Part #1 of 3: You can afford Pasture-Raised Chicken to Feed Your Family a Nutritious Dinner!
You and I are different them a lot of people in the world - we take extra steps knowing about the food we put in our families bodies.
We go the extra mile for our families. We cook from scratch as opposed to settling for packaged foods from the grocery store, or getting takeout. We are meal planners, thinking ahead for not only to tonight’s dinner but what dinner will be in days, and even weeks ahead.
You and I both work so hard to make the BEST decisions when it comes to feeding our families!
But there are times when our food dollars limit us on our options so our families eat well, even when we are already sacrificing other things in our lives to allow for extra food money.
I want to show you some fun, creative ways to use the most economical choice in purchasing pasture-raised chicken. Don’t worry, it’s not innards (although VERY healthy for you - that’s for a later blog), I am talking about a whole chicken!
Hear me out… the most popular cut of our chicken is the boneless breasts! Due to the extra processing needed to remove the breast from the chicken it has added costs. I am going to show you what to with more meat which includes your beloved breast meat for less money (roughly saving you more than 60% the cost for the same amount of boneless breasts)!
In this 3-part series I will focus on the economical, useful, easy to prepare, whole chicken!
You may be taken out of your comfort zone, but fear not, I will help every step of the way. In Part #1 I am going to start easy and show you how to go beyond your everyday roasted chicken! You are gonna wow your family and guests with this!!
So, have you ever Spatchcocked a chicken? It’s nothing dirty, I promise! LOL!!
You can do this! It’s easy peasy! Spatchcock according to the dictionary simply means to open, split and grill/cook a whole chicken. Here is a video where I show you exactly how to spatchcock a chicken.
The fun thing about spatchcocking besides saying it is you’re able to cook your chicken the same method as you normally do, the only difference is it will cook much faster being laid out flat.
If you’re feeling fancy, you can use a heavy oven-safe dish and lay it on the chicken to help speed the cooking along even more - it also makes for a cool presentation of the chicken when it’s flattened.
Here is one of my favorite recipes for Spatchcock chicken.
Ina Garten’s Tuscan Chicken Recipe:
1 FreshORR Family Farms chicken, spatchcocked
1/2 cup olive oil (I don’t typically use lard for a marinade)
3 teaspoons grated lemon zest (3 lemons)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, halved
Directions:
Combine the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and 2 teaspoons pepper in a small measuring cup.
Place the chicken in a ceramic or glass dish just large enough to hold it flat. Pour the lemon marinade over the chicken, turning it in the dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Turn the chicken 2 or 3 times while marinating.
When ready to grill, prepare a hot charcoal fire on 1 side of a grill (or turn a gas grill on low heat). Spread 1/4 of the coals across the other side of the grill. Place the chicken on the cooler side, skin side up, and weigh it down with the dish you used for marinating. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until the underside is golden brown. Turn the chicken skin side down, weight again with the dish, and cook for another 20 to 5 minutes, until the skin is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through.
Place the lemon halves on the cool side of the grill, cut side down for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Remove the chicken to a plate or cutting board, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
Cut in quarters, sprinkle with salt, and serve with the grilled lemon halves.
See! You can feed your family a delicious, pasture-raised chicken in a cost effective way and not sacrifice your favorite part of the chicken! We’d love to help you put dinner on the table tonight - try a whole chicken and see for yourself. Click here to place your chicken order.
I am so excited to see you soon at our Farm-Store! Until then may God be with you and bless you! ~Gina