Chicken chicken chicken, I'm a finger-lickin' winner

So, now that you have this giant bird that you've brined and roasted (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, check the archives for brining and roasting), what do you do with it?


The legs make great individual meals with a simple starch and veg. The picture at the top of this post is a chicken leg that I simply ripped off the bird with my hands 30 minutes after it came out of the oven (sounds kind of primal, doesn't it?) accompanied with some bacon Brussels sprouts and brown rice. Think you don't like Brussels sprouts? Try this recipe:

This is what you need: 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves, a sprig of fresh thyme, 3 thick pieces of bacon, a good chunk of butter and, of course, some Brussels sprouts. I'm not very keen on exact measurements unless I'm baking, hence the pictures. You'll need salt and pepper and cooking oil, too.

Get a pot of salted water boiling (about 1 1/2 T of salt should do) Meanwhile, chop the very bottoms off of the Brussels sprouts, then slice them in half. Once you've done this, throw them in your boiling water and blanch them just until they turn bright green. Have a bowl of iced water waiting for your sprouts. Once they turn bright green, drain the sprouts, then toss them into the iced water to make sure that you shock them into not cooking any further.



Now, chop your garlic, thyme, then start cutting your onion. Slice the top off, leaving the root intact. Then place it sliced side down, and cut the onion in half through the root. Pull the peel off, then slice each half fairly thinly, say 1/4 inch, keeping each slice about the same thickness. Next, chop the bacon into little pieces.

Heat 2 pans on medium heat. Throw the bacon in one, a little oil in the other. Heat the oil for a second, then add the onions. The bacon will render its own fat, so it doesn't need any extra lube. Let the onions cook for a bit, stirring them once in a while so that they don't burn. Cooking them slowly will caramelize the sugars. You want to cook the onions until it they are a nice, nutty brown. If things start to burn a bit, turn down the heat -- all stoves are different.

Almost done here, still need to get a bit darker.


The bacon needs to be stirred around, too. Once it gets close to crispy, pull it off the heat. It will continue to cook a bit in its own fat -- don't discard the fat, that's the good part! When both onions and bacon are done, combine and set aside.

Next, heat the butter up over medium-high heat in a heavy, large pan that is big enough to accommodate the Brussels. Let the butter get nice and brown without burning it -- brown butter tastes nutty and extra yummy. Then throw in your Brussels and the garlic. You don't have to stir them too much. In fact, letting them brown brings out a nice, toasty flavor.




Then add your onion and bacon mixture to your sprouts, along with the thyme. Let cook together for a bit, and salt and pepper to taste.

Yum.