The recipe title comes from a restaurant visit in Las Vegas & a preference for half-chicken. The joke doesn’t really translate to cooking, but take my word for it – it was memorable and very humorous.

Honestly what is perfect about this recipe is you have a fully cooked chicken & stock when you finish! You can use the chicken for dinner or shred it for salads, sandwiches, or anything else and save it for later. Then the next day (or so) use the stock to make a great soup. I’m pretty sure you can find a great soup recipe on this site!

This recipe is directly inspired by Mark Bittman & his wonderful book How to Cook Everything.  This stock is lovely & light – both in color and flavor. Perfect for so many soups.  And the chicken literally falls apart when you remove it from the pot.  A simply delicious combination of foods.

Ingredients:

• 1 3-4 pound chicken, rinsed
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3-4 celery ribs, roughly chopped
• 4-5 sprigs of thyme or 1/2 t. dried thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 3-5 sprigs of fresh parsley
• 1 t. salt
• 3.5 qts of water

1. Add all ingredients to a stock pot before adding the water. Then add the water – just helps to be sure you have space in your stock pot and you make less of a mess.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil then lower the heat to a bare simmer. Partially cover the pot.
3. Cook for about 30-60 minutes until chicken is just cooked. This will depend greatly on the size of your chicken and speed of simmer. My plump organic chicken took about 45 minutes (and smelled delicious!).
4. When the chicken is cooked, strain out all the liquid. Allow to cool then refrigerate. After 1 day you can scrape off the fat that will have accumulated on top. Use or save for a few days. If you will not use the stock within 4-5 days then freeze.
5. Remove the chicken from the vegetables. Either cut up or shred meat. The chicken can be eaten hot or chilled then saved.