DRUMSTICKS LITTLE ITALY STYLEServes 4 Do you know how to tell when rice is done? The aim of cooking rice is to have all the little starch granules inside each grain swell with water but not burst. You can tell that rice is undercooked if you pinch a grain and feel a hard or gritty core. You can tell that it's overcooked if you look at a grain closely and find that the edges are split and ragged. It's perfectly cooked if the grain is the same smooth shape as the uncooked grain, only puffed, swollen and soft.

1 cup chopped, canned tomatoes 3/4 cup long grain rice 1 cup chicken broth 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 medium onion, chopped 1 large clove garlic, crushed 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 5 roaster drumsticks Salt and ground pepper to taste 2 tablespoons or more minced, fresh parsley In a 3 quart microwave-safe utensil combine tomatoes and rice. Stir in broth and wine; add onion, garlic, thyme, and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap; microwave at high (100% power) 5 minutes. Arrange drumsticks over top of mixture, with meatiest portions to the outer edge of utensil. Re-cover with plastic wrap; microwave at HIGH (100% power) 5 minutes then at MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) 12 minutes per pound. Halfway through cooking time stir and turn drumsticks over. Re-cover and complete the cooking.

Let stand, covered 10 minutes before serving. Test for doneness after standing; juices should run clear with no hint of pink when drumstick is pierced. Season with salt and pepper. Add parsley to rice mixture for garnish.

OLIVE MICROWAVED CHICKENMakes 6 Drumsticks When you saw the t.i.tle of this recipe, did you hesitate because you were concerned that the calories in olives could wreck your diet? Not to worry! Olives are actually a fairly low calorie food, with the average one having only 4-5 calories. The largest jumbo olive has only 12 calories.

6 chicken drumsticks 1 cup slivered onion strips 1/2 cup slivered green pepper strips 1/2 cup thawed lemonade concentrate 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup sliced pimento-stuffed olives 1/4 cup sliced pitted ripe olives 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1 clove garlic, minced Remove and discard skin from drumsticks. In a 12 x 8-inch microwave-safe utensil, combine remaining ingredients; cover with plastic wrap. Microwave HIGH (100% power) 5 minutes, stirring once.

Turn drumsticks in sauce to coat. Arrange drumsticks in circular pattern in sauce with meatier portions toward outside of utensil. Cover with wax paper; microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) 10 minutes per pound. Halfway through cooking time, turn drumsticks and spoon sauce on top. Re-cover with wax paper; complete cooking. Let stand, covered, 10 minutes before serving.

PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH-COUNTRY DRUMSTICKSServes 2 When you're buying the apples for this recipe, you can tell which ones are Red Delicious by looking at the base of the apples. A Red Delicious always has five k.n.o.bs or points at the base.

5 roaster drumsticks Salt and ground pepper to taste 6 tablespoons b.u.t.ter or margarine, divided 1/2 cup apple juice (1/4 cup for microwave) 1 tablespoon soy sauce (1-1/2 teaspoons for microwave) 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly-packed (1/8 cup for microwave) 2 Red Delicious apples, peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges each 2 tablespoons sugar Conventional Method: Season drumsticks with salt and pepper. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons b.u.t.ter. Add drumsticks and brown for 4 to 5 minutes per side. In a measuring cup combine apple juice, soy sauce and brown sugar and pour over drumsticks. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Turn and simmer 25 minutes longer.

Ten minutes before end of cooking time, in another skillet, over medium-high heat, melt remaining b.u.t.ter. Add apple wedges and brown on one side. Sprinkle with sugar and turn. Brown other side. Transfer chicken to serving dish and top with apple wedges. Spoon sauce over top.

aMicrowave Oven: Place 2 tablespoons of b.u.t.ter in a 9-inch microwave-safe utensil. Microwave at HIGH (100% power) 40 seconds.

Combine 1/4 cup apple juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce and 1/8 cup firmly packed brown sugar with melted b.u.t.ter.

Place drumsticks in apple juice mixture and turn to coat well. Arrange drumsticks with meatiest portions toward outer edge of utensil. Cover with wax paper. Microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) 12 minutes per pound. Half way through cooking time turn drumsticks and spoon sauce over each. Re-cover and complete cooking. Let stand, covered, 5 to 10 minutes.

