Knowing that we basically had to go straight home last night, wolf down a quick dinner, then to the meeting, we knew that we had to have something preplanned. Something fast. Something that required no fuss!
Behold, Michael Smith's recipe for French Onion Chicken Stew. It looked interesting and simple enough when I had seen it on his show, Chef at Home while eating breakfast one morning. The ingredients were simple, I had a Costco-sized bag of onions to use up, and I've been dying to maximize effort and time to use the slow cooker!
I adapted the recipe to my slow cooker - it wouldn't hold the entire recipe, and also added some extra seasonings.
Ingredients (adapted from Michael Smith's recipe)
9 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in, rinsed and patted dry
8 garlic cloves
8 yellow onions, peeled and sliced
1 cup white wine (I used a Californian Sauvignon Blanc)
2 T ground thyme
4 heaping tablespoons of dijon mustard
1 t oregano
4 bay leaves
salt, black and white peppers
pinch of cayenne
Method
I used a cast iron pot to brown off the chicken thighs which were first seasoned with a generous amount of kosher salt and pepper. I did not use oil in the pot as I figured that the chicken skins would render off enough oil to cook the meat in. I was right.
I layered the ingredients into the crock pot, starting with a layer of onions. I scatted a couple cloves of garlic on top of that, then lowered in some chicken. I dotted the chicken with dijon mustard, then seasoned with thyme, salt and pepper, oregano and bay leaves. I repeated the layers once more, and topped everything off with a layer of onions.
This was all done the night before. Before I went to work, I removed the crock pot insert from the fridge, poured in a cup of wine, then plugged the slow cooker in, turned it to low, and went to work!
When we got home yesterday, I boiled up some pasta and served the chicken and onions atop noodles. It was one heck of a comfort meal!
...Before and after the annual strata meeting. :o\
Posts
This sounds good! I have some chicken thighs I need to use this week and this would be a perfect recipe - I don't have a crock pot but I can probably make it in a stew pan.
ReplyDeletePlease do, and tell me how it goes!
ReplyDeleteThat looked good. Do you have any leftovers? :)
ReplyDeleteIz
We had two each that night, then M took two for lunch yesterday; I have one for lunch today (went to "Wongs" Shanghainese yesterday) and I believe there is one or two leftover. :) I think M is like the black hole (for food) of the apartment.
ReplyDeleteHow would you make it if you didn't have a slow cooker??
ReplyDeleteIz
You could probably braise it (put in a heavy pot with a lid) and cook it in the oven at about 325ºF for two hours or until its cooked. The lid keeps in all the juices. It'd be best if it were a convectional oven because then the temperature is more even, like the slow cooker. Are you sure you don't have a slow cooker?!? I'm sure your mom has one somewhere in the house!
ReplyDelete