My first introduction to a slow-cooker was as a child visiting my Grandma. She lived a fair way away so visits were always packed with activity. She liked using the slow cooker because she could just set it going and then we could go out and have fun without her having to worry about cooking a meal later on.
My favourite slow-cooker dinner from those days was chicken in cream sauce. I think she used a Homepride cook-in sauce but I can't seem to find it in the shops any more so I thought I'd have a bash at making something similar.
Grandma used the slow-cooker for convenience, but like all her generation she's careful with the pennies so I'm sure she'd be happy to see me promoting it as an excellent way to lend tenderness to cheaper cuts of meat like the chicken thighs and drumsticks I'm using today.
As usual with slow-cooker dishes, the trick is simply to get some colour onto the ingredients in a frying pan then cook in liquid in the slow cooker. I've had to over-complicate this simple process a bit due to the complications of our day, but just imagine you've got the grandkids staying, you do the prep while they're getting ready to go out, and then you're free to enjoy your afternoon on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare without having to worry about a meal when you get home.
Here in the reality of everyday life though, I'm on night shifts so I'm doing the prep at 7am on the way in from work.
I'm going to start with the chicken. I've got thighs and drumsticks, which are usually dirt cheap with the skin and bone on even if you go free-range/organic. One thigh and one drumstick per person is a fairly sensible portion. Get a pan nice and hot and fry in a mixture of butter and vegetable oil until the skin is nice and golden-brown.
Ordinarily I'd put the browned chicken straight into the slow-cooker, but I'm not starting straight away. This is for tonight's dinner and I'm not happy about leaving warm chicken out at room temperature until the slow-cooker starts up on its timer, but nine hours is too long to cook chicken for. Not a problem - my girlfriend comes home for lunch so I'm putting the chicken into the fridge for now. She'll load up the slow-cooker later.
Next, take the pan off the heat and prepare the veg. Slice up a leek and a couple of carrots, on the diagonal, nice and fine.
Re-light the heat under the same pan (no need to wash it) as low as possible and gently sweat the leek and carrot.
While that's going on, peel and cut up a large potato (or a couple of small ones) into bite-size chunks and add them to the pan too.
When the leeks are soft, add a large glass of white wine to the pan, bring it to the boil and let it reduce for a minute or so.
Then add enough chicken stock to cover everything comfortably, season, add a generous sprinkling of tarragon (or whatever herbs you fancy) and reduce the heat to let it simmer for a few minutes.
Again, if you're planning to eat in three or four hours time, this can go straight into the slow-cooker. I'm over-complicating things today though, so into the fridge it goes.
I'm off to bed. I've set the timer on the slow cooker to come on at around half three, so that we can eat at seven. My girlfriend will be home at lunchtime to transfer the ingredients from the fridge to the slow cooker.
Later...
I'm awake! Slow cooker sauces can be a bit watery so make a paste of a tablespoonful of cornflour and about two of water, and stir that through to thicken it.
Then, about half an hour before you want to eat, cut some nice nutty brown mushrooms into quarters and add them, along with a small tub of double cream.
I'll be honest, the thickening agent didn't make a blind bit of
difference - this was still a bit of a watery sauce. Delicious though.
It tasted of nostalgia to me, so I think I did it right.
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