Taste: Think outside the box

Article by: RICK NELSON , Star Tribune
Updated: March 26, 2008 - 4:43 PM

...from a humble rotisserie chicken ... four local chefs offer inspiration... ...to an elegant entree

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The rotisserie at Red Rock Canyon Grill in Wichita, Kansas. (WI) NC KD 2002 (Horiz)

Photo: Jaime Oppenheimer, Krt

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Go ahead. Buy that rotisserie chicken, the supermarket staple that smells so delicious and practically screams "Dinner in five minutes." And don't feel guilty about it, because you'll be in good company. If a $7.99 roasted chicken passes muster for a passel of Twin Cities chefs, then it's good enough for your dinner table, too.

"On my days off, the last thing I want to do is cook," said Sameh Wadi, chef/co-owner of Saffron in Minneapolis. "I do crave roasted chicken, so I buy it more often than I would probably like to admit."

The next time you succumb to Roasted Chicken Fallback, do something with it that goes beyond carving it and passing it off as your own. We asked four Minneapolis chefs: Wadi, Lisa Carlson of Spoonriver, Scott Pampuch of Corner Table and Ricardo Saltos of Brasa -- to create easy-to-make dishes that thrust no-fuss roasted chicken into the spotlight. Nothing requires a huge time commitment and all yield a big-time payoff in flavor: a pretty salad, a hearty rice dish, a North African spin on chicken pot pie and a sandwich-appetizer two-fer.

Just be careful. "When I buy a roasted chicken, I'm usually so hungry that I end up just ripping the breast off and eating it right there," said Carlson with a laugh. "That's why I have to keep it simple, or I run out of chicken."

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