.. Chicken spinach,artichoke,mushroom, mozzarella pizza..

You could make a Chicken Salad.. Use spinach leaves, the chicken, and make a lemon vinegreatte.. Could add marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms..

Edit to add:

You could take that pizza and fold it closed. Now you have a chicken Calzone..

Edited December 14, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

These are some of our favorites for using leftover chicken: chicken fried rice, quesadillas w/mozzerella (borrowing from Daniel), sesame noodles with shredded chicken, stir fry them with green beans, asparagus (not in season, but just an idea) or other vegetables, add them to black bean soup, make an omelet or egg foo young (add a bit of frozen peas, a bit of soy sauce, sesame oil). This way, you can stretch out a little piece(?) of chicken into an entire meal.

[Chufi]

I'd make chicken turnovers / pastries.

Diced chicken, panfried mushrooms and some buttered leeks mixed together with a little cream to bind. Maybe season with a little fresh thyme or rosemary.

Put in puff pastry or shortcrust pastry circles or squares, brush with beaten egg to glaze, and bake.

If the breast is very large, you could use the same ingredients to make a small chicken pie.

[gini]

I just had this issue last night! This is what I did:

Make a white wine risotto as you would normally.

Meanwhile, sautee 2 yams that have been thinly sliced into half moons in a whole bunch of sage, ginger and butter (15 minutes).

Dice your chicken and add to the risotto as it is just about to be done. Add most of the yams to this mixture.

Stir in some reggiano parmagiano or romano or....

Spoon into heated bowls and decorate with a few of the crispier yam slices and some fried sage leaves.

ETC: "lamp" to yam.

Edited December 14, 2005 by gini (log)

[jsolomon]

Blanch some torn kale for 2 minutes or so, drain, and toss with olive oil, garlic, and a bit of salt and pepper--keep warm.

Saute the chicken in some olive oil or butter--just enough to heat through and put a crust on the outside again.

put the chicken, and kale on a good piece of bread and top with that last bit of cranberry relish you've been wondering what to do something with.

Top with a second piece of good bread.

Sandwich--yeah.

Tasty--definitely.

[jgm]

This is incredible! THANK YOU for all of these ideas (and more are welcome)! I knew I'd get some good ideas in response, but I'm thrilled to have so many! And there isn't one that I read and think, "um... nah..." They all sound great.

Yes, Daniel, I will have to learn to make Chicken Milanese -- in ample proportions so that I can use the leftovers.

[Pontormo]

Still have the sauce, too?

Bitter cold in Kansas?

Heat up sauce with chicken, diced or torn into shreds. Add sauteed mushrooms, if desired.

Make a steamy, nourishing bowl of polenta, adding butter and Parmigiano with the final stirs of your wooden spoon.

Pour into a warm bowl and top with chicken and sauce and a bit more cheese.

On side, see Daniel's suggestion regarding bitter greens, or Jsolomon regarding kale, especially what some stores call "Dinosaur" kale & Italians, black cabbage (dark, bumpy leaves), slivered after stems are removed, boiled a few minutes, then drained and sauteed in olive oil with salt, a few red pepper flakes and slivers of garlic.

Spinach, leaves still wet, is also good sauteed in olive oil with slivers of garlic and an anchovy fillet until the latter dissolves (vegetable will not taste fishy, just better).

Edited December 14, 2005 by Pontormo (log)

[Megan Blocker]

I just had this issue last night!    This is what I did:

Make a white wine risotto as you would normally. 

Meanwhile, sautee 2 yams that have been thinly sliced into half moons in a whole bunch of sage, ginger and butter (15 minutes).

Dice your chicken and add to the risotto as it is just about to be done.  Add most of the yams to this mixture. 

Stir in some reggiano parmagiano or romano or....

Spoon into heated bowls and decorate with a few of the crispier lamp slices and some fried sage leaves.

←

I do this all the time with leftover chicken - risotto, baby!

[tejon]

I love leftover chicken and plan for some almost every week (usually from a roast chicken of some sort). I make chimichangas with large tortillas, chicken, cilantro, salsa, cheese, and a bit of sour cream, then pan fried in a bit of oil until golden. I heat sliced green onions in oil until just tender, mix with shredded chicken and sesame oil, then serve over thick mung bean noodles, pouring soy sauce over all and topping with minced chiles and chopped peanuts. Shredded chicken goes into enchiladas and soups. It tops fresh pizza. Napped with sauce, it partners with any kind of pasta. The only real trick is to reheat or warm carefully so the chicken stays tender and flavorful, but beyond that the sky's the limit, really.

[annachan]

I like to put my leftover chicken in a pot pie. Just sautee up some vegetables (I usually use carrots, celery, onion, mushroom and potatoes), add some cream, chicken stock and chicken and cook until the sauce reduced and thickened, cool and put in a pie dish, top w/ pie dough or puff pastry and bake. Depending on how much leftover you have, you can make a large pie for the family or an individual one for yourself.

[helenjp]

Croquettes .

Make a thick bechamel and cook slowly (or transfer when thick to slow cooker) for much longer than you consider necessary, until every trace of raw flour taste has disappeared. Mix in seasonings and chopped cooked chicken, and allow to cool.

Cut into squares, flour/eggwash/crumbs and repeat process if necessary, then deepfry.

I used to hate chicken croquettes until I learned to cook the sauce so long.

[mizducky]

Inspired by the ongoing takikomi gohan topic, I have gotten fond of throwing some rice, leftover diced chicken, and other flavorful thises and thats as the spirit moves me, into my rice cooker and lettin' 'er rip. Really soothing comfort food on a chilly day. (Yes, it actually does get chilly in SoCal in the winter, though compared to other places I've lived it's still practically balmy...)

Edited December 15, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[Fat Guy]

I'll second Karen's chicken fried rice suggestion. This is especially useful if circumstances provide you with leftover chicken and leftover rice at the same time (fried rice comes out better if you use rice that has been drying out in the refrigerator for a couple of days). I make a pseudo Thai version with May Ploy brand curry paste, ginger, garlic and onions as the base, and to that I add the rice, maybe some frozen peas, maybe an egg, the chicken and whatever else is lying around.

My other favorite leftover chicken dish is chicken hash. Basically, you make home fries and, at the end, add diced chicken and a little cream. Serve with a poached egg on top.

[Jason Perlow]

Fried rice is a really good way to use up basically any leftover meat (roast pork or leftover steak is my favorite) or veggies that may be on the cusp of going off like bell peppers, celery, mushrooms, etc. Spruce it up with some fresh scallions, some canned pineapple, bean sprouts. A hit of fish sauce, cilantro and basil with a few squirts of Sriracha if you want to go the Southeast Asian route... I also like to keep Chinese sausage in the freezer, it adds a nice flavor to whatever else is in the dish. One link chopped up goes a long way.

As Steven says you need leftover white rice -- I always order extra white rice when I get Chinese food delivery just so I can have fried rice later on in the week. Alternatively, you can do the same thing with dried rice noodles or fresh egg noodles that you can buy at the Asian market and just par boil them, drain and throw them into the mix and stir fry.

For fried rice I like using a capful of dark soy to get that really good fried rice color with a bit of regular, whole bean soy sauce -- I like the Korean brands because they are cheaper than Japanese mardaizu and have no wheat or alcohol.

[maggiethecat]

I'm making Chicken and Dumplings with half a leftover roast chicken from Sunday night as we speak. Poach some veggies in the leftover gravy, thinned with stock, add the stripped chicken from the roast, top with Drop Biscuits from Joy.

Stick it in the oven for half an hour and use the time to address some Christmas cards.