Slow Cooking: Chicken Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Peppers

The Sunday tradition at Chez Gourmess is to sleep in, laze around with a cappuccino à la Chris, and put something delightful in the slow cooker to enjoy the rest of the week.

I love using the slow cooker because I can get creative (no measuring, really), the house smells amazing all day, and there's no stressing since whatever goes into the pot will turn out nicely -- you can't really mess it up.

Ready, Set, Slow!

A few things to note about using a slow cooker:

• Unless you're making a soup, less is more when it comes to liquid so don't overdo it. Basically whatever amount of liquid you have in the pot will at least double when it's done cooking.
• If you're using alcohol in your recipe, a little goes a long way.
• Save the fresh herbs for plating the dish -- use dry in your slow cooker recipe.
• Use a little more seasoning that you normally would if you were stove top or oven cooking. And  before you serve it, see if the seasonings need adjusted, as the lengthy cooking time can reduce some of the strength of your spices.
• Try not to lift the lid while cooking. (Chris polices me on this as the suspense always kills me)
• Brown your protein before adding to the cooker if you can -- it adds a nice depth of flavor and keeps the meat from turning to mush. This includes bacon. No one wants soggy bacon. 
• If you're in a rush and need to use frozen meat, you need to use a high heat setting to avoid bacteria growth as the meat thaws - low and slow is great, but not for this. Keep it to 4 hours.
• If you use frozen veggies, thaw them first and drain to reduce an over abundance of liquid.
• I rarely use beyond the 8 hour setting, and if you're using 10 hours, it should be for a large roast or for pulled pork since any veggies or fruits will basically disintegrate into mush.
• Cook and add rice or pasta after your cooker is done -- if you put it in while cooking it will turn to mush, even at the 30 minute mark as some suggest.

Today's Slow Cooker Sunday recipe welcomes football season and the return to school with a smoky, spicy chili that's relatively healthy to boot.

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Peppers

"Mmmm. That's chili you can dance to." -- Chris

Ingredients:

• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• Olive oil
• Chili powder
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Garlic powder
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 pkg ground chicken breast
• 1 pkg spicy chicken sausage, chopped
• 1 bag frozen red, green and yellow bell peppers (thawed and drained)
• 1/2 jar chopped roasted red pepper strips
• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 jar salsa
• Chili sauce
• Optional: Drizzle of Hot Honey

To Do:

• In a large skillet, brown the onion and garlic and seasonings over medium-high heat until soft and fragrant.
• Add in the chicken breast and sausage and cook until browned.
• Lower the heat and add the peppers. Stir until any excess liquid has reduced.
• Remove from heat.
• Add the cubed sweet potatoes to the slow cooker crock and then stir in the salsa and chili sauce -- and the drizzle of honey if using.
• Pour in the chicken/pepper mixture and add a bit more of the spices and stir to combine.
• Set to 6 hour setting, top with lid and go enjoy the beautiful afternoon.
• When done, let cool a bit then season to taste and serve with tortilla chips, or over rice or quinoa, along with sliced avocado and lime wedges and top with shredded smoked cheddar, fresh cilantro, a dollop of Greek yogurt or guacamole, salsa -- or however you like your chili!
• Use leftovers in burritos, top with a runny egg for breakfast, make taco salad, or add a jar of queso and make a dip...yum!

A few other slow cooker favorites:

Harissa Stew

Pulled Pork

Hoisin and Red Wine Beef Roast

Fancy Chicken Stew

Happy Sunday!

xoxo,

LPG

Fantabulous Fancy Chicken Stew

Have you made my Fancy Chicken Stew yet?

I've been making this lovely stew for years, and I posted about it being my favorite way to use a slow-cooker before, but I think it is worth re-mentioning how fantastic this chicken stew really is.

It's elegant enough to serve to company, but simple enough to make at least once a week. And, it is the one dish where leftovers are okay in my book. (I know!) The flavors just get better and better.

I didn't make this stew all summer, and now that it is soup season, it will be in full rotation. It always gets rave reviews -- a delightfully rustic chicken soup, with the lemons and olives adding a bright, briny flavor. You might be skeptical about the lemon and olives (not to mention all of that garlic) but I promise you, it's really quite delicious.

Better than delicious, actually. Scrumptious might be a better word. But don't take my word for it. Try it yourself:

Fancy Chicken Stew
Ingredients:
12 oz. baby carrots, halved lengthwise
3/4 lb micro or fingerling potatoes, halved
6 fresh rosemary sprigs
18 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1/2 shallot, minced
6-8 oz. pitted Picholine olives*
3-4 lb chicken, raised without antibiotics
2-3 large lemons
2 cups chicken stock or broth (not low-sodium)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt/Pepper to taste
Herbes de Provence
4 TBS unsalted butter

*Note: If you can't find Picholine olives, try another green olive that's equally citrusy -- I've found those taste the best in this recipe, but I've also used a mixture of black/pink/green Greek olives with fine results. Just don't use stuffed olives, canned black olives, or olives that are marinated in oil, and you should be good to go.

