Receta Herbie the Chicken
Or should that be Herby Chicken?
hmmmm
Well, I may have gotten carried away the other day when I decided to defrost and cook a lovely big roasting chicken I had in the freezer.
It was so pretty, big and plump and juicy.
And it was also hot outside so I didn't want to cook it in the oven, like I should have.
I decided to cook it in the crock pot and I think I outsmarted myself.
I did, actually.
I thought 4 hours in the crockpot would be OK, but it was about 2 hours too long. My poor chicken fell apart.
And the fresh herbs, well, they kinda over took the chicken and hijacked it.
But the beginning of it was just fine.
I took a half lemon (and cut the skin off and used it in the Lemon Extract) and two garlic cloves, put them inside the cavity and then browned the chicken in some EVOO and butter.
Placed the chicken in the Crockpot. Added a half cup of Riesling wine, cause it was sitting on the counter and I still had a half bottle left from the weekend.
Then I went out in the garden, well, to my herb pots and picked some fresh oregano, mint, thyme and parsley and raided a few leaves off of the Celery plant as well.
Took them in the house, gave them a rinse, then popped the herbs into the pan I'd browned the chicken in, just wanted to get the herby oils released from the leaves and then added some of my Home Made Chicken Stock, about 2 cups worth.
***Hint*** If you make your own stock, freeze it in a muffin tin. Each depression holds about 1/2 cup.
***Hint*** If you are using fresh herbs, remember that they are a lot stronger in flavour than dried herbs. In other words, you get more oomph for your recipe.
I then put the herbs on top of the chicken, put the lid on and walked away.
If you noticed I did not salt and pepper anything. The chicken stock was well seasoned and the herbs, well, they took the place of the stock.
After 4 hours, I decided to take the chicken out of the crock pot and it fell apart. sigh. But all the wonderful liquid in the bottom was good. I used part of it for a gravy and froze the rest.
I really liked the taste, especially since I sauteed some frozen veggies with some leftover rice for my side dish.
It was a little too herby for my DH's taste, but I noticed he ate all the breast meat anyway.