Skillet Chicken With Artichokes and Asparagus
A car-camping one-pan dinner built on jarred artichokes and their brine, with foil-packet chicken standing in for the roast.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 48
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 60 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Foil-packet or canned chicken | 3 packets, about 7 oz each | drained if canned |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 1/4 cup | used in two halves |
| Dried shiitake mushrooms | 1 oz | sliced or in pieces |
| Marinated artichoke hearts | 1 jar, about 12 oz | quartered; keep the liquid |
| Artichoke marinade from the jar | 1/4 cup | |
| Water | 1/4 cup | plus a little more to soak the mushrooms |
| Cayenne | 1/4 tsp | |
| Freeze-dried asparagus | 1 cup | |
| Dried parsley | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Baguette or hard roll | 1 loaf | day one only |
Method
- Boil a little water and pour it over the dried mushrooms in a mug. Let them sit ten minutes, then squeeze them out. Keep the soaking water.
- Put half the oil in the skillet over the fire and fry the mushrooms until the edges brown, about five minutes.
- Add the rest of the oil, the artichokes, the marinade, 1/4 cup of water, the mushroom soaking water, and the cayenne. Let it bubble for two minutes.
- Stir in the freeze-dried asparagus and cover. Five minutes, until the spears bend instead of snapping.
- Flake in the chicken, warm it through, and take the pan off the heat. Salt, pepper, parsley.
- Tear the bread and use it to get the pan clean.
The original is a roast chicken in a hot oven, which is not a thing you have. What survives the translation is the pan sauce: artichoke brine, oil, and mushroom liquid reduced down until it coats everything. That sauce is the whole point, so the pickling liquid is not optional.
Dried mushrooms and freeze-dried asparagus rehydrate in the same pan and give back a lot of the water they took, so the added water stays low. Foil-packet chicken goes in last and only needs warming; cook it longer and it turns to string. Bread is a day-one item, and it is also your dish sponge.
Packing
Mushrooms, asparagus, parsley, cayenne, salt, and pepper go in one bag. The artichoke jar is the heavy item, so this is a cooler-cart or paddle-boat meal, not a backpacking one. Decant the oil into a leakproof bottle.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for two pouches of tuna and cut the cook time by five minutes.
- Skip the chicken entirely and stir in a cup of instant couscous with the asparagus. That drops the gluten-free option but makes it vegan.
- No jarred artichokes: use dried artichoke hearts and 1/4 cup of water plus a splash of vinegar in place of the brine.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/roast-chicken-with-spring-vegetables