Place 2 tablespoons b.u.t.ter in a 2-quart microwave-safe utensil. Microwave at HIGH 40 seconds. Sprinkle b.u.t.ter with 2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar; stir. Place apple wedges in brown sugar mixture; toss gently to coat.

Microwave at HIGH 3 minutes, stir. Microwave an additional 3 minutes or until apples are tender. Transfer chicken to serving dish and top with apple wedges. Spoon sauce over top.

ROASTER THIGHS IN WINEServes 4 For the longest shelf life and the best flavor, don't wash the mushrooms called for in this recipe until just before using them. And don't soak them, just lightly mist them or wipe them with a damp paper towel. With soaking, they easily become waterlogged and lose some of their flavor.

4 roaster boneless thigh cutlets 4 strips uncooked bacon, diced 1 cup Burgundy or other dry, red wine 2 tablespoons cognac or brandy 16 small whole onions, peeled 8 ounces sliced, fresh mushrooms, 2 cups 3 tablespoons flour 2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley 1 bay leaf 1 1/2 teaspoons minced, fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried Cut thigh cutlets in half. In 3-quart microwave-safe utensil, place bacon; microwave at HIGH (100% power) until crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Combine wine and Cognac and add to utensil with remaining ingredients; stir well. Arrange thighs, with thicker portions toward outer edge, on top of vegetables. Cover with wax paper; microwave at HIGH 5 minutes.

Reduce power to MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) and cook 12 minutes per pound. Halfway through cooking time, stir vegetable mixture and turn cutlets over. Let stand, covered, 15 minutes before serving.

SPICY AFRICAN DRUMSTICKSServes 4 If you eliminate the crushed pepper in this recipe, it could be a dish children would love.

Be sure the peanuts you use in the recipe are fresh. Once a package has been opened, keep it in the refrigerator since peanuts rapidly go rancid. As an emergency first aid measure for peanuts that aren't as fresh as you wish they were, try this tip I got from a peanut farmer in Georgia.

Put the peanuts in a sieve and pour boiling water over them. The hot water will wash away some of the oils that are responsible for the off-flavor.

6 chicken drumsticks 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cup chopped onion 1 garlic clove, minced 1 can (16-ounces) tomato puree 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/4 cup peanut b.u.t.ter 1/4 cup chopped peanuts Remove and discard skin from drumsticks. In a 12 x 8-inch microwave-safe utensil, combine oil, onion and garlic.

Cover with plastic wrap; microwave at HIGH (100% power) 5 minutes or until onions are tender. Stir in tomato puree, salt and red pepper.

Arrange drumsticks in utensil with meatier portion toward outside; spoon tomato sauce over top. Cover with wax paper; microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) 10 minutes per pound. Halfway through cooking time, turn drumsticks over; re-cover with wax paper and microwave remaining time.

Remove drumsticks to serving platter; cover with foil and let stand 10 minutes. Stir peanut b.u.t.ter and peanuts into tomato sauce. Cover with plastic wrap; microwave at HIGH 2 minutes. To serve, spoon sauce over drumsticks.

CORNUCOPIA STUFFED ROASTERServes 8 A roaster stuffed with vegetables and rice is a tasty meal in one dish. The stuffing doesn't increase the cooking time, which is about one hour less in a microwave than required for conventional roasting.

1 whole roaster (about 6 pounds) 1/4 cup hot water 1/4 cup b.u.t.ter or margarine 1 cup frozen peas and carrots 1 1/2 cups cooked rice 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1 teaspoon salt or to taste Browning spray (optional) Remove giblets. In a 1-cup gla.s.s measuring cup, place water and b.u.t.ter; microwave at HIGH (100% power) 1 minute.

In 1-quart microwave-safe utensil, place peas and carrots; cover. Microwave at HIGH 4 minutes, stirring once; drain.

In a small bowl, combine rice, melted b.u.t.ter mixture, peas and carrots, parsley, thyme and salt. Place in cavity of roaster; with rounded wooden picks, fasten skin across cavity opening and at neck. Place roaster, breast side down, on microwave-safe roasting pan. Spray with browning spray or brush roaster with melted b.u.t.ter if desired; cover with wax paper.

