Chicken Capri

Ricotta cheese...I could eat it by the spoonful. Throw a few herbs and some pepper in it, and it's a great celery dip. Slather it on anything, and "anything" just got 642% better tasting. Just get a spoon, and it's better than eating peanut butter out of the jar (mostly because peanut butter is DISGUSTING, moving on).

So chicken + tomatoes + cheese makes my stomach very happy. Plus, the leftovers are good for lunch the next day. It's a lazy blogger's dream come true!

Did I mention it's relatively healthy? Ok, you can forget I said that if you want, if that will make it taste better. Deception often makes my stomach happy. Like when I bite into a lentil dish at the Indian lunch buffet, only to discover that it's actually peas, and I have to curse myself because I was too impatient to take the time to read the labels above the food. Which is why I also burned my tongue when this came out of the oven (because of the impatience, not the peas, you can keep up if you try).

Chicken Capri

2 chicken breasts, sliced in half horizontally
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
garlic powder, to taste
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)
1/2 tsp oregano
fresh ground pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons diced tomatoes
4 slices Mozzarella cheese (except that I was out and used Muenster)

Heat olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold your chicken breasts. Add the chicken to the pan and season with garlic powder. Cook for a bout 5-6 minutes on each side, until they're just browning.



Aside: I picked up the trick of cutting the chicken breasts like this from my sister; I used to just hack them in half, but slicing them like this makes dinner-cooking go much faster.

Back to recipe-izing.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Mash (yes, mash, don't just mix) the ricotta, Parmesan, oregano and pepper together.



When the chicken breasts are ready, put them in a shallow casserole - I used my 11x7 pan and it was the perfect size.

Top each breast half with 1/4 of the ricotta mixture and spread out a little.



Top each piece with 1 Tbsp diced tomatoes - I used fire-roasted, because, really, have you tasted fire roasted tomatoes?



Bake for 10 minutes.

Top each piece with 1 slice of cheese.



Bake for about 5-6 minutes or until the cheese is melty and delicious and will burn the ever loving heck out of your tongue because you're too impatient to wait.

Saffron Chicken and Rice

Saffron. The most expensive spice in the world. I purchased my first little bit of extravagance a few months ago. The only thing I’ve ever cooked with saffron is bouillabaisse* – which I love and adore, but I haven’t been up to making it with reams of frozen seafood, much less trying to equal the taste of my sister’s dish.

*Where “cooked” = “drinking any kind of alcohol while my sister tends the pot".

So, having no clue what I wanted to cook with it, I told myself I’d look around and see what struck my fancy.

Apparently what struck my fancy was to put it in my newly-reorganized spice cabinet and forget all about it. Occasionally I’d remember as I shoved it out of the way to get to the red pepper flakes or the basil – I had left it in front of the cabinet so that it wouldn’t get lost. Genius, you have met your match.

Except for the fact that I still managed to forget about it.

Tonight’s menu was chicken and rice, and I relentlessly pawed through my spice cabinet looking for just the right flavors. I think I must have shoved the saffron out of the way at least 3 times before it leapt up, grabbed my by the eyeballs and threatened me with dismemberment.

I took the hint, Thank Goodness, because this is the best flavored chicken and rice I’ve ever made. Take that, Genius!

 

This is where a picture would be, if I hadn't let all my batteries go dead. I did, and there isn't. So just imagine a slightly smoky red (how many adjectives can I use for one dish?) skillet of chicken and rice. And a Very Happy Professor.

Saffron Chicken and Rice

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb chicken breasts
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ tsp sweet paprika
• ¾ cup rice
• 1 ½ cups veggie broth (or chicken broth, white wine, water or any combination of the above)
• A pinch of saffron threads

Heat olive oil in a skillet, and brown chicken on both sides. Remove from the pan.

Sauté onion and garlic in the skillet for about 3 minutes, until the onion softens.

Add paprika and stir til it’s all coated.

Add rice and stock to the pan. Bring to a boil.

