Slow Cooker Chicken and Fennel

When I bought my first slow cooker, its sole purpose was to make cholent, the traditional stew that cooks all night to be served during Shabbat lunch.  Growing up, my mother never made cholent, so for me, eating cholent was a real treat; I love the warmth and richness of this humble stew.  Until recently, the only action my slow cooker had was in the winter when I made the occasional cholent. 

However, now that I am a working mom, I am finding that the slow cooker can really help me get dinner on the table mid-week as well as on Shabbat.  I have been reading a lot of slow cooker recipes in magazines and on Pinterest (did you know you could even bake a cake in one!?!).  I got inspired to try something new. 

This dish is a perfect one pot meal.  It has a protein (chicken), a starch (brown rice), and a vegetable (fennel).  It works great as a weeknight meal, as a Shabbat dinner entree, or as a cholent replacement for Shabbat lunch.  Don’t be scared away by the fennel.  This licorice tasting vegetable gets very sweet and tender when cooked.   In fact, it is quite child friendly: my one year old son gobbled up the fennel faster than I could get it on his plate!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Fennel

(This recipe is an adaptation from Real Simple magazine)

Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken thighs and legs, bone-in, with as much skin removed as possible
1 cup dry brown basmati rice
2 fennels, sliced.  Reserve some fronds for serving
½ onion, sliced
2 ½ cups water mixed with 1 scant Tablespoon bouillon (alternative could be 2 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth)
1 Tablespoon paprika, divided

Directions:

Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker.  Sprinkle some of the paprika on the chicken.  Pour dried rice on top of chicken and layer onion and fennel on top.  Sprinkle remainder of paprika over vegetables.  Pour water/broth into the crockpot.  Cover.  Cook on low for about 7 hours or high for about 4 hours.  Garnish with fennel fronds.  Serve with a green vegetable or salad.

Arroz con Pollo

Last week, for Cinco de Mayo, I themed my Shabbat dinner.  I wanted to combine the Mexican celebration with Shabbat.  But what was I going to make??  I did not want to make tacos or chips.  I wanted the meal to still fit in with Shabbat.  Then I thought of it: Arroz con Pollo!  Literally means rice with chicken.  It is a great one pot dish that is filled with fragrant spices, vegetables, rice and chicken.  Now the challenge was trying to make it kosher.  Many authentic Mexican recipes call for pork fat.  And here is where I found a little (a lot!) of help from a box.   I found the idea on the Joy of Kosher website.  I made some small changes to the recipe, mostly to increase the spice-factor.  The original recipe can be found here.  Below is my version. 

Arroz con Pollo

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, diced
2 bell peppers, diced (preferably different colors)
8 oz fresh sliced mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes with green peppers
1 chicken - cut into 8 pieces* (I think you could add a few more pieces, there is plenty of rice to accommodate more for leftovers)
2 boxes Near East Spanish Rice
2 1/2 cups of water
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons of paprika

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a large pan saute onion, peppers, and mushrooms in oil.  Add can of tomatoes.  Cook down for about 7 minutes, until vegetables are soft.  In a large pot, pour in Near East rice and spice-mix in.  Add vegetables and water.  Stir.

Season chicken with turmeric, garlic and paprika.  Nestle chicken on top of rice.  Place in oven.  Cook for about 1 hour, 20 minutes. 

It serves between 6-8 people, depending on how much chicken.  I served this with a side of black beans (spiced up with chili powder) and zucchini flavored with cumin.  It tied the flavors together perfectly.  Although originally for Cinco de Mayo, this is a dish that I will be making more frequently.  It was delicious!

Sarah’s “Montreal” Chicken

Sarah was one of my best friends in college.  During our senior year, I lived in a dorm with a kitchen, Sarah didn’t.  This meant that we didn’t see each other for dinner every night like we used too, so we made a date night.  Every Monday night we would take turns cooking, in my kitchen, for each other.  This is when I really learned to cook.  Sarah and I would be on the phone with our mothers all day Sunday or Monday as we wrote down our mother’s recipes, went to the grocery store, and cooked.  One day Sarah was excited that she got her mother’s “Montreal Chicken” recipe (not sure why it is called Montreal – Sarah was from St. Louis!).  She told me that this was one of her favorite Shabbat dinner meals, the meal she requested for Shabbat when she would go home during school breaks.  Sarah passed away a few years ago, but I make this dish often and it always brings me back to that night in my dorm having dinner with her. 

Ingredients & Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400.  

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 extra large egg
1 cup bread crumbs

Sauce:  (I adjusted the amounts in this sauce because I like the chicken a little spicy, and not as sweet.  If you prefer sweeter, add more sugar.)

1/3 c sugar
1/2 c lemon juice (juice from 2 lemons)
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t paprika
2 t curry powder

Dip chicken in egg and then bread crumbs, place on foil  or parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, wisk sauce together.  Flip chicken then pour 1/2 sauce over chicken.  Return chicken for another 10 minutes. Then flip chicken again and pour remainder of sauce.  Return to oven for 10 more minutes, until done.