Dinner Party Main Dish: Crock Pot Spice-Rubbed Chicken w/ Garlic, Onions & Blood Oranges

I don't use my crock pot nearly enough, so I decided to make a crock pot chicken for my main dish. I layered the bottom of the crock pot with sliced onions and baby potatoes (red bliss, purple & yukon), stuffed the chicken (under the skin and inside the cavity) with sliced blood oranges, onions &amp, and whole garlic cloves, then rubbed the whole thing with a spice mixture of garlic powder, salt, pepper, curry and garam masala. After 8 hours on low, it was succulently delicious, the meat literally falling off the bone, and the potatoes underneath had absorbed all of the wonderful chicken and spice juices.

Crock Pot Spice-Rubbed Chicken w/ Garlic, Onions & Blood Oranges

Ingredients:

3 medium onions, sliced into thick rings
1 lb baby potatoes, sliced into thick rounds
1 cup vegetable stock or orange juice
2 blood oranges, sliced into rounds
8 garlic cloves
1 whole fryer (4-5 lbs), rinsed & giblets removed
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

1. Layer bottom of crock pot with 2 of the sliced onions and all of the sliced baby potatoes. Add soup stock/orange juice.
2. Stuff remaining onion slices, blood orange slices and garlic under chicken skin and inside cavity. Combine spices. Place chicken in crock pot and rub all over with spice mixture.
3. Cover and cook 8-10 hours on low.

The cost:
onions: 1.15
potatoes: 1.99
stock: 1.99
oranges: .99
garlic: .15
chicken: 15.63

Grand total: $21.90; serves 8

Crock Pot Curry Chicken

Crock pots are amazing (I neglected to mention them in my post about kitchen gadgets, they are definitely well worth the investment, plus they are on sale this time of year). My friends SK & JT recently bought one, and JT has been wanting to experiment with cooking chicken in it. JT, this recipe is for you!

Crock Pot Curry Chicken

6 baby yukon or small white potatoes
2 onions
1/2 lb peeled baby carrots
1/2 cup white wine
chicken or vegetable soup stock
1 whole chicken (2-3 lbs)
2 Tbsp light olive or vegetable oil
2 Tbsp curry powder (less if you don't like it too spicy)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Wash and slice potatoes into thick rounds; peel and slice onions into thick rings.
2. Layer potatoes, onions and carrots to cover the bottom of the crockpot. Add white wine and soup stock until veggies are just covered.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together oil and spices.
4. Rinse out cavity of chicken to ensure there are no leftover innards. Remove skin if you like (although the skin helps keep it moist while it roasts).
5. Rub spice mixture all over chicken, both over and under skin.
6. Place chicken on top of veggies in crockpot. Cook on high 4-6 hours or on low 8-10.

Fun variations:

• Use a bag of peeled cippolini onions in place of regular onions.
• Make it spicy & sweet: Add 1 Tbsp apricot preserves or honey to the spice rub mixture.

The cost:
potatoes: .35
onions: .25
carrots: .99
chicken: 8.99
stock: 1.99

Grand total: $12.57; serves 4-8, depending on size of chicken; serve with my potluck rice pilaf!

Crockpot London Broil w/ Red Wine & Fennel

I participated in a professional development program this past Spring, and I've stayed in touch with a number of other people from my cohort, especially those who live in my area. A fellow cohort member was in town from the West Coast for a conference, so I invited a small group over to my place for dinner.

It ended up being just myself and JK, but we had a great time regardless (although we missed you SG, JM and NK!). I was very happy with the dishes I made: London broil with fennel and red wine in the crockpot, curried spinach & lentils, cucumber and radish salad with ginger-lime dressing and sweet potato muffins.

Here's the recipe I made up for my crockpot London broil (and here you thought you were going to get a super-sized post with all of the dishes I made today--you'll just have to wait for the rest!). I was exceedingly happy with the flavor profile; the red wine, fennel and thyme melded together beautifully and the meat was succulent and tender.

Note: I had leftover red wine from Shabbat, but you could also use beer if you have that on hand, although it will have a bit of a different flavor profile.

Crockpot London Broil w/ Red Wine & Fennel

Ingredients:

2 onions
2 fennel bulbs
1 box cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, cleaned
2 cups vegetable stock
1 lb london broil
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fennel fronds
6 sprigs thyme

Directions:

1. Slice onions and fennel (white part only) into rounds and layer with mushrooms in the bottom of a crockpot. Pour soup stock over mixture.
   
2. Lay meat on top of veggie mixture. Pour red wine and sprinkle salt, pepper and brown sugar over contents of crockpot. Lay chopped fennel fronds and thyme sprigs on top of meat.
3. Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 10-12 hours.
   