Sprinkle in the saffron and return the chicken peaces.

Simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is done.

I was so excited about this that I didn't even cook vegetables with it. Come to think of it, some green beans or snow peas stirred in for the last 5 or 6 minutes would have been awesome. Or Broccoli, maybe, if you're into That Kind Of Thing. Whatever - it was awesome.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Indian food is my new addiction. I've always liked it, but there's now a restaurant much, much closer to my house. The Professor and I have been there 4 times in the past month - putting it ahead of my beloved local Margarita Makers.

And last year, my bis sis found herself in an Indian restaurant for the first time and called to ask what she should order. I don't remember much of the conversation (I was at a party and the wine was flowing), but I *do* remember what dish she had - Chicken Tikka Masala - because she couldn't stop talking about it.

Since it's also one of my favorites, we decided to try and make it while I vacationed at her place a couple of weeks ago (necessitating a trip to my favorite spice store). It was good - really good - so I tried it again this weekend, and Holy Spices, Batman am I getting close to a great recipe.

The major sticking point in my house is the heat level: We all know by now that The Professor doesn't like spicy foods; he does, however, love Indian food and is usually willing to over look a lot of heat. This time, I went a tad too far for him - although I thought it was dang near perfect. I solved this crisis of opinion by putting the yogurt next to his plate, letting him mix in more as he needed.

My next hurdle with this: I want to make it with lamb.

I started with this recipe from Tigers & Strawberries, and now I know to try more of her recipes in the future.

I made this with whole spices, but I think a good rule for using ground spices is: 1 Tbsp whole = 1 tsp ground.
This also makes about 6 servings - perfect for us, because the leftovers taste better than the original!


Chicken Tikka Masala

2 small onions
5 cloves garlic, finely minced
Seeds from 10 cardamom pods
1 tsp peppercorns
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp whole cumin
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp paprika
4 Tbsp butter, divided
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garam masala (optional, but I love it)
1 tbsp sweet paprika
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup yogurt
3/4 cup half & half
1-1/12 lbs chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

First, make your spice blend: Put the cardamom seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin and pepper flakes in a spice grinder and ... grind. Take a deep breath and enjoy the aroma that will soon be wafting through your kitchen. You can almost smell the picture:



Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a large skillet. Saute onions until they begin to caramelize.

Add garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Add your spice blend, ginger, garam masala (if using) and paprika.



Stir everything together until it's well combined. Take a deep breath. Or five. Let it all mix together in the skillet for a few minutes.

Add tomatoes and water and stir everything together. Turn your heat down and simmer for about 10-15 minutes - it will thicken up a little and reduce.



Whisk the yogurt into the sauce, then add the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter and the half and half, and whisk everything together.

When the sauce is simmering again, add the chicken pieces and let it simmer until they are completely cooked.(about 10 minutes).



Serve over rice, hopefully with some kind of bread to sop up all the sauce.

Cooking with Mama #2: RJ Chicken

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a little boy named RJ. We'll call him Randy Johnson. I babysat him and his older sister a time or two, our moms were great friends, and he played with my little brother. It seems like someone from our families was always crossing the street for something or other. And Randy would come to dinner.

And one day, my parents worked together in the kitchen and made some AWESOME chicken, which Randy Johnson was lucky enough to eat. He went home and told his mom all about it - it was grilled! With stuff on top! And Cheese! Oh, the cheese!"

"But Randy," his mom told him, "You don't like cheese."
"Well, I like it when Mr. M. grills it on top of the chicken!"

And so, every time this dish is cooked in one of various forms, my mom calls this Randy Johnson Chicken. Everyone in the world loves it. Well, except vegetarians. And we all lived happily ever after.

The End.



RJ Chicken:

3 pounds chicken breasts
bottled Italian dressing
2 medium yellow onions
1/2 pound whole mushrooms
sliced mozzarella cheese

Put the chicken breasts in a couple of large zip-top bags; pour in enough dressing to coat them. Toss and refrigerate for anywhere from a couple of hours to overnight.

