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March’s Gourmet magazine had a great section – “Birds in Hand” about how to cook four meals with two chickens. I thought it looked like fun so I gave it a whirl.

The first step was to roast the chickens. Rather than their recipe that called for a lot of basting – I just went with last November’s technique of salting the chicken. This was a great family meal, a little gravy, roasted potatoes and some homemade stuffing. A big hit with the family. ( and salting the chicken is still a great technique). One meal down !

Next up – the cheesy chicken lasagne. First I sauteed mushrooms, and chicken. One change I added one onion to the mix – it seems criminal to saute mushrooms without onions.

Next up the cheese/flour/milk mixture. One change – I used an American swiss-gruyere cheese instead of pure gruyere and it worked out great. I think I miscalculated on the roux – I should have stirred more vigorously on adding the milk. Then I layered the lasagne and put it in the oven.

The flavour was great – but it came out a little runny ( perhaps my mistake with the roux?). The easy-bake noodles on top were also too crispy. On the whole quite good – worth trying again and making it great !

I’m planning to give the Leek and Pea risotto a whirl next – the stock is simmering right now. So my next post will be about my third meal with the chickens.