Am I excited yes ! You see I was once one of those people who could not understand all the fuss over a slow cooker (crock pot ) .
To me the "crock pot" as we call it in the US brought back horrific memories of chewy beef stew. I swear we ate this bi-weekly when my mom worked all day and completed a degree at night school . I'm sure she laugh at this post and would disagree. .
The other major reason I resisted was due to my lack of counter space and storage for large kitchen appliances .
Luckily for me, my motivation to make bone broth brought me back to the slow cooker .
I'm now happy to have one less pot in my crowded cupboard and have easily made space for this time saving awesome machine.
What I love most is the flexibility it gives you as to when you cook . Place all the ingredients in and walk away. How nice is it to come home to a meal almost fully prepared rather than juggling the chaos of children and their needs as well as meal prep.
I absolutely love when I can, cooking in the afternoon or morning having the rest of the day to not worry about what's for dinner.
OK, enough words let's start cooking.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo free range, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 leek white part only sliced
- Sea salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 lemon, sliced (optional)
- 1 cup chicken broth or veggie stock or deglaze the pan with wine and water
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons of arrowroot or corn starch
- 150 grams swiss brown mushrooms sliced
- 1/2 cup pitted mixed olives (add more if you like olives)
Directions
Pat thighs dry with a paper towel. This will help them brown better. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; sauté the leek and mushrooms for 2 minutes. Remove from pan.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil back to pan along with half of chicken. Cook about 3 minutes per side, or until browned. Transfer to your slow cooker.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet, and repeat procedure with remaining chicken.
Whilst the pan is still hot, deglaze it (which basically means add a cold liquid to a hot pot allowing all the bits to bubble and brown up ).Combine a bit of the broth, juice, and arrowroot stirring with a whisk. Pour broth mixture over chicken. Add leek and mushrooms.
Top with olives and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours (or 4 hours on high). Garnish with lemon slices and serve.
Slow Cooker Lemon, Mushroom, Leek and Olive Chicken