If the weather isn't raining, windy or otherwise anti-grilling, fire up the grill. If that's not an option, get out a couple of skillets. Either way, brown the chicken on both sides.

While the chicken is cooking, sautè the onions and mushrooms - we do them separately, because some family members only want one or the other.

Line a baking sheet with foil. (I think my mom sprays it with cooking spray, but I was busy tossing cheese and macaroni around, and didn't pay attention). Put the chicken on the foil, top with mushrooms and/or onions, and top that with a slice of mozzarella cheese - feel free to tear it to make it a little larger than the chicken, but you want it to cover the yummy toppings so that it will melt and enfold them in cheese-y goodness.

Put in a preheated oven (350? 375? Should I really be writing a recipe when I don't know basics like oven temperatures??) and bake until the chicken is done, the cheese is melted, and you're picking caramelized onions off the pan every time you open the oven.

Italian Marinated Chicken Winges

Remember back in January when I made the glazy-yummy-teriyaki-y chicken wings? Well, I had bought a second pack of chicken wings and put them in the freezer for a night when my muse told me it was time to use them. Sunday night, my muse murmered that the time was coming, so I pulled them out of the freezer and moved them to the fridge.

Last night my muse - whom I should really get around to naming one of these days - got busy in the kitchen.

As I was flipping through the day's mail, she spied my spice rack. And the bottle of Italian Seasoning that I usually reach past to grab the oregano, basil, thyme, etc. And she realized that I was wasting about 3 ounces of perfectly good seasoning. Bad, Deborah!

This speaking-of-my-muse-in-the-third-person thing needs to end now.

So, in the spirit of not wasting things, I looked in my fridge to see what else I could find to throw together. I found a quarter of a bottle of white wine that's been open for about 2 weeks, the last bit of a bottle of lemon juice that needed to be used up, 1/2 of a red onion, and some garlic that told me if I didn't use it before I left town this weekend, it would sprout before I got back.

Dang it, now my garlic's talking to me? I preferred the muse.




Italian Marinated Chicken Wings


2 pounds chicken wings
1 1/4 cups dry (or just old) white wine
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 1/2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp butter (Divided, if necessary)
1/2 red onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Mix wine, lemon juice, garlic and italian seasoning together in a bowl. Put chicken in a bowl with a lid, pour marinade over the chicken, stir and cover.

Refrigerate overnight (it ended up being 24 hours here)

In a large skillet (you may need two), heat butter (divide in half if you need to use two skillets). Take chicken from marinade (but don't pour that yumminess out!) and brown on both sides in the skillet(s).

Remove chicken - leave any grease, drippings, whatever in the pan. Add onion and sautee. (you're gonna have to divide this on your own if you need to use two skillets) Add marinade and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stir.

At this point, I had planned on putting the chicken back in pan (I only used one), spooning some of the tomatoes and sauce over the top, coverering and cooking until done.

I ended up pouring the tomato/sauce/onion/stuff into another bowl, putting the chicken back in the pan and then pouring the tomato/sauce/onion/stuff over the top. And then cooking until it was done.

If you use chicken with bones in it, this will undboubtedly take longer than you think it should. But oh, how the meat will fall off those bones.

Serve over rice.
Save your bones for stock!

Notes:
I want to make this with bonesless chicken breasts and/or thighs - getting meat off of wings that are messy like this is a pain.

Chicken Tetrazzini: A living legend

I should have written this recipe before the carrots, because this is the dish that The Original Redhead planned her birthday meal around. But the carrots were easier. It’s ok, though, this was worth waiting for. I promise.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Ok, actually it was the early 90’s in Tennessee. But it seems long ago and far away.

Anyway, back in the day, whenever one of my friends had a birthday, I absolutely loved cooking for them. So for a couple of years, I’d hand them a few cookbooks, they’d pick a recipe or two and I’d cook and… well, that all sounds cool now that we’re 30. I can’t help but wonder how in the world we came up with the idea when we were 13. Obviously, we were ahead of our time.

