Gherkin chicken dishes recipes. Chicken gherkins - original recipes for delicious and unusual dishes

Young broilers got their name not from their small size, but from the English name Cornish chicken. The meat of this bird is tender and juicy. And based on size and weight, they can be served at the rate of one chicken per serving.

Chicken gherkin is baked in the oven in half an hour and does not require any effort on the part of the housewife. Such chickens, served on a large platter for a festive table, look impressive. Even spoiled gourmets will enjoy their aroma and taste.

This is a simple recipe, but the results are always excellent.

Ingredients:

• gherkins – 2 pcs.;
• garlic – 5-6 cloves;
• rosemary – 6 pcs.;
• butter – 50 gr.;
• salt pepper.

Preparation:

1. Rinse the chicken carcasses and pat dry with a towel.
2. Rub them with salt and pepper inside and out.
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add a couple of sprigs of rosemary and two cloves of garlic. It is better to crush the garlic with the back of a knife so that it releases its aroma faster.
4. Lubricate the carcasses with flavored oil inside and out.
5. Place the remaining garlic and sprigs of herbs inside each chicken.
6. Tie the legs so that the carcasses retain their beautiful shape.
7. Place the pan with the chickens in a very hot oven for half an hour.
8. You can periodically take out the baking sheet and pour the juice over the carcasses to get a beautiful and crispy crust.
9. Remove the mold and remove the strings from the legs.
10. Place the finished gherkins on a plate; you can place boiled potatoes or fresh vegetables along the edge.

Small chickens are prepared one for each guest.

Stuffed chicken gherkin in the oven

Cooking chicken gherkin in the oven with stuffing will allow you not to think about the side dish. After all, this is a complete dinner with meat and rice with vegetables.

Ingredients:

• gherkins – 2 pcs.;
• pumpkin –100 gr.;
• rice – 100 gr.;
• soy sauce – 60 gr.;
• honey – 1 tbsp;
• mustard – 2 tsp;
• tangerine – 1 pc.;
• salt, spices.

Preparation:

1. In a cup, mix soy sauce, honey, mustard and tangerine juice. Add spices to your taste. It can be a mixture of Provençal herbs or curry. You can add dried garlic and ginger. Focus on your preferences.
2. Coat the prepared chicken carcasses with half of this mixture.
3. Cook the rice and mix it with pumpkin pieces.
4. You can use any vegetables instead of pumpkin. Mushrooms and onions are perfect.
5. Pour the remaining marinade into the rice and pumpkin mixture, add herbs and spices as desired.
6. Stir and stuff your gherkins with this mixture.
7. Tie the legs, place them in a suitable form, after greasing it with oil.
8. Place in a preheated oven for half an hour.
9. This dish is best served in portions, making a cut so that the filling can be easily removed with a fork.

Ingredients:

• gherkins – 2 pcs.;
• lemon – 1 pc.;
• garlic – 2-3 cloves;
• soy sauce – 30 gr.;
• olive oil – 2 tbsp;
• salt, spices.

Preparation:

1. Mix lemon juice, soy sauce and olive oil in a cup. Press the garlic and add chicken spices.
2. Coat the washed chickens with this marinade and leave in a cool place for an hour.
3. Place the carcasses in a baking sleeve and secure the ends. Place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake the gherkins in a very hot oven for about half an hour.
5. Ten minutes before cooking, cut open the bag to allow the chicken to brown.
6. Serve with vegetable salad, or prepare a side dish of your choice.

Such aromatic and juicy chicken can be prepared for lunch on a weekend, or served as a hot dish for a holiday.

Chicken gherkin in the oven with buckwheat

In Rus' it was customary to stuff piglets and geese with this filling. Why not cook chicken this way! salt, spices.

Preparation:

1. Coat the prepared chicken carcasses with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
2. Set aside.
3. Cook the buckwheat.
4. Chop champignons or wild mushrooms and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown.
5. Peel the onion, chop and fry in a separate frying pan.
6. Mix mushrooms, onions and buckwheat. Add salt and spices if desired.
7. Pack the chicken carcasses tightly with this mixture.
8. Place on a baking sheet and bake until done.
9. The buckwheat will be soaked in the juices of the chickens and will become a juicy and aromatic side dish for the gherkins.

When serving, you can sprinkle the dish with fresh herbs.

Cooking gherkin chicken in the oven with a golden brown crust and juicy tender meat is quick and easy. This dish will be highly appreciated by all your guests. Bon appetit!

Do you want to surprise your guests with an unusual and tasty recipe, but don’t want to spend a lot of time fiddling around with cooking and preparing the ingredients? The recipe for chicken gherkins will in this case become a real lifesaver for a busy housewife. Agree that chicken from the oven can be tastier. Appetizing and flavorful chickens cook very quickly. You can use a wide variety of options as a side dish: boiled white rice, baked potatoes, fried champignons, fresh vegetable salad, etc.

