All right, that’s enough. I don’t know the exact count but it has definitely been over a month that I’ve posted anything here. I know it’s over a month for sure and hesitantly less than 3 months. When I’m hesitant with the upper limit I know that it’s coming close to the upper limit.
Terrible.
The summer is gone, for which I am sad. To take my focus off such a sudden passing I’ve enlisted myself in some home improvement: painting my main bathroom. Although it has had substantially less traffic than the one in our master bedroom, the beige colour is wearing on me and appears dingier every day.
Yuck. Note to self, don’t ever buy your house and have it painted beige all over again. Any shade of white will inevitably last longer and stay looking fresh.
Ok, so slow cooking has become a favourite for me. I have 3 favourite cooking tools at home that I use 75% of the time:
1. The oven.
2. The rice cooker.
3. The slow cooker.
What do these 3 tools have in common? They cook for me. I just have to set it up.
I am a busy career woman. More than I really should be for my own health and good. About 90% of the time I insist on cooking for myself because I am convinced that restaurants don’t know what they’re doing half the time. It doesn’t deter me from eating out but I really do prefer to cook for myself. The only problem is tacking on the additional time and effort to my work days can be a bit of a chore. The last thing I want to feel about something I love to do is that it’s a chore. That means I need help and the 3 full time “staff” I have employed have served me very well. If I were to personify them, I would kiss them all on the cheek and give them each a raise and bonus for making their boss’ life easier.
The employee of the month is the slow cooker. I will give many thanks to my mother-in-law who bought us (me) this massive 10 quart slow cooker (Chris doesn’t touch this thing so it’s mine). You know what? You can’t do with anything less in my mind. I might not fill it up with a full 10 quarts of stuff but I can sure use the room for 5 – 6 quarts of slow cooked goodness. You always need room to stir stuff around and allow liquid to build. Always.
A couple months ago I bought a huge cookbook that’s about 2 inches thick with all slow cooker recipes.
Based on the title of the book it’s obviously a direct callout to me to challenge this behemoth book. There are only a few slow cooker recipes I’ve ever enjoyed. The major issues with slow cooker recipes are flavour and seasoning. Do you ever notice that the food smells amazing when it’s cooking but when you taste it it’s so bland? What an annoying trait to slow cooking. All that effort in browning, caramelizing and deglazing seems futile when the dish turns out so bland and oddly devoid of salt. I decided to go on a bit of a mission. Test out the recipes in the cookbook and see which one meets my fancy and then see if I can make it even better on my palette. My first pick was Chicken Dijonnaise. I read the recipe in the book. It sounded like it would taste good and the last step of the process is to season the dish before serving. That’s a good sign.
Here goes.
Chicken Dijonnaise
Yields 4 servings
8 skinless chicken thighs, bone in
1 lb white button mushrooms, halved if large
3 medium yellow onions, halved and quartered
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans of artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and quartered
½ cup dry white wine
1 ½ cup low sodium chicken broth
2/3 cup Dijon mustard
4 tbsp sunflower oil
3 bay leaves
Salt
Pepper
Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a deep pot over high heat. Add half of the oil and brown half the chicken on all sides. Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker. Repeat the browning with the remaining oil and chicken. Transfer the second batch of chicken to the slow cooker.
Add the garlic and onions to the pot and cook for 4 minutes until soft. Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook until all liquid has evaporated. Add the vegetables to the slow cooker.
Pour the wine into the pot and deglaze the bottom, scraping up any brown bits. Pour the glaze into the slow cooker. Turn the heat off.
Add the bay leaves.
Whisk the mustard and chicken broth over the warm element until the mustard is dissolved. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker. Gently mix the vegetables and chicken with the liquid.
Cook the chicken on low for 4 hours. Add the artichoke hearts 3 hours into cooking. Cover and add 30 minutes to the remaining cooking time.
Season with salt and pepper as needed before serving. Serve over rice, potatoes or with bread to dip.
Now, this is my version, slightly modified. The original recipe calls for cipollini onions but I used the modest yellow onion. In addition, I added on more clove of garlic but I don’t think it did the dish any justice because at the end the dish smelled incredible but lacked a certain sharpness. Nonetheless, the recipe has a ton of potential and is going to be a keeper. On my next try I think I’ll add a pinch of thyme and extra garlic.
Slow cooker test 1, completed. The result? Pass. 