Microwave at HIGH 5 minutes. Reduce power to MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power). Cook 12 minutes per pound, brushing with drippings several times during cooking. Halfway through cooking time, turn roaster over, using paper towels to protect hands. Pour off drippings and reserve, if desired.

Baste roaster with drippings or use browning spray; cover with wax paper and complete cooking.

Let stand, covered with aluminum foil, 20 minutes. Test for doneness after standing; juice should run clear with no hint of pink when thigh is pierced. To serve, spoon stuffing into serving bowl and slice roaster.

CHICKEN WING PAELLAServes 4-6 Paella is a Spanish dish with a mixture of rice, vegetables, meat and sometimes sh.e.l.lfish. I lived in Spain for a couple of years and came to the conclusion that there must be almost as many versions of Paella as there are Spanish cooks$which means that you have a lot of lat.i.tude to vary the ingredients according to what you have handy in your refrigerator. I like this better the next day, when the different flavors have had a chance to "marry."

10 chicken wings 1 pound sweet Italian sausage links 1 teaspoon browning sauce 1 large onion, chopped 1 sweet red pepper, cut into thin strips 1 medium-sized zucchini, chopped 1 can (16-ounces) tomatoes, undrained 1/2 cup hot water 1 teaspoon salt or to taste 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco 2 cups hot cooked rice 1 cup frozen peas, thawed Cut wing-tip section from wings. Set tips aside to cook later in soup or stew, if desired. Brush sausages with browning sauce; cut into 1-inch pieces. In 3-quart microwave-safe dish, place sausage pieces; cover with wax paper. Microwave at HIGH (100% power) 6 to 7 minutes, or until sausage loses its pink color, stirring twice. With slotted spoon remove sausage.

To drippings in dish, add onion, red pepper and zucchini; cover with plastic wrap. Microwave at HIGH 5 minutes, stirring twice. Add tomatoes, browned sausages, water, salt, oregano, paprika, turmeric and Tabasco; stir to blend.

Arrange chicken wings in circular pattern on top of tomato mixture. Cover with plastic wrap; microwave at HIGH 5 minutes. Reduce power to MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power); cook 10 minutes per pound. Halfway through cooking time, turn wings over; re-cover and complete cooking. Stir in hot cooked rice and peas; microwave at HIGH 3 minutes.

To warm for serving, cover with plastic wrap to speed cooking and microwave at HIGH until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

CHAPTER THREE-CHICKEN FOR DIETERS

Are you concerned about the cholesterol in your diet?

Are you watching calories and trying to cut down on fat?

Has your doctor suggested that you consume less salt?

Then read on. The wonderful thing about chicken is that the low cholesterol and the low calorie recipes are the same. And the flavors that add spark to a low calories recipe are the same ones that can help you get along with little or no salt.

Chicken is the dieter's ray of sunshine. Except for turkey breast, no other popular meat is as low in calories as skinless chicken breast. A 3-ounce portion of skinless broiled chicken breast has only 115 calories. An equivalent size portion of cooked lean trimmed beef would average 189 calories, and cooked lean, trimmed pork is 198 calories.

Chicken is also lowest in saturated fat compared with non-poultry meats.

Grams of Saturated Fat Cooked 3-ounce portion skinless chicken breast: 0.4 Average cooked 3-ounce portion of chicken: 1.1 Average cooked 3-ounce portion of lean, trimmed beef: 3.4 Average cooked 3-ounce portion of lean, trimmed pork: 3.8

To avoid both fat and calories when cooking with chicken:

_Choose breast meat. This is the leanest part of the bird and has less than half the fat of, for example, thigh meat. Because of its low fat content, it's the only meat I ever serve Frank, and it's the only meat he ever asks for in restaurants.

_Remove the skin. Forty percent of the fat in poultry is attached to the skin and therefore can be easily removed. This is in contrast with other meats, where the fat is dispersed throughout the meat and not so easily removed. One point, though. If you're broiling or baking or grilling chicken, leave the skin on until you're finished cooking; otherwise the meat will lose too much moisture and become tough. I've watched tests done at the Perdue Tenderness Laboratory in which they measured the tenderness of breast meat roasted with the skin and without the skin. The meat cooked with the skin retained its moisture and was startlingly more tender than the meat cooked without the skin.