Minimal MESS/ingredients/clean-up: Category 2

To Do:

• Fill the bottom of your slow cooker pot with the the carrots, potatoes, three rosemary sprigs, six peeled and smashed garlic cloves, the minced shallot, and the olives.

• Prep the chicken (remove gizzards, etc. if included) and pat dry. Stuff with 12 peeled garlic cloves, 3 rosemary sprigs, and 2-3 lemons (seeded and cut into wedges), then tie it up tight. My chicken was a beautiful, local heritage chicken, raised without antibiotics from Epicurean Farms in Lancaster, PA.

And, can we just take a minute to acknowledge the world's largest lemon? 

My hands are pretty small, but holy moly!

• Place the chicken, breast-side down on top of the carrots/potatoes/olives and then cover with the stock, lemon juice, a pinch or two of salt/pepper, and the herbs. Dot all-over with the butter.
• Cover with the lid and set the cooker to the 6-hour setting (high).
• When it is ready, carefully remove the chicken -- it will most likely fall right off of your fork, so have a cutting board and bowl close by and be ready to catch the stuffing. 
• Carefully remove the meat and discard the string/stuffing/skin. You can toss the bones, or keep them in the freezer for a future batch of homemade chicken stock, like I do. The chicken should be so tender that it will shred itself, but if there you have any large pieces, chop them into bite-size pieces.
• Fish out the rosemary sprigs and any large pieces of garlic and/or wandering pieces of lemon/stuffing from the stew pot and discard. Adjust seasonings to taste (more salt/pepper if needed).
• Return the shredded chicken to the stew and stir to incorporate before serving. (If not serving right away, just reheat in a heavy-bottomed soup pot over low heat.)

• Ladle big scoops of meat/veggies/olives and broth into bowls. Serve with plenty of crusty bread for sopping up all of the juices, and a side salad if you feel like making one. Otherwise, a bowl of this and a hunk of bread is all you need.

It's the perfect thing for a chilly fall day...I hope you try it!
xoxo

Lazy Chicken Curry

The first day of Spring is exactly one week from today, but you'd never know it. We have temperatures with a "real-feel" of 2 degrees. Yay. (Boo.)

The frigid air makes me crave comfort food. But not just any comfort food. I want something satisfyingly spicy, something that will make me forget that Old Man Winter isn't going anywhere soon. Something like a delicious bowl of chicken tikka masala or a flavorful vegetable curry. But, the cold also makes me lazy. I don't want to spend too much time/effort on my meal.

So, I decided to pull out my trusty Crock-Pot and make this delicious no-fuss chicken curry that not only fills you up, but warms you up as well. Yum.

Lazy Chicken Curry
Ingredients:
1-2 TBS olive oil
4 large boneless, skinless, antibiotic-free chicken breasts
2 TBS minced ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping TBS red curry paste (optional)
1 TBS garam masala spice blend
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Kosher salt
3/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup Greek yogurt, full fat
14 oz. coconut milk
1/2 cup heavy cream or half/half
2-4 TBS butter/ghee*

*Ghee = clarified butter, can be found in most grocery stores

Minimal MESS/ingredients/clean-up: Category 2

To Do:

• Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces, then cook over medium-high heat in a pan with the olive oil and half of the minced ginger and garlic, until the chicken is lightly browned on all sides.
• Place browned chicken pieces (and cooked ginger/garlic) in the bottom of a greased slow cooker insert.
• In a large bowl, mix together the remaining minced ginger and garlic, the curry paste (if using), the spices, and tomato paste. Then, whisk in the yogurt, coconut milk, and cream. 

• Pour spice/milk mixture over the chicken. Dot with the butter/ghee.

• Cover with lid, then set slow cooker to 4 or 6 hour setting. Resist the temptation to lift the lid until the sauce is thickened.
• When done, adjust seasonings to taste (more salt, red pepper flakes, etc.) if needed, then serve over rice or with naan.
• Done! 

xoxo

Spring Chicken!

I've had a love/hate relationship with chicken breasts. They made dinner easy, but they just didn't excite me. It seemed impossible to find juicy, fat chicken breasts that were full of flavor. But, I recently decided to only buy local and humanely-raised, antibiotic-free meat and poultry, and yes it costs a bit more, but wow, what a difference the quality makes! Not only are the chicken breasts about double the size of the usual grocery store brands, but they taste different, i.e., better. Even after 8 hours in the slow cooker and another few minutes on the stove, it's the juiciest, most delectable chicken I've ever eaten. Seriously.

