Crockpot chicken two ways: Marbella and cumin carrot stew

Kowalski's had a great (and rare) sale on chicken thighs recently so I stocked up. Great candidates for firing up the slow cooker for some warm late-winter meals.

Spiced chicken stew with carrots

Adapted from “One Pot” from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living. If you’re wondering why it counts as a one-pot meal when it dirties two, it’s because they were figuring on using a slow cooker that has a browning function, which I lack. I used a mix of regular orange carrots, some purple and yellow baby carrots and a parsnip, since I turned out to have fewer carrots than I thought I did. It made for nice color variation.

Ingredients

2 pounds carrots cut 1½-inch long
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cinnamon stick
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 bone-in chicken thighs (about 2½ pounds)
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted

Method

Place carrots, garlic, cinnamon and cumin in a crock pot.

Heat oil in large saute pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and brown chicken in oil. Place atop carrot mixture in slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (or 4 on high). Add raisins for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Serve garnished with cilantro and almonds. They suggest serving it with cooked couscous.

Rating: Not sure I'd classify this as a stew, exactly. The cumin flavor helps infuse all those carrots. Maybe a useful dish if you're looking for a weeknight family meal and need to use up some carrots. Not company-rated, by any means.

Ack! I forgot the parsley garnish. It's prettier with that. And if I'd bothered to light it properly.

Slow cooker chicken Marbella

Adapted from something I saved from somewhere online dubbed Party-Picnic Chicken, but when I try to follow the link now I get a dead end so I’m not sure where to credit it. The internet is filled with slow cooker versions of the the classic from "Silver Palate Cookbook" by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. This one subs apricots for the prunes, which might be blasphemy, but it's a damn tasty bit of heresy. Plus, I had apricots on hand, and I'm unlikely to deliberately procure prunes on a regular basis because there are tastier dried fruits with a consistency I find preferable..

Ingredients

8 bone-in chicken thighs
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1⅓ cup sliced Spanish green olives
2 tablespoons capers
⅓ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup dried apricots, sliced
2 bay leaves
Chopped parsley for garnish

Method

Place chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle with garlic, oregano, olives and capers. Combine orange juice, olive oil and vinegar. Pour over the top. Sprinkle brown sugar and apricots over chicken. Tuck in bay leaves and season with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Serve chicken pieces with juices drizzled on top and sprinkled with that parsley garnish that I forgot at picture time. Couscous makes a good accompaniment to soak up the sauciness. Serves 4.

Rating: Now this is a slow cooker chicken recipe you could conceivably give to guests. Nice balance of sweet and savory. Dave called it nom-tastic. Certainly a worthy repeater that takes very little prep time. Good ROI of kitchen time. I wouldn't class the first recipe as a keeper, but this one definitely qualifies.

So why did I put the best recipe last? Pure vanity. Sometimes I just want to go ahead and eat so I can't be bothered to take the time to light the food properly, and in Minnesota, natural light does not come at dinner time most of the year. Clearly I'm cooking for us first.