Thursday, April 17, 2008

Yesterday’s crock pot experiment was a success. Huzzah!

Since I didn’t have time to make mushroom soup for my version of Mom’s No Fail Chicken, I tried the following (with Beau’s help).

Crock Pot Mushroom Chicken

8-10 bone-in chicken thighs
Poultry Magic, to taste
1 package fresh, sliced mushrooms
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp dried tarragon
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup chicken stock

Season all chicken pieces with Poultry Magic and then place the pieces into crock pot. Cover with mushrooms and sprinkle top with onion, garlic, and tarragon. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover all with chicken stock (ours was shattered pieces of frozen stock).

Set crock pot on High for 2 hours, then reduce to Low for another 2 hours or so.

The plan was for Beau to start the pot at about 1:30 or so and have the thing cook entirely on LOW. But he got started late, so he did the mix of settings and we had perfectly cooked chicken. When I got home from work I could smell the warm aroma of the mushrooms. When I took the lid off the pot to inspect, I smelled the sweetness of the tarragon.

What I’ll change:

1. Less stock, especially if the chicken has skin on. Although we have a new batch of stock now, too.

2. I’d really like to sear the chicken before putting it into the crock pot next time. Crisps up the skin and gives it nice color.

3. It tasted really good, but it needed something a bit more. I may switch the tarragon to thyme next time. That might blend with the mushrooms better.

4. Use Lipton onion soup mix next time? We were out, but I think that would have made a nice gravy that we didn’t get since we couldn’t use the cream of mushroom soup.

Overall I was happy with the results and I’ll try it again.