If you aren't convinced, or just can't switch to locally-raised, antibiotic-free birds, this recipe still makes any kind of chicken breast sing (chicken thighs would work, too), and it's an easy, no-fuss dinner that tastes amazing. The slow cooker does most of the work -- you just have to reduce the sauce and maybe toast some sesame seeds for a few minutes on the stove if you feel like it. Add some broccoli and cooked brown rice (like this), and you can leave your Chinese takeout menu for another day. (Note: You should be able to find all of the ingredients at your grocery store.)

Slow-Cooker Hoisin Chicken

Ingredients:

1-2 TBS sesame oil

3-4 large raw, boneless, skinless chicken breasts

(if you're using the smaller grocery store kind, you can probably fit up to 6)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup water
3 cloves minced garlic

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 TBS soy sauce

4 TBS hoisin sauce

Red pepper flakes (optional)

1 TBS corn starch

1 TBS cold water

2 cups broccoli florets

1 TBS toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Minimal MESS/ingredients/clean-up: Category 2

To Do:

• Lightly coat the bottom of your slow cooker with sesame oil.
• Place chicken breasts inside slow cooker, and try not to overlap too much. 
• In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, rice vinegar, the 1/4 cup of water, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and 2 TBS of the hoisin, then pour over the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with a pinch of red pepper flakes.
• Slow cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours. 
• Remove chicken pieces (which will be falling apart) from slow cooker and set aside. 
• Strain out the sauce from the pot into a large skillet, over medium-high heat.
• Mix together the corn starch and the TBS of cold water until smooth, then gradually stir the mixture into the sauce until blended, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil for a 1-2 minutes until the liquid starts to thicken. 
• Still stirring, lower the heat and add in the rest of the hoisin and another pinch of red pepper flakes.
• Stir in the broccoli florets and the chicken and cover. Simmer until heated through and broccoli is tender, about 3-5 minutes. 

• Gently stir once more to combine sauce, chicken and broccoli, and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Serve with brown rice or Asian noodles, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Yum!

xoxo

Chicken image at top transferred from Flickr to Wikimedia Commons by User:MaybeMaybeMaybe

Hoisin and Red Wine Slow-Cooked Beef Roast

Take it slow...and it will be devoured quickly.  -Gourmess

There is nothing quite like a home filled with the smells wafting from a slow cooker. It just makes everything cozy immediately, and knowing a lovely meal will be ready in a few hours' time makes for a sense of giddy anticipation.  Take for instance, this lovely Beef Stew recipe that I tinkered with recently.

I browned a lovely Top Round Choice Beef Roast (3 lbs) in a bit of olive oil on the stove, then placed in my slow cooker along with some baby carrots, 1/2 a diced onion, some minced ginger, and about 3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled. I also tossed in 1/2 cup of mixed dried mushrooms. I added some salt and pepper too, knowing I'd have to adjust again when the roast was done. In a separate bowl, I stirred together 1/2 cup Hoisin sauce, 1 1/2 cups red wine (nothing too fruity) and about 1 cup diced tomatoes (with juice) and poured it over the roast. I set the slow cooker to low, and 8 hours later I had a lovely, well-flavored piece of meat that was cooked perfectly and falling apart.

I served it with some mashed potatoes and made a quick sauce on the stove by straining off some of the pot juices and whisking with some corn starch and water and cooking down until thick.  I also made some homemade applesauce and some popovers as fun additions to the meal. (Popovers: 2 eggs, 1 cup each flour and milk, 1/2 tsp salt. Grease 6 muffin cups, heat oven to 450. Beat eggs a wee bit, add in flour/milk/salt until smooth--don't over beat. Fill cups 1/2 full. Bake for 20 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes more. Serve immediately.)  It was delish. By the way, it leaves a lot of meat for leftovers, which would be great in fajitas or sandwiches, so you'll get at least 1-2 more meals out of it.

It's a low-fuss lovely evening meal...so get to it!

xoxoxo

Slow Cooked Pork Tenderloin with Ginger, Nutmeg, Clove and Red Wine Confit Gravy

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. --Julia Child

The weather has been really Spring-like and warm lately--until this past weekend, that is, when the temperatures plummeted and icy, cold rain fell for hours on end, the wind gusting and sending everyone ducking for cover.  

Actually, it's the perfect weather to stay in bed under the covers, unless you were up early like me, pulling your trusty slow cooker/crock pot out of the closet to make some slow-cooked deliciousness.

