Can I write this recipe in one breath?
- Peel 3 or 4 potatoes and 3 or 4 carrots and roughly chop (optional Jerusalem artichokes for sweetness – though they take more time and much more than one breath to peel. Can leave all of the above unpeeled and just scrub)
- 5 to 8 boneless, skinless chicken legs – rinse, dry, brown them in oil with salt and pepper.
- Place in bottom of slow-cooker. Add a few sprigs of thyme.
- Brown vegetables 2 minutes in chicken juices. Place on top of chicken.
- Add 1/2 cup water to skillet and scrape up chicken bits. Pour on top of vegetables. Put lid on slow-cooker
- Turn slow-cooker to high for 4 hours or low for 8. Test chicken with meat thermometre
- Smile and chew, not simultaneously
That was too easy! I even got caught scrolling down and still made it with lots of breath to spare! Seriously, this was such a satisfying meal. The trick is to be generous with the salt and pepper and oil when browning the chicken legs, and choose non-factory farm chicken legs so they actually have some flavour. I go to the meat guy across from the organic butcher in Atwater market. This guy isn’t organic but I like him and trust him more than the a-ver-age butcher. Thyme is the only aromatic and it’s subtle so if you want more flavour…buy better chicken!!!
And using a mix of Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes is nice because you get the sweetness from the artichokes and textured starch from the potatoes. Carrots for sweetness. Always add more carrots than you think – they suck up all the intoxicating chicken juices. You could also use broth instead of water, but it’s better to just buy better chicken…
The colour goes off on the Jerusalem artichokes and the carrots when you cook them in the slow-cooker, but they still taste great. Better than boiling or steaming by a long shot. Look at that beautiful brown on the chicken!
Ola! Misswattson,
This question may be a little off-topic, I purchase ground beef and chicken breasts in larger quantities and separate them into smaller portions to freeze (usually a pound at a time). It has worked great in the past. I take down what I’m going to need in a couple of days and refrigerate it so it’s thawed in time to use. This used to work great.
Problem is my schedule has become very unpredictable. I don’t have the opportunity to cook when I want to, either due to time or not being home. So if I take meat down to thaw, I end up not being able to use it before it’s gone bad. The result is either wasted meat, or an opportunity to cook and only frozen meat on hand.
I’ve tried thawing in microwave, but it doesn’t work very well and I’m not comfortable with that. I’m also not willing to use questionable fast-thawing methods due to my husband’s compromised immune system. Are there some recipes in which I can use the frozen meat without plan the meal two days ahead? Perhaps even a slow cooker recipe or two? (I have a slow cooker, just haven’t used it much.) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Wishes
I’m by no means a slow-cooker or ground beef connoisseur but I’d be wary about using frozen meat in the slow-cooker. It’d have to pass through the unsafe stage when bacteria can grow on it for a longer period of time than with other cooking methods. You best bet might be using the oven to cook it but I have no experience with beef, just chicken. It would just take longer, and is harder to season. Soup would be a better idea since it could thaw and then cook immediately in the hot liquid. For ground beef you can cook it from frozen to cooked in a skillet but you need to be constantly watching it and breaking it up so it cooks evenly and all the way through.
Hope this helps! And good luck planning in advance. And even more luck dealing with your husband’s compromised immune system. I understand it’s not easy.