Adventures in cooking: slowcookers and chicken!

[alpharaposa]

I need another cooking icon. One that's more 'home-cooking' and less 'contest' or 'bacon'.

Anyway, for Christmas, one of my gifts to myself was a slow-cooker cookbook. anher and I have been trying out a new recipe pretty much every week. I haven't been posting the results on livejournal, and I can't quite figure out why. Maybe it's the nearly 50 hour weeks I've been working. Maybe it's because it doesn't quite feel as adventurous. I mean, I'm not even there to stir the pot and taste it and dream up improvements. It does all the work while I'm off earning money.

Anyway, one of the first recipes we tried was a plain recipe for cooking whole chicken, and it turned out obscenely tasty. So, for those of you who possess large slow cookers and enjoy chicken, here is the recipe.

The cookbook titles this, "Chicken in a Pot"

2 carrots, sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 celery ribs, cut in 1-inch pieces
3 lbs chicken, whole or cut up
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried coarse black pepper
1 tsp basil
1/2 cup water, chicken broth, or white cooking wine

Place veggies in bottom of slow cooker. Put chicken on top of veggies. Add seasonings and liquid.

Cover. Cook on low 8-10 hours, or high 3 1/2 - 5 hours. (Use 1 cup liquid if cooking on high.)

When I made this, the only chicken I could find was about 6 lbs, so I ended up doubling everything. My slow cooker was filled to the brim. However, by the time I got home that evening, there was veggie/chicken broth almost to the brim, and the onions had really cooked down.

The chicken was extremely tasty, the broth velvety and filling, and the meat literally fell off the bones. I removed all the chicken, tore up what we didn't eat or carve to save for later, then returned the meat (minus bones) to the pot. Half a bag of egg noodles and 30 minutes on high, and I had really, really good chicken noodle soup. It all vanished by the end of the week.

No, mom, I didn't chill the broth and skim the fat. I left it all in. I have no regrets.

Comments

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

How big is your slow cooker?

[stryck.livejournal.com]

4.5 quarts. It's a Rival model 3745, oval-shaped.

I think it might have been a wedding present. Maybe. O.O I had to look up the size based off the model number on the bottom.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

A whole chicken? O_o What's the deal, you take the chicken out and carve pieces off of it as you would a roast chicken?

[stryck.livejournal.com]

More or less. Mind you, the legs and wings don't cut off so much as fall off in your hands.

Nummy.

Don't forget to remove the giblets and neck before cooking a whole chicken!

Yum!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I love my crockpot with a deep and simmering passion. You can see some of my slow-cooked recipes on my LJ or over on cheap_cookin too. The last one I posted was for a whole chicken with white pepper and coriander.

[xaq.livejournal.com]

((This)) came to mind immediately for a cooking icon.

I have -no- idea why.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

I am a Kirby fan...

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Grrr... it has a transparency that doesn't save well after resampling down to icon size.

[xaq.livejournal.com]

That any better?

[stryck.livejournal.com]

As much as I like Kirby, Getafix is even better. Thank you for the effort. >.>

[xaq.livejournal.com]

No prob. *keeps it for himself*

[aefenglommung.livejournal.com]

If you're an Asterix fan, this might make a good cooking icon:

Getafix