I had a 2lb. whole pork tenderloin (two pieces) just waiting to be used.  I dusted sides of each loin with white pepper, nutmeg, ginger and stuck a clove in each end.  Then, I smashed and sliced up some garlic cloves and placed them on one loin, topping with the other and tying up both pieces with some kitchen twine.  (Tip: Cut your string long and place vertically on your cutting board, then place the meat on top -and season and stuff from there. It makes it much easier to tie it all up.) Then, I rubbed some olive oil on the meat and added a bit more salt and white pepper and placed it in a large skillet on medium-high heat until it was nicely browned on all sides.

In the meantime, I coarsely chopped two medium yellow onions and smashed two more garlic cloves and placed it all in the bottom of the slow cooker.  I also added about a cup of dried dates and three pieces of crystallized ginger, broken into pieces.  I added the pork on top and then topped with a few spoonfuls of a lovely Spiced Fig & Red Wine Confit spread from 'wichcraft that I bought at Williams-Sonoma a few weeks ago.  On top of that went 2 TBS of unsalted butter, cut into cubes, 2 pieces of bacon (diced) and 1/2 cup of red wine and 1/2 cup of water. I set the cooker to the 8 hour setting and that was it.

Eight wonderful-smelling hours later, I pulled the pork out of the pan to rest (cutting off the strings and fishing out the cloves) and strained the lovely juices into a small pot, discarding the solids.  I heated the juices to a boil, added in about a tablespoon of Wondra, a pinch of salt, a dash of nutmeg and a teaspoon of garlic powder and whisked until it had thickened.  Right before serving, I swirled in 1 TBS of butter into the sauce.  The meat broke apart into wonderful chunks and I served with herbed mashed potatoes.

It was the kind of dinner that warms you from the inside out.   Maybe Spring will be here sooner than you think....  

xoxoxo

Slow-Down Sunday

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. --Julia Child

Chris and I had a crazy hectic week this past week.  We only had time to sit down to dinner together a few nights, and even then we were preoccupied with our Blackberry devices and reading for work, etc. I have been waiting all week for us to just slow down and just enjoy life a bit.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a hot one -- mid 80s and probably the last warm day of the year. I had some potatoes left from my organic box and wanted to make something homey for dinner.  Chris was working in the city all day, so I figured I could make a mess and heat up the already humid kitchen a bit more in his absence and make a roast or a gratin, or something that required using the stove and/or oven (I've been in a bit of withdrawal not having 3+ hours of cooking to do each day, now that I've finished my course).  But, the day got ahead of me and after running some errands, I realized I still hadn't settled on what to make--and it was late enough in the day that it probably would end up being for Sunday dinner instead.

I started to brainstorm, and then I glanced up to the shelf above our kitchen pantry and saw our slow cooker, and I knew what I wanted.  Roasted, lemony, garlicky, olive-y slow-cooked chicken with rosemary, baby carrots and those lovely fingerling potatoes: Fancy Chicken Stew. So, I covered the bottom of my slow cooker pot with baby carrots, some small potatoes, rosemary sprigs, half a dozen peeled garlic cloves, some sliced shallot and a couple handfuls of olives (use a nice briny kind). Then, I stuffed/tied a roasting chicken with more rosemary, about 12 garlic cloves (peeled) and 2-3 lemons, seeded and cut in wedges. The chicken went on top of the veggies (breast side down is best but either way is fine) and then I poured 2 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 cup of lemon juice over it, then sprinkled on some salt/pepper and Herbes de Provence, then dotted the whole thing with 1/2 a stick of butter and put on the lid. I put the cooker on the 6 hour setting, cleaned up the now semi-cooler kitchen and fixed myself a cocktail while I waited for Chris to come home.

I also started another batch of bread -- this time, I used bread flour (you can use all purpose, too) and added in 1/4 cup of dried rosemary to the dry ingredients.  By 10 p.m. the house smelled lovely from the slow-cooker, and this morning, after I made the bread -- it was heaven on earth. Rosemary is under appreciated, I do believe.

Today, about 40 minutes before we wanted to eat, I took the chicken out of the slow cooker insert, separated the meat from the bones and put the rest of the stew and chicken in a big pot on the stove. The slow-cooker does marvels for a chicken -- it literally just slides off the bones and becomes almost instantly shredded once you gently stir it. It's also unbelievably tender and juicy. I slowly re-heated it to a low simmer, then ladled it into bowls and served with the fresh-baked rosemary bread and some white wine. Chris and I took our time as we savored some lazy Sunday evening conversation and this lovely chicken stew.  Terrific.

Life is good.

xoxoxo