_Roast, broil, poach, or grill chicken instead of frying it.

_Subst.i.tute low fat dairy products in recipes. Use yoghurt or light sour cream instead of sour cream, and non- fat milk instead of regular milk. To be honest, the taste isn't as rich, but if you're watching calories and cholesterol, these subst.i.tutions make a substantial difference. For example, plain low fat yoghurt is 122 calories per cup and light sour cream about 360 calories, while the same amount of regular sour cream is 440 to 454 calories. Non-fat milk is 80 to 90 calories per 8-ounce gla.s.s, while whole milk is 150 to 160 calories.

_Replace oil or fat in marinades with fresh lemon or lime juice, or with wine or vinegar.

_Broil with wine instead of b.u.t.ter.

_Take advantage of non-caloric pan sprays.

_If you're really counting every single calorie, you may want to choose Cornish hens rather than the older broilers and roasters. Cornish hens and broilers are young birds and they bear the same relationship to the older roasters that veal does to beef: the younger the animal, the lower the fat content. For comparison, the white meat of a Cornish is 35 calories per ounce of cooked meat; the white meat of a broiler is 45 calories per cooked ounce.

For low salt diets:

_Avoid prepared sauces such as barbecue sauce or ketchup: usually they are high in salt.

_Season chicken with foods that are naturally high in pota.s.sium, such as tomatoes, citrus, raisins or bananas.

When you eat foods high in pota.s.sium, you don't miss the sodium so much. Tomato paste, by the way, is very high in pota.s.sium, and does not have as much added salt as most prepared or canned foods.

_Season foods with garlic, onion, wine and a variety of herbs and spices. Again, you'll miss the sodium less.

_Trick your palette by cooking with your own flavored vinegars. Use a cup of whichever fresh herb you can find, such as tarragon or mint or dill, for two cups of plain white vinegar and then add a garlic clove or twist of lemon peel. Store in a screw top jar for several days and if you want it really strong, leave it for a week. You might taste it along the way to see if it's too strong. Finally, strain it and pour into a sterilized bottle and seal.

_Season chicken with concentrated homemade chicken broth. Make chicken stock (use the recipe on page ___, but omit the salt), boil it down until it's concentrated, and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Use individual cubes to intensify the flavor of ca.s.seroles or stir fry dishes.

After a couple of weeks of following a low salt diet, you'll find that your taste changes and that you'll actually be satisfied with far less salt. You'll even find that the olives and potato chips and peanuts that once tasted just right, now seem too salty. We've found that with salt, the less you eat, the less you feel you need$but be patient because this doesn't happen overnight.

For that matter, a preference for low fat cooking may not happen overnight either. In fact, to level with you, I think that in most cases it won't happen overnight. If you're not used to the low fat subst.i.tutions for rich sauces and gravies, some of the recipes in this chapter may seem downright Spartan to you the first time you try them.

But once you're used to them, you may find as Frank and I have, that with time it's not only possible to get used to lighter cooking, it's actually possible to prefer it.

BARBECUE DRUMSTICKSServes 8 Microwave Recipe To save additional fat and calories, remove the skin from the drumsticks. I wouldn't recommend this for a conventional oven recipe because the meat would dry out.

But microwaving retains moisture, and the sauce adds flavor.

8 roaster drumsticks 1 cup water 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 1/3 cup tomato paste 1 tablespoon vinegar 2 cloves garlic, minced 1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper Remove skin from drumsticks and discard. In 4-cup gla.s.s container, combine water, onion, tomato paste, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, mustard and pepper until well blended. Cover with plastic wrap; microwave at HIGH (100% power) 5 minutes. Stir and microwave, uncovered, 5 minutes longer. Pour half the mixture over bottom of a 12 x 8-inch microwave-safe utensil.

Place drumsticks in sauce with meatier portions toward outer edge of utensil. Pour remaining sauce over drumsticks; cover with wax paper. Microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH (70% power) 12 minutes per pound. Halfway through cooking time, turn drumsticks over and move drumsticks to sides of utensil. Re-cover with wax paper; complete cooking. Let stand, covered, 15 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Figures Per Serving Calories 94. Protein 16 grams. Carbohydrate 3 grams. Fat 2 grams. Cholesterol 51 mg. Sodium 142 mg.