We are definitely starting to get the winter temperatures here in Melbourne. Definitely time to turn the cooking efforts to soups and casseroles and warming things. I use my slow cooker all year round but especially love it in winter. Someone posted a pic of Coq au vin on Facebook or Twitter the other day. Which is a dish I like and I haven’t had for years. So I turned to my trusty slow cooker cook books to see if there was a version that could be made the lazy way. And score, there was!
(Not the easiest thing to photograph but it is very tasty :D)
Yum. This recipe is from The Complete Slow Cooker by Sally Wise. The original recipe uses 1.5kg (about 3lb) of chicken but I used 600g and threw in a chopped medium sized sweet potato as well.
(Serves 6-8) Recipe is for a 4.5 litre slow cooker. My version was probably more like 4 serves
1.5kg chicken drumsticks (I used thighs) skin removed
3 medium onions quartered (I used two)
180g lean bacon chopped
200g mushrooms sliced
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons chutney
2 teaspoons redcurrant or quince jelly or brown sugar
2 teaspoons sweet chili sauce (I was out and used 2 teaspoons of chili jam instead)
1 1/2 chicken stock powder
3 tspns corn flour mixed with 1 tbspn water to form a paste.
Put chicken, bacon, mushrooms (and sweet potato) in slow cooker. Mix all other ingredients except corn flour and water and pour over chicken and other ingredients. Cooke for 3-4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low. Stir occasionally (Some people don’t recommend stirring slow cookers but mine is fairly warm so stirring doesn’t seem to affect the temperature and it makes sure everything gets well sloshed around in the cooking liquid/gravy). Remove lid and turn to high (if using Low). Stir in cornflour and water paste, cover again and then cook for about another 15 minutes until sauce thickens. Serve with chopped parsely if desired. Serve with some rice if desired but with the sweet potato, you don’t really need an extra carb.