These little birds will look simply gorgeous on the holiday table. In this case, you will not need to cut portions for each guest. One small chicken carcass - one serving. This is enough to fill you up. Low in calories and very tasty. The big advantage of this dish is that it cooks much faster than adult chicken meat. And there will be no problems with buying chickens; they can be found in any supermarket. Small size chicken delicacies are also sold at farmers markets, where it is preferable to buy them.

Preparing a small carcass

Gherkin chickens, the recipe for which we will discuss today, are very important to prepare correctly. A small carcass must be plucked and singed, if necessary. Rinse the meat thoroughly in cold water and then dry with a paper towel. To prevent the legs from burning, they can be tied with twine. We fold the wings behind our backs so that they do not get in the way when placing them on a baking sheet. In addition, properly folded wings will not burn.

Marinades

Most recipes for preparing gherkin chicken involve pre-marinating. There are several options from which you can choose the one that suits you, your refrigerator and set of products:

• A spoonful of soy sauce, a spoonful of olive oil, half a spoonful of spicy adjika.
• Mayonnaise, finely chopped fresh parsley, hot chili pepper (with or without seeds).
• Berry syrup.
• Olive oil, four crushed cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt.
• Seasoning for chicken, pepper, chopped garlic, salt, sour cream.

Place the gherkin chickens (recipes with photos show how beautiful the dish will turn out) on a cutting board, coat them well outside and inside with the chosen marinade. Leave the carcasses for 15-25 minutes.

Side dishes

It is very important to decide in advance on the type of side dish. If it is rice or, say, buckwheat porridge, then the little chickens will go into the oven all alone. But if potatoes are chosen as a side dish, then you should first peel them, cut them into even slices and spread them over the entire surface of the baking sheet. This will be a kind of bed or blanket for the gherkin chicks. The recipe allows for other vegetables to be used instead of potatoes, for example, zucchini, sweet bell peppers, eggplants, etc. The main thing is that the cooking time for the vegetables is approximately the same as the cooking time for the chicken.

If potato tubers are chosen as a side dish, then a thin layer of champignons and onions can be placed on top of them. At the final stage of preparation, gherkin carcasses are unloaded onto all layers.

If you look at popular photos of recipes for chicken gherkins in the oven, you can see that the dish is made even on a regular grill. Of course, this is only if the side dish is not prepared at the same time as the main product. After all the ingredients are placed on a baking sheet, put it in the oven for 55-65 minutes. The temperature in the cabinet should reach 200 degrees. Experienced housewives advise periodically opening the oven and pouring juice over small carcasses, which will release in large quantities. It is thanks to this manipulation that the chickens ultimately acquire an appetizing, ruddy and even “tan.”

Innings

How does the chicken gherkin recipe recommend serving the dish? As they say, there is no limit to culinary imagination. One housewife will place a large green lettuce leaf on a plate, place a chicken carcass on it, and serve the side dish in a separate bowl. The other, on the contrary, will prefer to put the main dish on a side dish base. The two serving options combine a large amount of fresh herbs and a delicious sauce. This can be regular mayonnaise mixed with chopped garlic, or a complex multi-ingredient sauce. Although, to be honest, chicken gherkins are delicious on their own, even without side dishes and sauces.

Previously, you could often find French coquelet chickens (cockerel) weighing 600-650 grams on sale in the frozen department. But lately, domestic small chickens, our so-called gherkins, from 550 to 700 grams, have begun to appear more and more often on store shelves, I have never seen anything smaller. Sometimes it is very convenient to cook such chickens, because one piece will be enough for a serving, that is, for one person. Those who like to dig into bones will especially enjoy it.

When cooked, the chickens turn out very tasty, and thanks to a simple technique, they are also very juicy. In general, there are only advantages, not counting only the price, which for some reason is unreasonably overpriced, in my opinion.

We will prepare the ingredients for cooking gherkin chicken in the oven according to the list. Remove the chicken from the package and rinse under running water. As a rule, they are always clean; there is no need to additionally remove feather residues or resin fluff.

Also wash the thyme and peeled garlic.

Pour one and a half liters of lukewarm water into a deep bowl, add salt and sugar, dissolve them completely.

Place the chicken in the cooled brine and leave in it for about 30 minutes. Due to this, the meat of the small chicken will remain juicy during baking, especially the breast, which dries out instantly in the oven.

Now remove the cockerel from the brine, let the water drain, and place it in the smallest baking dish. Tie the legs with natural twine or kitchen twine, and sprinkle the meat, inside and out, with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Now coarsely chop a clove of garlic, tear off the thyme sprigs, and place in a bowl. Add a tablespoon of high-quality butter to them and put them in the microwave for a minute.

Using a silicone brush, brush the skin of the chicken with aromatic oil, then place the gherkin chicken in the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, for 30-40 minutes. Continue to lubricate the skin with the remaining oil from time to time. After a while, make a puncture with something sharp on the thigh or chest. If the juice comes out absolutely clean and clear, the chicken is ready.

The size of the finished cockerel is clearly visible against the background of forks and on a regular dinner dish. It really turned out to be one serving, because after removing the bones, there was, I think, about 300 grams of clean meat left, maybe a little more. But the cockerel is really very tasty and juicy, perhaps also due to the cooking method.

