There has been some conversations amongst my Facebook friends recently, about slow cooker recipes. Although I follow recipes for bread and cakes and similar, for slow cooking (and to a certain extent, BBQ) I tend to wing it. This is how I cook – my culinary life runs on substitutions, approximations and lots of “that will probably work”.
I have a whole chicken I bought for my first experiment with the new large slow cooker. But I cooked a beef stew instead, and now the chicken needs taking care of. So…
Onions, two of them, halved, in the bottom of the dish, with the chicken sitting on them, breast down. Carrots (probably 6-8, but it was actually “finish the bag”). Three old oranges that look thin skinned and dried out. But cut one open and they are still juicy, so wash them, halve them and tuck them down the side. I see some dried fruit salad sitting by the kettle, where I was snacking last night; some dried apples, pears and apricots hit the pot.
Veg stock – enough to cover the base and come up to about a third of the way up the chicken. A lemon and herb rub I have on my spice rack, a good shaking of it over the chicken and in the stock. Plus some extra sage.
I reckon that should do.
I hadn’t noticed tha lemon and herb rub contained star anise. As I worked upstairs, an overwhelming smell of chicken and star anise has been filling the house, and for the last hour, I have been almost drooling.
Time to give it a try.