[Slow Cooker] Chicken Cranberry Casserole

It's Valentines Day, and I had a hot date with the crockpot and comfort food, on the couch watching a TV show about teeny tiny animals - monkeys, piggies, dogs, etc.  

Yes, even a glass of wine was involved - in the cooking!!  (I can't drink with my medication, but that's ok, when it's cooked, the alcohol cooks off, so I still get the flavour!)

Two things that always marry together beautifully - chicken and cranberry.   Seriously.  At school, my favourite thing to buy from the tuck-shop (like a cafeteria, but not) was chicken and cranberry sauce wraps - delicious!  So when I saw this recipe in my mums slow cooker recipe book a couple of years back and asked her to make it, I knew it could only come out well.  And I was right.  :)

Now it was my turn to try to make it, since we had a pack of chicken thighs in the freezer that needed using, and I had bought some dried cranberries specifically to make it.

Serves 4 - 6

INGREDIENTS

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

8 skinned & boned chicken thighs

3 rashers bacon (I used ~200g middle bacon - less fat)

170g packet dried cranberries

1 cup red wine

1 teaspoon chicken stock powder

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons cornflour

3 tablespoons water

salt

METHOD

• Peel onion and chop
• Crush, peel and chop garlic
• Trim and discard any chicken fat, and cut thighs in half.  I had chicken thigh cutlets to use today, so Mum cut the chicken off the sides and threw the bones in too (we just cooked it longer)
• Derind bacon and chop into pieces
• Place onion, garlic, chicken, bacon, cranberries, wine, stock powder and bay leaf in the slow cooker
• Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours
• Stir halfway through cooking if possible
• Half an hour before end of cooking, mix cornflour and water together, and mix into the chicken mixture
• Cover and cook on HIGH for 30 mins
• Season with salt and serve on rice or potato with vegetables!

 

Tonight we had the casserole with potatoes Mum had grown in her tubs, and steamed veges.  

It was a bit runny even with the cornflour step at the end (which was in the original recipe), so I'm thinking next time maybe only half a cup or 3/4 cup of wine, to see if that helps.  I'll edit this post if it does (or if not).   

Either way, it's delicious.  The saucyness is less of a problem when served on rice, but when it's not, you kinda want it to be a bit thicker.  Good excuse to mop it up with bread though ;)