Chicken in red wine/Chilli

It's so nice to come home to the smell of something cooking...
Having bought some chicken thighs as part of an offer this weekend, I had thought about making Coq au vin. However, time is not on my side this week and making one from scratch would take a little. So... I delved into the loft and found my slow cooker, washed off the dust and got it ready for this morning.

This recipe is my version of Coq au vin, without all the frying (purists look away now!). Let's call mine Slow Cooked Chicken in Red Wine. 

1 pack chicken thighs
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, sliced lengthways into 3, then each third, quartered lengthways.
1 pack pancetta cubetti.
1/2 pint red wine
4 tbsp brandy
seasoning
1 tbsp dried herbs.

Start by heating the slow cooker, whilst you prepare the onion and carrot. When warm, place the vegetables in the pot with the pancetta and the chicken thighs packed in. Season with pepper and herbs, then pour over the wine and brandy. Done! Put the lid on and leave on automatic for the rest of the day.

When I got home, I fried a small pack of whole, peeled shallots and a pack of button mushrooms in 1 oz butter and 1 tbsp oil. These I then popped into a serving dish in a warm oven until I needed them. 
Finally, I made a beurre manie (1 tbsp flour blended with 1 oz butter). I took the chicken out of the pot and put it into the serving dish, and whisked in the buerre manie to thicken the juices that were left. This was then poured over the chicken, mushrooms and onions before serving with brown rice.

I made tomorrow's dinner just because it too is nice and easy and will help me out tomorrow, when I have an appointment at H's school. I'm making Chilli from a recipe I found in a book I bought T a few years ago. My chilli has stayed pretty much the same over the years, but I'm able to adapt it too, when I lack the fresh herbs and the cinnamon sticks in my store cupboard. I've made this a couple of times this year and this is the recipe from back in February:

Tuesday 5^th February 2013

Cook ahead Chilli tonight from a tried and tested recipe written in a recipe book a while back…

Fry 500g mince in 1 tbsp oil until browned. Add chopped red onion and garlic and chopped fresh coriander to the pot. Continue to cook until soft. 

I usually buy a big bag of fresh coriander (pots of them seem to die on my very readily!), then use it once and freeze what’s left. The next time I need coriander in a recipe, I just chop from the frozen bunch – not pretty, but great for cooked meals where it is the taste that is important. Let’s face it, coriander wilts and shrinks away anyway when cooked in recipes like this.

Once the onion is soft, add a tin/packet of kidney beans and a 500g carton of passata. Stir in a chicken stock cube and add 200ml water, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tsp sugar, a whole chilli and a cinnamon stick. Stir all of this together, turn the heat right down, put on a lid and leave to bubble away for an hour.

If making in advance, like me, leave to cool before refrigerating. On the day, re-heat thoroughly and serve with rice, tortilla chips and sour cream. Avocado salsa adds a little extra – avocado, red onion, coriander and lime juice.

Ingredient list:
500g mince beef
1 red onion, chopped.
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Large handful fresh coriander, chopped
Tin kidney beans
Carton passata (you could use a tin of tomatoes instead. R doesn't like the bits of tomato, so I use passata a lot and get a really good base for this recipe).
Chicken stock cube
200ml water
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
whole chilli pepper
1/2 full cinnamon stick
Juice of half a lime.

Salsa:
1 avocado, cubed.
1/2 red onion, or white if you want a fresher taste to the salsa, chopped finely
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
Juice of half a lime.
Stir together and serve.

Hey presto! Time saved this evening means I'm a day ahead and am still eating home cooked food, can't get much better than that! :-)