The Great American Slow Cooker Book (66 page)

1
Arrange the potato quarters in one layer in the slow cooker. Toss with the lemon zest, garlic, salt, and pepper. Lay the rosemary sprigs on top of the mixture.

2
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Set the chicken in the skillet and brown on all sides, splattering everything in sight and working patiently to get good color across the bird. Once done, set the chicken, breast side up, on top of the rosemary. Drizzle the wine on and around the chicken.

3
Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours, until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, without touching the bone, registers 165°F.

4
Unplug the appliance, uncover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a carving board, slice off and discard the twine, and then slice the bird into eight or nine pieces. Discard the rosemary sprigs before serving the potatoes and any juices in the slow cooker.

TESTERS’ NOTES

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Because the bird is browned before it is put in the slow cooker, it must be trussed to hold together in the skillet.

•
For a richer sauce, transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl and strain the sauce in the cooker into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then whisk in 1 or 2 tablespoons unsalted butter. Drizzle over the chicken and potatoes.

ALL-AMERICAN KNOW-HOW
A trussed chicken is one that has been tied with butchers’ twine to hold its shape as it cooks. The butcher at your supermarket can do this for you—or you can do it yourself. Use only dye-free, food-safe butchers’ twine, available at all cooking supply stores and most hardware and grocery stores. To truss the bird, pull the wings close to the breast to protect the white meat, then tie them in place by wrapping the twine around the bird a couple of times before knotting it. Bring the legs together over the large opening, crossing them over each other before winding the twine around their ends and knotting the twine securely, thereby mostly closing the large opening.

1
Whisk the coconut milk, broth, chile paste, fish sauce, and brown sugar in the slow cooker until the brown sugar dissolves.

2
Mix the ground chicken, onion, lemongrass, cilantro, and garlic in a large bowl. Use your clean, dry hands to form this mixture into meatballs using ¼-cup increments. Drop them into the coconut sauce.

3
Cover and cook on low for about 5 hours, until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the center of one meatball registers 165°F and the sauce is aromatic and rich.

TESTERS’ NOTES

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This spicy meatball dish is made even better with yellow chile paste. Look for a brand that isn’t just chiles, but instead is stocked with aromatics.

•
Mince the vegetables and herbs well so they meld evenly into the meatballs.

•
Some coconut milk is so thick it needs to be stirred in the can before you can use it in a recipe.

•
Timing in a ground chicken recipe is a tad less exact because the ground meat needs to reach a safe temperature. Various slow cookers operate at different temperatures on the low setting, so you may find you need to crank the machine to high for the last 30 minutes or so to get the meatballs done. If you’re working with an older model (and thus it has a lower “low” setting), you may need to cook all the ground chicken recipes on high, adjusting the timing down a bit to compensate.

INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED
Lemongrass is a slightly sour, lemony, perfume-laced grass highly prized in Southeast Asian cooking. It’s available in whole stalks at larger, high-end supermarkets. Choose the moistest and most pliable stalks of the bunch; then trim off the roots, peel off the outer layers, and use only the pale white or purple bits near the roots. Otherwise, the white sections of lemongrass stalks are often available in plastic containers near the other fresh herbs—or sometimes in jars in the spice rack or in the international aisle.

ALL-AMERICAN KNOW-HOW
To make your own yellow Thai curry paste, start by mincing two 2-inch-long pieces of trimmed lemongrass (only the white or purple bits near the root). Place these in a large spice grinder or a mini food processor with 1 or 2 seeded, stemmed, and chopped serrano chiles; 2 peeled, quartered garlic cloves; 4 whole cloves, 2 tablespoons cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Grind or process the ingredients, scraping down the interior of the container occasionally, until a coarse paste forms. Use as much as you need, then transfer this paste to a small glass jar or plastic container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

1
Mix the chicken, gruyère, spinach, onion, thyme, garlic powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in just enough wine that the mixture coheres without turning soupy.

2
Gently stuff the chicken mixture into the cannelloni tubes, using your clean fingers to push the filling into the still-hard tubes; lay the stuffed tubes in one layer in the slow cooker.

3
Whisk the broth, sour cream, flour, and hot pepper sauce in a second bowl, then pour over the tubes. Sprinkle with the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

4
Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, or until the sauce is bubbling and the filling is heated through.

TESTERS’ NOTES

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There are no ingredient amounts for a small slow cooker here because the effort seemed beyond the norm to make two stuffed tubes.

•
Squeeze the spinach in small handfuls to get rid of the extra water, which can ruin the sauce.

•
Work with only as many shells as will fit easily in the bottom of the cooker. (You’ll want to test it out before you start filling them.) If you find you must stack them a bit on each other, remember: (1) those shells on the bottom may collapse, so they won’t be neat servings; and (2) those shells on the top must be covered with sauce, in which case you may need to whisk together a little more.

•
Don’t use fat-free sour cream; it can break during the long cooking.

INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED
Gruyère is a hard Swiss cheese, prized for its sweet, salty flavor as well as for its ability to melt into perfect gooeyness. For almost all cooking and baking recipes, the less aged, slightly softer, and less expensive gruyère is preferred to the older, cracked, and more assertive varieties.

1
Bring a pan of water to a boil over high heat. Stem and seed the chiles, taking care to remove the pale inner membranes. Tear the chile flesh into bits and set them in a large bowl and fill the bowl at least halfway with boiling water. Set aside to steep for 20 minutes.

2
Heat a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes, then pour in the oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until translucent, about 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic and remove the skillet from the heat.

3
Drain the softened chiles in a colander set in the sink. Scrape them into a large food processor fitted with the chopping blade; add the onion and garlic to the food processor as well. Add the broth, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cover and process until a fairly smooth puree forms, scraping down the inside of the container once or twice. (If you’re working with a very large batch, it may overflow your food processor—work in two batches, if you’re at all concerned.)

4
Stir the beans, walnuts, and cinnamon together in a second bowl.

5
Layer the chile sauce, tortillas, chicken, bean mixture, and the cheese in the slow cooker. Repeat, making as many layers as you can in that order and depending on the size of your cooker.