I was a bit skeptical when I first came across this recipe for leftover half-chicken – it actually calls for leftover rotisserie chicken from the market, but I had a most excellent half Nigella’s chicken in the fridge, and I thought it might be a cool way to use the leftovers.
It was, and now I believe I may just make a chicken so I can then enjoy the leftovers!
INGREDIENTS
•1/2 grilled chicken, shredded
•1 orange, juiced
•1 lemon, juiced
•1 lime, juiced
•1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1/2 tsp Pepper-Orange Seasoning*
•1 sweet onion, sliced
•Cooking oil, butter, or duck fat
*Or, go ahead and use lemon pepper or plain black pepper.
Place the chicken pieces, the seasoned salt and orange pepper, in a gallon-sized zipper bag with the orange, lemon, and lime juice. Give ’em a good couple of tosses and squeezes to coat all of the chicken, then place in the fridge on a rimmed plate (to catch any drippage) for a couple of hours.
Note: as opposed to my more usual “more longer (overnight) is more better” mantra for marinades, this really is quite good after just a few hours, but try to give it at least one full hour before cooking.
I happen to have this little jar of duck fat in my freezer, leftover from a pan-fried duck dinner thing-y; but olive oil or butter will work fine if you are fresh out of duck fat.
Melt the fat/butter/heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, then add the onion and cook for about eight minutes, until the onion is tender.
Add the chicken along with the marinade and cook, stirring often, until the liquid has been cooked off and the chicken is a bit charred and crispity in places.
Give it a taste, you know you want to.
Oh. My. Google! This is so very good!
One could, I suppose, just stand over the pan and eat the chicken on its own, but really, there’s plenty to share, so why not go ahead and serve it with some rice and freshly sliced avocado and mebbe even some Cuban-style green beans with pancetta?
Ermmm, details on those beans to come, you’re gonna want to know about that.
Or, you could fold the whole shebang up into a tortilla or piece of flat bread and call it a meal to go; it really is all good.
And mebbe just sprinkle the whole deal with freshly chopped parsley or cilantro.
Yeh, I think that works.