One chicken multiplied three ways

What to do with the Sunday roast chicken when the fledglings have fled the nest and only Papa, Mama and Gran are left behind? I will tell you a story about one chicken which was transformed into three meals.

As always on a Sunday, Mama prepared the chicken lovingly, missing the days when the fledglings were still in the nest! She lathered the chicken with lemon juice and fresh herbs from the garden, and pushed the halved lemons into the cavity. Roast potatoes and the freshest green veggies completed the healthy Sunday lunch, but much of the large roast chicken was still untouched.

After lunch, Mama sat down at the table, flaked all the chicken meat off the carcass, and instead of keeping this for nibbles or sandwiches, she had the bright idea of using it for her famous Chicken & Mushroom Pie, and the carcass would make a nourishing Chicken & Veg Soup. Mama sighed, happy that her Monday meal is already halfway done plus her plan of making a pot of soup from that one roast chicken! Meat and carcass went to the refrigerator to rest until the next day.

On Monday morning, Mama poured a little hot water into the roasting pan to extract all the lovely juices and goodness, which together with the carcass, would become the stock for her nourishing Chicken & Veg soup.
For her soup, she placed into a large pot: the chicken carcass, 1 cup of dried split peas, about 3 litres of water, cooked this until the split peas were soft. Next she placed the following vegetables into her food processor for chopping: 3 carrots, 2 potatoes, 1 onion, some leeks, celery & parsley, and added it to the stock. Mama added a few handfuls of pasta shapes and checked the seasoning, cooking it over a low to medium heat on the stove top for about another hour. Mushrooms were diced and added during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

This delicious nourishing soup is lovely served with Cheezy Corn Bread:
https://steemit.com/food/@lizelle/cheesy-corn-bread

Now Mama could tackle the Chicken & Mushroom Pie, to be served with the sweetest corn and baby cabbage.
All she needed for her pie was a punnet of Mushrooms, some spring onions, parsley and half an onion. She sautéed this all in a little butter, added the flaked chicken, and lastly a tin of cream of mushroom soup.

Mama spooned this into an ovenproof dish and quickly mixed her easy pie topping, which she poured on top of the filling:
For the topping, beat together: Half a cup Milk, Half a cup Oil, 1 Egg, Three quarter cup Self raising Flour, 1 teaspoon Baking Powder (not Baking Soda), Seasoning to taste
Mama baked this at 180 C for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Delicious and easy home baked chicken pie.


Hope Mama inspires you to bake your own version of chicken pie, you can make a spicy chicken filling and you could make a chicken and corn soup as an alternative.
Enjoy experimenting!