I’m really enjoying my slow cooker at the moment, quick preparation and then the house fills with lovely cooking smells for hours. (My wife says it smells like her grandparents house when there’s something in the slow cooker.) This is a simple chicken casserole I knocked up the other day, slightly spiced with the chilli. Next time I’m under instructions to remove the skin, and use separate bones which can be removed before serving… then it’ll bump up the approval rating to 3 apparently.
Serves 4, preparation time ½ hr, cooking time 6 hrs, 2/4 (marred, for my wife, by the skin and bone fiddling).
Ingredients
- 6 free range chicken legs/thighs
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 small to medium potatoes, sliced
- 1 sml leek, chopped
- 2 small onions, chopped
- Red chilli, deseeded
- Small bunch of thyme twigs, tied with string
- 1 bulb fennel, chopped
- ½ bottle white wine
- ¼ pint chicken stock
Preparation
- (I had large chicken leg and thigh pieces, so halved them with a cleaver)
- Wash and cut the potato into slices the thickness of a pound coin
- Wash and chop carrots into rounds the thickness of a couple of a thumb
- Wash and roughly chop the leek into rounds about the thickness of a thumb
- Peel and finely chop the onion
- Deseed and chop the chilli into four or so pieces lengthways and crossways to expose the flesh into the casserole
- Lay the potato slices into a layer at the bottom (I read somewhere that the bottom of a slow cooker can overheat meat at the bottom, so I like to think of this as a layer of insulation)
- Brown off the chicken in a pan, with the garlic and onion
- Put the chicken in the slow cooker on the layer of potato, and tuck the chilli and thyme in around it
- Pop the rest of the vegetables on top
- Drain the oil out of the pan
- Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up any caramelised chicken from the bottom
- Pour the wine into the slow cooker and top up with chicken stock
- Put the slow cooker on high for 2 hours, then switch to low for 4 hours (or more)
Hi! I’m just trying the chicken recipe now, it looks great!! I’ve added some english mustard aswell, to add a little bit of a kick! Hopefully, it works out well! Thanks for the recipe, Simon!
Hi I am going off to the buy the ingredients now so I can actually prove to my husband I can cook something Thanks
Hi, thanks for putting this online it looks like exactly the type of recipe I was after.
I made it today and it has around 2 hours left to cook – I will report back with how nice it was!
Cheers,
mooooo wasa niceee yanooooo maore like rabbit stew yanno but de chickan was scrammy unaal
Just about to try this recipe so thanks for putting it on line!
Have a new slow cooker so can’t wait to try it!
what ingredients can i put in if we dont use alchol in out foods?
what do we add if we dont use alchol in out cooking ?
who is simon wheatley?
Hi Catherine,
Vinegar,lemon juice mixes can be used instead of wine but it is experimental.
I’ve just done a chicken casserole with home grown chickens.
Be creative! I used a mix of vinegar, water, soya sauce, tomato sauce, (I did use about 1/4 cup red wine I had left in fridge, but you don’t need it), honey or sugar, rosemary, salt & pepper, water and crushed garlic.
Sorry I don’t have quantities, I very much experimentally cook and with slow cookers I think you get away with that as it is about getting flavours and tender meat.
Hi,
I’m not a great fan of chicken thighs / legs – do you think chicken breast would work ok too? Would it require altering the cooking time?
Haven’t used my slow cooker yet so not sure if certain cuts of meat are better than others.
Thanks
Plan to do this with skinned chicken breast – can leftovers be frozen? Thanks
Hi Kym,
Chicken breast will be fine and I wouldnt think the cooking time will be any different, I do find that slow cooker receipes are all about trial and error with regard cooking times because they come in a range of sizes and have different features, make sure the chicken is cooked (pull a piece out and check for clear juices) and you cant go far wrong!
Hope that helps. Enjoy your meal!
Great! I added celery & used red wine instead of white. Thanks.
Just the sort of recipe I was looking for- thanks very much In fact I love any recipe that includes the verb ‘pop’
I am going to try it tonight/tomorrow in 2 stages as a first time experiement. Brown off meat and onion tonight, prep veg, thaw out some chicken stock I have in the freezer and then bung the whole lot in the slow cooker before I go to work in the morning. Will also pop a handful of puy lentils in.
could you leave the slow cooker on low in the morning then would it be ready say about 5.30 onwards and would the fluid dry up i ask this cos this will be my very first slow cooker meal our slow cooker was given to us without any recipe book ..andy..
Hi Andy,
All slow cookers vary and as I have said before, experimentation is required; however the lid on the slow cooker, provided it is a good fit, should retain most of the liquid.
Your meal should be ok if started in the morning, say 8.00am and left until 5.30pm or even later, I have done this many times and have had great results. Experimentation is the key! The more you use your slow cooker, the more confident you will become!
Hope that helps, kindest regards,
Kevin.
ok kev just done it m8 it’s in cooking as we speak watch this space..
Andy,
How did it go?
Kev.
great m8 even the wife enjoyed it tho the wine i used could have been better i’m after a good beef dish now if you got 1 lol chat soon andy
still no beef recipe for me?
Hi Andy,
Sorry for delay-celebrating my birthday and think I had a dodgy crisp (if you know what I mean!)
Try this mate, I think you will like it. Its a bit fiddly but the taste……………..Mmmmmmmmm!
Should serve 6, but with my two boys, it may only be 3!
Ingredients
1. 6 slices bacon, diced
2. 1/3 cup flour
3. 1 teaspoon salt
4. 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
5. 1 teaspoon ground allspice
6. 2.5 pounds cubed beef
7. 4 carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
8. 4 large onions, cut into eighths
9. 2 cloves garlic, chopped
10 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
11 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
12. 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
13. 1 bay leaf
14. (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Irish stout beer (The one with the Harp!)
Directions
Place the bacon in a large fry-pan, and cook over medium heat until crisp and brown. Remove the bacon pieces and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pan.
Place the flour, salt, black pepper, and allspice in a large plastic bag, and shake a few times to combine. Place the beef stew meat into the bag, and shake to coat the meat with flour mixture. Place the meat pieces in the fry-pan with the bacon drippings, and cook the meat until brown on all sides.
Remove the browned meat to your slow cooker, and add the carrots, onions, garlic, parsley, rosemary, marjoram, and bay leaf to the cooker.
Pour the beer into the fry-pan, and bring to a boil over medium-low heat, scraping all the browned caramelised bits from the bottom of the fry-pan Pour the beer into the slow cooker, over the meat and vegetables. Cover, and cook on Medium setting until the meat is very tender, 4 to 5 hours.
Before serving, remove the bay leaf, and sprinkle the stew with the reserved bacon pieces. Enjoy!
I should be round about 8.00pm, with the crate of wine.
Hi Andy,
It’s not a slow cooker recipe, but I made Nigel Slater’s Oxtail Braise from his book “Appetite”. It was amazing.
Very quick version:
Bye for now.
S
Can i just put water instead off the wine?
You can use water instead of wine, it just won’t end up as rich; you could try increasing the amount of stock.
well thanks everyone i’m gonna try that today if i can get myself sorted if not i’ll do it tomoz
simon my wife’s not into oxtail can any other meat be used m8..
i’m after a good not to hot curry one next lads/lasses any idea’s..
I’m looking for marinades for raw chicken breasts that I can freeze and cook when I need them. Things like chicken in mediterrean sauce, white wine and mushroom sauce, etc. If anyone knows the exact recipe as used by M&S for their stuffed peppers I’d be eternally grateful
.