Great piles of autumn leaves are forever gathering at our front door. This might have something to do with gale force winds every day of the last week or so. And to say it has been raining here lately is a bit of an understatement. Granted, we needed some rain for our very dry garden but after a couple of weeks of (what has seemed like) constant downpours of the wet stuff, the novelty has somewhat worn off.
So, at the beginning of this week, we upped the flames on the lovely gas fire and out came the comforting food to cheer us up.
In a busy life, Joan Bishop's NZ Crock Pot and Slow Cooker cookbook is a 'god send'. This little gem was first published in 1985 and has been reprinted 16 times. That's a lot of books! I bought my copy in 2006 and it's often the recipe book I turn to when I want an easy evening meal, one I can prepare in the morning and forget about for most of the day.
With a busy day ahead and rain 'bucketing' down outside I took a look at what I had in the fridge. Most experienced cooks know what goes with what, as some vegetables are well 'suited' to certain meats. I found once I had this knowledge I was able to experiment a bit and create some great recipes, just based on what I had in the fridge and pantry. On this occasion, out came the following.....
6 boned and skinless chicken thigh meat pieces
2 carrots
1 stick of celery
3 courgettes
1 green pepper
1 red onion
a handful of mini tomatoes
Next step...
I cut each piece of chicken into 3 bits and dusted it with a little flour, browned them in a little olive oil and placed them to one side. (By dusting with flour and browning you add a little cooked thickening to your dish).
I chopped the peeled carrots and onions, sliced the celery and green pepper (seeds removed). These were then placed in the same pan and saute`d for a few minutes. While it adds an extra step to the proceedings, doing it this way gives more flavour to your dish.
Into my slow cooker I added a large tin of passatta sauce. (I like using passatta as it is thicker and denser in flavour). Add the chicken and vegetables and about 1/2 cup water. Add seasonings to taste. (You shouldn't need much as passatta is usually quite salty). Mix together and put the lid on. Set the cooker to High.
Note: The passatta usually contains all the herbs you need but if you are just using a few tinned chopped tomatoes add oregano, basil, and or thyme. You need to be careful with how much water you add. The vegetables break down and add a lot of water to the dish and you do not want it to go too sloppy.
I checked with Joan Bishop's book and figured it would take about 4 hours to cook. About 10 minutes before serving I gave the dish a stir and added the mini tomatoes. It was perfectly cooked and really delicious. I served it with crushed buttery potatoes and green beans.
No photo with this recipe, the camera could not do it justice...
Footnote: This quantity was good for two meals for us. I had quite a lot of lovely 'gravy' and a small piece of chicken left over so poured it all into the food processor and gave it a whizz for a minute. Viola! Tomato, vegetables and chicken soup for lunch, with hot buttered Burgen of course!
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| The sun finally came out, with a 23C day - crazy weather! |
In a busy life, Joan Bishop's NZ Crock Pot and Slow Cooker cookbook is a 'god send'. This little gem was first published in 1985 and has been reprinted 16 times. That's a lot of books! I bought my copy in 2006 and it's often the recipe book I turn to when I want an easy evening meal, one I can prepare in the morning and forget about for most of the day.
With a busy day ahead and rain 'bucketing' down outside I took a look at what I had in the fridge. Most experienced cooks know what goes with what, as some vegetables are well 'suited' to certain meats. I found once I had this knowledge I was able to experiment a bit and create some great recipes, just based on what I had in the fridge and pantry. On this occasion, out came the following.....
6 boned and skinless chicken thigh meat pieces
2 carrots
1 stick of celery
3 courgettes
1 green pepper
1 red onion
a handful of mini tomatoes
Next step...
I cut each piece of chicken into 3 bits and dusted it with a little flour, browned them in a little olive oil and placed them to one side. (By dusting with flour and browning you add a little cooked thickening to your dish).
I chopped the peeled carrots and onions, sliced the celery and green pepper (seeds removed). These were then placed in the same pan and saute`d for a few minutes. While it adds an extra step to the proceedings, doing it this way gives more flavour to your dish.
Into my slow cooker I added a large tin of passatta sauce. (I like using passatta as it is thicker and denser in flavour). Add the chicken and vegetables and about 1/2 cup water. Add seasonings to taste. (You shouldn't need much as passatta is usually quite salty). Mix together and put the lid on. Set the cooker to High.
Note: The passatta usually contains all the herbs you need but if you are just using a few tinned chopped tomatoes add oregano, basil, and or thyme. You need to be careful with how much water you add. The vegetables break down and add a lot of water to the dish and you do not want it to go too sloppy.
I checked with Joan Bishop's book and figured it would take about 4 hours to cook. About 10 minutes before serving I gave the dish a stir and added the mini tomatoes. It was perfectly cooked and really delicious. I served it with crushed buttery potatoes and green beans.
No photo with this recipe, the camera could not do it justice...
Footnote: This quantity was good for two meals for us. I had quite a lot of lovely 'gravy' and a small piece of chicken left over so poured it all into the food processor and gave it a whizz for a minute. Viola! Tomato, vegetables and chicken soup for lunch, with hot buttered Burgen of course!
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