In some countries, these chickens are especially popular; they are served several at a time on a large platter - each with a whole cockerel. Have a nice one.

The word gherkin itself is defined by the free encyclopedia Wikipedia as the name of certain groups of plants of small-fruited varieties of the type of seed cucumber and their small-sized fruits, which are removed before full ripening and then used for canning.

It is this term that has been successfully transferred to small chickens, whose weight starts at 350 grams. Most likely, the term was originally applied by poultry farms to broiler carcasses that were slaughtered prematurely, since in the hot season the birds grow very poorly. Thus, representatives of poultry farms got rid of undergrowth by miraculously transforming them into so-called gherkin chickens. As a rule, at 39-42 days the broiler reaches a weight of 2.2-2.6 kilograms.

After this, the term gherkin chickens was picked up by private poultry producers, receiving a new qualitative development. And the production of gherkin chickens itself has reached a completely new qualitative level.

In contrast to the low-quality producers mentioned above, representatives of farms and private plots have a completely different level of quality. If in factories chickens are raised using traditional technology, using antibiotics and feed that stimulate accelerated weight gain, then on farms the young birds are kept in semi-free range. It is this condition that guarantees completely different taste qualities of gherkin chickens.

Gherkin chicken meat is tender and juicy. In addition, it contains a small amount of fat, and therefore is recommended for inclusion in children's menus and for preparing dietary dishes. Chicken gherkins are ideal for frying, boiling, stewing or baking. The taste and aroma of first courses prepared using this product are incomparable. When prepared, gherkin chicken meat has a truly delicate taste.

The semi-finished product has valuable nutritional properties due to the content of healthy natural animal protein. In addition, gherkin chickens are great for both people who have health problems and those who are used to leading an active lifestyle. Such meat is also indispensable for the dietary diet of people, the use of which is caused by such ailments as hypertension and diabetes.

Calorie content of Chicken gherkins 139.7 kcal.

Energy value of the product Chicken gherkins (Ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates):

Proteins: 18.7 g (~75 kcal)
Fat: 7 g (~63 kcal)
Carbohydrates: 0.5 g (~2 kcal)

Energy ratio (b|w|y): 54%|45%|1%

On store shelves you can find an unusual type of bird that resembles a quail - the gherkin chicken. But it is only related to the quail by its small size.

The gherkin is not as bony, fattier and is a small broiler carcass. More expensive farm gherkins are free-range and therefore have less fat.

Miniature chickens have the same nutritional properties as regular boiler chicken, but their meat is more tender.

Therefore, the calorie content of gherkin chickens is high - 139.7 kcal (plus or minus 10 kcal). This is due to the peculiarities of keeping and fattening.

Important! Gherkin chicken meat is non-dietary. It is purchased as a delicacy.

Recipes

After purchasing several miniature carcasses, you need to think about which chicken recipes are best suited. If you need to quickly prepare something for dinner, then baking gherkin chickens in the oven is suitable.

For taste, it is recommended to add garlic and rosemary. The secret to getting rosemary chicken right is making a special sauce. Crushed garlic and rosemary sprigs are added to the melted butter, which is poured over the chicken before going into the oven.

Important! To ensure that the carcass looks perfect when serving, don’t forget to tie the chicken’s legs before putting them in the oven.

Method 1: If you have some time, coat the chicken in spices or honey. A wonderful flavor combination is honey and black pepper. This mixture provides the carcass with a golden crust, and sweet-spicy notes appear in the taste.

Method 2: While waiting for guests, you can prepare stuffed chicken gherkins. Stuff the carcasses with apples, rice or caramelized vegetables.

Method 3: An exquisite dish of French gastronomy is suitable for the holiday - Provencal chicken gherkins. To prepare such a dish, you will need dry white wine, which, together with thyme, will give the meat a piquant taste and aroma.

What is a gherkin chicken

There are two versions regarding the origin of the name of these miniature chickens:

1. The name comes from the French word cornichon, which refers to small-fruited cucumbers. The name focuses on the small size of the chicken carcass. The weight of a gherkin chicken is only 350–600 g, while a regular broiler weighs 2.2–2.5 kg. One medium-sized frying pan fits three gherkin chickens at once.
2. The name comes from the phrase Cornish hen, which literally means Cornish chicken.

How do gherkin birds appear on supermarket shelves? They are mainly supplied by poultry farms. The period of growing a broiler is 39–42 days.

At first, poultry farms sold unfinished chickens due to forced slaughter. But given the interest of buyers in the product, a new direction has emerged - the deliberate supply of mini-chickens, which were served as a premium product. They cost more than conventional boilers.

You can buy such a chicken from farmers. They are grown on pasture, so farm gherkins are not so fatty and have different taste properties. Unlike soupy farm chickens, they are more tender.

It is worth considering that a gherkin carcass, despite its miniature size, can be large for one serving, and sauces will add calories. If you prefer serving portioned, you can serve these chickens in halves. But many guests will not refuse a whole gherkin weighing 350–400 g. You can also place the carcasses on a common dish: they will look simply luxurious.