chicken sweet potato tacos w crispy shallots

I bought a whole chicken at the farmer's market this week and because it was a farmer's market chicken it still had it's neck so that was a thing. But apart from the neck - my experiment in doing something I am usually resistant to - ie, cutting up a whole chicken -  was a success.

I went to see Alice Waters speak at Bam this year around the time her memoir came out and she said that she can make three meals from a good farmer's market chicken and that (chef I forget the name of) could make five. I'm at two.

First, I cleaned and boiled the chicken with veggies to make the chicken soup with kale and carrots from Gwyneth's It's All Good. This cookbook has been on my shelf for years but is getting a dust off these days thanks to the ED.

After I removed the chicken from the pot I had to do what I had been dreading and cut the thing up, reserving the white meat for the soup and the dark meat for a later use. And guess what - it was not nearly as scary or hard as I thought! (Except for that neck thing). If our freezer wasn't currently overloaded with stock I might have tried to repurpose those bones again and be closer to Alice territory but oh well, something to aspire to.

The later use the dark meat found was last night's chicken and sweet potato tacos with crispy shallots. Adam came home, asked what was for dinner, I said tacos, he cheered, he saw a lack of tortillas and furrowed his brow. But we both enjoyed them as these are something I would definitely eat even not on the ED. Recipe below.

For the sweet potatoes -

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 shallot, thinly sliced

olive oil

s + p

Heat a swirl of olive oil over medium-low heat. When they are soft add the sweet potato pieces. Salt, pepper and stir. Cook for a few minutes. When they are starting to brown, add a splash or two or water, cover and turn the heat up to medium to steam cook them the rest of the way. They are done when you can easily pierce them with a fork. The shallots will crisp up while the sweet potatoes cook.

For the chicken -

leftover chicken, sliced and diced (dark or white meat will work)

.5 tsp garlic powder

.5 tsp oregano

1.5 tsp cumin

.5 tsp adobo seasoning

s + p

Heat a little less than one cup of water with all the spices in a fry pan over low heat. Stir and continue to cook until well mixed. Add the chicken. Stir. Cook, stirring occasionally until the water has evaporated.

To assemble -

butterhead lettuce leaves

avocado

chopped cilantro

lime

Fill a lettuce leaf with chicken, sweet potato and shallots. Top with avocado, cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!