The cost:
onions: .50
fennel: 2.85
mushrooms: 1.99
veggie broth: .99
london broil: 9.49
thyme: 1.69

Grand total: $17.51; serves 4-6

Crockpot Deliciousness

Cooking with crockpots (also called slow cookers) is amazing. You throw in a bunch of ingredients, turn it on, and a delicious meal is ready for you when you get home from work. It's almost like it cooks itself! Oh wait...it does :)

Since a bunch of us didn't have plans for Friday night dinner this week we threw together a potluck. I was in charge of making a main dish, and since I Shabbat is so early now I knew I wouldn't have too much time to cook. Hence, I decided to use my crockpot.

This is a dump recipe--throw everything in, stir it up, then let the crockpot work its magic. I wanted something hearty and hot (cold weather and all), but also wanted there to be substantial meat so I threw a London broil in on top of my stew. It cooked up beautifully, succulent and juicy (you can also just use stewing beef).

Crockpot Lentil Stew

Ingredients:

1 lb lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 can chickpeas
28 oz can diced tomatoes (I like fire roasted)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 cups beef stock
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 lb London broil  or stewing beef

Directions:

1. Pour all ingredients except meat into crockpot and stir to mix.
2. Lay meat on top of stew mix and push down until just submerged (if using stewing beef, stir into crockpot mixture).
   
3. Cook on high 4-6 hours or on low 8-10 hours.

The cost:
lentils: 1.00
onion: .45
carrots: .20
celery: .20
stock: 2.39
meat: 10.99

Grand total: $15.23; serves 6-8

I'm a Cholent Nerd

I admit that I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to cooking, but I believe it has helped me perfect cholent-making.

Cholent is traditional Jewish stew that one cooks on low for a long period of time, usually to have for lunch on the Sabbath. I've had good cholent, but because it cooks for so long (14-16 hours), the meat is frequently dried out and tough.

Cholent making tip #1: Layer your ingredients.

I did a little reading up on crockpot cookery. It cooks food in two ways: Rising heat and surrounding heat. Because of the construction of the heating elements in crockpots, the bottom and middle of the crockpot are cooked with both rising and surrounding heat, which things toward the top are cooked with mostly rising heat.

Because you are cooking the cholent for so long, you want to make sure that you are cooking the meat with rising heat, rather than both rising and surrounding. This will help to ensure that the meat is nice and moist when you pull it out. I mix all of my ingredients together to fill the crock about 3/4 of the way, then leave the top 1/4 for the meat.

Cholent making tip #2: Decreased surface area = perfectly slow-cooked meat.

A lot of people using beef cubes or stewing beef when making cholent. That's fine, except cubed beef has lots of surface area for the heat to reach. More heat = more potential to dry out, especially over such a long period of time. Stewing beef is also usually very lean, and it's a good idea to use meat with good marbling (read: fat) so it stays moist.

My solution: I use a chuck steak, boneless or bone-in work equally well. I lay the steak right on top of my cholent ingredients, and for additional moisture help I pour a bottle of cocktail sauce on top (BBQ sauce would work well too). I was home this weekend and actually used a whole chuck roast which was pretty amazing (thanks Mom!).

Here is my recipe in case anyone is interested (I have a pretty large crockpot so if you have a smaller one, you may need to decrease the proportions):

3 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
8 red bliss or baby yukon potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
2 large onions, quartered
1-1/4 cups quinoa
1 can small white beans
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp onion soup mix
2 cups beef stock
2 cups water
1 chuck steak (1 lb, give or take)
1 bottle cocktail sauce

Directions:

1. Place first six ingredients in a crockpot and stir to mix. Add beef stock first, then water until you can just barely the liquid through your ingredients.
2. Lay steak on top and pour cocktail sauce over meat.
3. Cover and cook on low for 12-16 hours, or until it's lunch time!

Fun Variations:

• I like using quinoa because it's doesn't get all gluey and congealed but still provides the thick consistency you want in cholent (and of course the whole gluten free thing). Rice works well too, and you can use barley but it soaks up so much water I'm always worried the cholent will be too dry.
• Substitute the white beans for chickpeas and add 1 Tbsp allspice for cholent with a Middle-Eastern flair.

The cost:
sweet potatoes: 1.19
baby potatoes: 1.39
onions: .59
quinoa: 1.66
beans: .79
onion soup mix: .23
beef stock: 1.99
steak: 12.99
cocktail sauce: 1.29


Grand total: $22.12; serves 8-10