Anyway, one unforgettable night, someone picked Chicken Tetrazzini. I’m pretty sure it was The Wee One, and I think it was the same birthday she chose the “Better Than Sex” recipe for her birthday cake. While both dishes have lived on in our memories for different reasons, The Original Redhead picked the chicken for her 30th birthday extravaganza.

I swapped a few veggies around to get a few of her more-favored vegetables in (and a few of her less-favored out). So this might not be a classic recipe.

But man, was it good. And the next morning? It was even better for breakfast.

What? You don’t eat chicken tetrazzini for breakfast? Get a life, man.



Chicken Tetrazzini

8 oz egg noodles, cooked
2 pounds chicken breasts, cooked and cut into 1" cubes ( see notes for vegetarian version)
4 Tbsp butter, divided
3 zucchini, cut into 1" pieces
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 Orange bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 Green bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup milk
1 can Cream of Celery soup
2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste (for me that's a couple of dashes of salt and plenty of pepper)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a large skillet; add vegetables and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, until veggies are beginning to soften.

In another skillet, melt remaining 2 tbsp of butter. Whisk in flour over medium-low heat. Add cream of celery soup and milk, and whisk until smooth. Add mustard, paprika, salt and pepper and whisk some more. Heat until it's just beginning to bubble.

In a large bowl, combine noodles, chicken, veggies and sauce. Pour into an appropriately sized casserole (2 1/2 quarts???).

Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until it looks done.
What, you wanted a scientific end point? Please. I was surrounded by my girlfriends and on my 2nd glass of wine by then.

Note: I made a vegetarian version as well, since The Bestest Friend Ever was there. Mix everything together except chicken - or put in some fake chicken breast strips - and put it in a separate casserole to bake.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

In addition to some other rather strong dislikes, I cannot abide barbecue sace. This goes hand in hand with my dislike of hot wings. I've tried vinegar sauces, tomato based sauces, sauces that seem to have nothing but pureed chili peppers. And I dislike them all.

But I love me some chicken wings.

So for the Superbowl (yeah, old news, but The Professor is still recovering from the loss of his beloved Patriots), I wanted some good wings. I couldn't let it rest with some kind of plain old chicken, though. Oh no. This girl has to go all out, and flavor stuff.

And by all out, I mean about 5 minutes worth of prep. I'm giving like that.

These are so incredibly easy. And thanks to the 4 pounds of wings I found on sale, they were unbelievably cheap. Which makes for a touchdown in my book.

{groan}

I know, it was a bad joke.




Teriyaki Chicken Wings

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
• 2 pounds chicken wings

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a small saucepan and simmer for five minutes.

Rinse chicken wings, pat dry, and put them in a gallon size zipper bag or a large sealable container. Pour marinade over wings, seal and refrigerate overnight. In the morning either turn the bag over or shake your container around (note: if I had thought about how much fun shaking some tupperware with marinating chicken in it would be, I would've gone this route). Refrigerate until ready to bake (in my case, about another 8 hours, for almost 24 hours of marinade time).

Preheat oven to 375.

Lightly grease a baking sheet and place wings on it.

Brush wings with the marinade and put them in the oven.

Boil the marinade.

Bake wings for about 30 minutes, basting every ten minutes or so, or until they are completely done.

Notes: My wings were huge. I only had 9 wings - but since only three of us eat meat, that meant three wings apiece, which was a very happy number.

Every time I basted the wings, I made sure to move them around a little so that they didn't stick too much. There's quite a bit of sugar in this, so they'll stick. And your pan will be very dark when you're done. So I think I'd recommend lining the pan with foil and putting a rack on it, then cooking the chicken on top of that. But I never do things the easy way the first time around, so I had a hell of a mess to clean up.

Chicken Pasta with Creamy Brie Sauce

I've been drooling over Presto Pasta Nights for so long now. Every week I get my fix, and this week I dare to join in...

I tried something new for dinner last night. I love creamy cheesy pasta sauces (I also love herby-tomatoey sauces, and simple olive oil, and rivers of vodka sauce…but we’ll focus on one addiction at a time). And last night, I wanted something other than parmesan or romano melted into my clog-your-arteries butter and cream creation. If I’m going to kill myself with fat content, I might as well do it with varying tastes of high fat content. Right?

Chicken Pasta with Brie Cream Sauce

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz pasta (I used penne)
2 Tbsp butter
1 green bell pepper, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Red pepper flakes
2 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Oregano
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup half and half
4 oz brie, rind cut off, cut as small as possible and divided
1 cup Italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cook pasta, drain and move to a large bowl.

Cook chicken completely and cut into cubes.

Add bell pepper strips and garlic to butter in the skillet and sauté for 5 minutes so they are crisp-tender. Stir in the red pepper, thyme and oregano and cook for another minute. Add it and the cubed chicken to pasta, making to sure to scrape the pan.

Add 2 Tbsp butter and chicken stock to skillet and melt; add cream and stir constantly until it starts to thicken. Add half of the brie and continue stirring. When the brie is melted and the sauce starts to thicken, turn off the heat and stir for another minute.


Pour sauce over the vegetables and pasta, and toss until everything is…well tossed.

Pour in a 2 quart casserole and top with bread crumbs and then the remaining brie. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the top starts making your mouth drool with it’s golden goodness.

Notes:
Next time, all of the brie is going in the sauce. It didn't melt very well on top.I used the same skillet for everything , and I didn't wipe it out between any of the steps, so that I could be sure and get all of the stuff that stuck to the pan when it was time to make the sauce.

The Professor claimed that this was too spicy, but as we all know by now, he's kind of a pansy when it comes to spicy foods (I love you honey!). It does have a little heat, so if you don't like that kind of thing, cut the red pepper flakes in half.

Be smarter than I was: remember to cut the rind off the brie before you start cutting it into itty bitty pieces.

I’m wondering how this would taste with smoked Gouda…???

Creamy Chicken Curry = YUM

I’ve had this whole chicken sitting in my fridge for a little over 48 hours now. I haven’t cut it up or anything. I was starting to think I should just name it. Then I realized how silly that was. And since I wasn’t even drinking at the time, I had no reasonable excuse to tell my husband I was going to be cooking up a piece or two of Ricardo for dinner.

Oh yes. The chicken is totally named Ricardo.

There was something specific my subconscious self wanted me to do with Ricardo. I’ve been craving something. Problem was, I didn’t know what. And when I caught myself looking at recipes with curry in them, I thought… maybe I’m craving some chicken curry? But that seemed way too obvious, so I moved on.

Then I got home from work, and saw the buttermilk sitting in my refrigerator. Why did I buy buttermilk? I don’t drink the stuff.

Hmm. ...

Chicken.
Curry.
Buttermilk.

I bet I can do something with that.

Now that I’ve mentioned how much I wanted to use curry powder a few times, I’ll go ahead and tell you: I used Penzey's Singapore Seasoning for this instead because, well… I LOVE their Singapore Seasoning. Since they have quite a few ingredients in common (coriander, cumin, garlic, onion, tumeric, ginger, cloves) I do NOT consider this cheating.

And my craving?
It’s gone.

• Olive oil
• 1 Whole chicken, cut into pieces (I removed the skin and most of the visible fat. Damn health concsciousness!) You can also just subsitute about 6 or 7 bone-in chicken thighs.
• 1 large Onion, chopped
• 3 small carrots, peeled and sliced
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp Whole mustard seeds
• 2 Tbsp Penzey's Singapore Seasoning Blend
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I think plain or greek yogurt would also work great)
• Basmati rice

In a large skillet (that you can cover with a lid) brown your chicken pieces in the olive oil; remove the chicken and add the carrots. After about 3 or 4 minutes, add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onion is crisp-tender. Add the ginger, mustard seeds and cumin. Cook until the mustard seeds "pop" - this is so much fun, that I hereby vow that I'm going to cook with my mustard seeds more often.

Add the tumeric and Singapore Seasoning powder, and stir your now very yellow concoction for about 2 minutes so that everything starts to meld. Is it a sign of my geekiness that I can't think of the word "meld" without thinking of Spock? And then getting a little turned on?

Add the chicken broth and buttermilk and stir some more, just until it begins to think about simmering. Put the chicken back in the skillet, cover, and simmer , stirring it every so often, for about 40 minutes or until the chicken is done (Harmful bacteria was not an ingredient in this recipe!).

When the chicken starts simmering, start cooking the basmati rice. If you're lucky they'll be finished at the same time. Serve the chicken over the rice. If you really want to treat yourself, make some naan to go with it, but...I was just too lazy today!

Chicken Paprikash. Kinda. Sorta. But not really.

I have a sneaking suspicion that when an actual chef goes into the kitchen to make a dish like, oh, say Chicken Paprikash, that:

A) He/She cuts the chicken up into beautiful, symmetrical pieces; OR
B) He/She doesn't accidentally throw the onions - that he/she just cried over while cutting - into the garbage bowl on the counter; OR
C) He/She doesn't forget to buy the damn sour cream; OR
D) He/She doesn't open the spice cabinet to find out that he/she doesn't really have enough paprika left to make what the damned dish is named after; OR

E) ALL OF THE ABOVE.

It's been a roller coaster of a week the past few days. Great family gathering. Disaster of an apple pie. Awesome Coconut Cream Dessert type thing. Major car repair bill.

So when I found a 3.76 pound chicken in the meat section of the grocery store marked down to less than $2, I decided it was time for a good, old-fashioned comforting type of chicken dinner. A whole chicken. Roasted? Cooked slow, definitely. Not too many ingredients. Easy, but filling.

And Chicken Paprikash was slow cooking, short on ingredients, easy and filling. But....well, see A through E above for what I didn't bargain for getting with this dish.

It ended up as a scrumpdidlyumptious meal, though, served over rice. With a very large glass of wine. For comfort. Not to mention for my mental state after balancing the checkbook with the car repairs thrown in.

Kinda Sorta Chicken Paprikash

3 1/2 pound whole chicken, cut into pieces (I froze the back and wings for stock)

• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil


• 2 white onions, chopped kinda big


• 1 red bell pepper, chopped kinda big


• 2 cloves of garlic, minced


• 1 cup chicken stock


• 1 Tbsp paprika


• 2 tsp pepper


• dash of salt


• 1/2 cup half and half

Brown the chicken thighs and breasts in a large oven proof pot. If your pots not ovenproof, you'll just have one more dish to clean later, because you'll have to find something to use in the oven.

Remove chicken from your pot, and set aside. Add the onions, bell pepper and garlic, and sautee for about 4 minutes. Remove these from the pot too. Pour the chicken broth in the pot, and - if you haven't already picked them out and eaten them (not that I would do that) scrape up all the yummy brown things from the bottom of the pan. Add the paprika, salt and pepper and give it a good stir. Pour the flavored broth over the onions and peppers. Put the chicken back in the skillet, and pour the broth, onions and peppers over the chicken. At this point, it didn't look like I had enough liquid - I wanted a lot of sauce later - so I poured another 1/2 cup of chicken broth over the whole she-bang. Put in a 300 degree oven for about an hour, making sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked before you remove it.

Take the chicken out of the pan, and strain out most of the onions and peppers, leaving the brothy heavenliness in the pan. If I had more paprika, I would have added it here. Add the half and half to the broth and stirring constantly, bring to a slow boil on top of the stove, letting it slightly thicken. Add the onions and peppers back in. Put the chicken back in the pot - if you're lucky, some of it has now fallen off the bones and is part of the sauce. Serve over rice.