This is it.
The last one of the season.
Both slow cookers have been put into summer hibernation, not to be seen again until fall.
The smoker and all three grills have been moved out of the barn and are in use.
Summer, or, at least, summer cooking has officially arrived.
Yes, yes, I know…. One can make wonderful barbecued chicken or ribs in the slow cooker.
Trust me… that will never happen at this house. If I even hinted at such an outlandish idea mon mari would just assume that I was joking or had a momentary lapse of sanity.
And really – he does summer cooking…. Why would I want to take that away from him?
We had this with spaghetti to take advantage of the wonderful sauce.
Chicken and Olives, Slow Cooker
Total time: 7 hours
Ingredients:
- 5 chicken thighs, skinless
- 1 leek, trimmed, sliced including tender part of green
- 1/2 red pepper, chopped
- 2 cups (16oz, 450gr) tomatoes, peeled, chopped
- 1/3 cup (3oz, 90ml) chicken broth
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 2 tbs tapioca
- 1/3 cup green olives, sliced
- 2 tbs parsley
Instructions:
- Combine leek, pepper, chicken stock, tapioca in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Lay chicken on top.
- Combine tomatoes, paprika, cumin and mustard. Spoon over chicken.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 – 7 hours.
- When ready, remove chicken to a platter
- Add olives, parsley to sauce and stir well.
- Spoon over chicken and serve.
I saw an article the other day that said salted butter was making a comeback.
Apparently no one bothered to tell me when it left.
I shall confess: I have always used salted butter. One time I bought unsalted butter by mistake and I was so traumatized when I tasted it that I vowed never to do that again.
When I was a very small child my mother used butter (salted), bacon fat, and lard.
As times changed she substituted Crisco for the lard when needed, and, eventually, switched to margarine.
There is, of course, no substitute for bacon fat.
She continued to use margarine and Crisco for the rest of her life. I switched back to butter as soon as I was stocking my own kitchen.
She liked the taste of margarine; I always thought it had a sour flavor.
I use butter (salted) and olive oil.
I have always used salted butter in baking.
I didn’t realize until I read the article that not everyone uses salted butter.
I checked my Betty Crocker Cookie Book. No mention of unsalted or salted butter anywhere.
Just butter.
I’m not totally clueless…. I have seen recipes that called for unsalted butter. Usually in gourmet cook books or recipe sites.
I ignored it.
Because there was always salt added to the recipe anyway and just because….
I’m so relieved that I am not longer at risk of the food police breaking down my door and confiscating my salted butter.
Not that I knew.
Or cared.
I use salted butter at every opportunity which is just about every recipe I make. I also use olive oil, bacon grease and lard! Lard still makes fabulous crusts for things like pasties and the crust just tasted so much better. I guess I’m not so PC, huh?
And those chicken thighs look wonderful! I don’t use my crockpot in the summer either, but I can adapt this recipe 🙂
I’ve never seen lard here – but duck fat is wonderful for frying… (I don’t think baking, but I’ll ask lol) I usually have some in the fridge during the winter. It must be healthy as well – it stays soft even in the fridge
I use my crockpot year round – nothing beats going to a ball game and have dinner ready when you come thru the door- I’ve been know to bring it on vacation – same idea – busy day – dinner is ready
I know that appeals to a lot of people…. but we have never wanted to eat that quickly after getting home from anything. My mother had dinner on the table 10 minutes after my father got home from work. We’re more like 2 hours lol. Besides, I don’t want to be inside during the day in summer to do the prep. And also besides – I don’t cook in the summer lol
I’ve always used salted butter too, and generally ignore instructions to use unsalted in recipes. My husband would leave home if he had to spread unsalted on his toast. I’ve always figured that the amount of salt in butter is so minimal it can’t make a significant difference to anything, and as you say, many of the recipes calling for unsalted then add salt as a separate ingredient. I am impressed that a couple of my French friends can tell by tasting a dish if salted or unsalted butter has been used though. The use of salt or not in butter traditionally in France is related to the gabarre, the notorious salt tax. We are in a high salt tax region in the Touraine, so unsalted butter is the norm. Brittany had no salt tax, so could afford to squander it in things like butter.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as salt tax! Living in the Vendee we were fairly close to salt flats and I just assumed it was readily available and affordable.
My husband would be with yours. Really?!? They can tell the difference? Oh la la!
Sorry — that should be gabelle. I always get the two words mixed up.
The salted butter I buy here is way less salted than the Australian version I find !!
I have never thought that French butter was very salty. But other Australian friends from Andorra are BIG users of salt…..
The salt tax no longer exists. De Gaulle finally got rid of it in 1945. As a salt producing area the Vendée would have had no salt tax or minimal salt tax. In the Touraine though, the whole trade in salt was controlled by the government, with government salt warehouses guarded by troops in every town. If you were caught smuggling salt and were unarmed you were sentenced to the galleys. If you were armed you were executed.
I meant I didn’t know it had ever existed. It was not something that was talked about when the locals talked about ‘the old days’ which, of course in France can go back hundreds of years. In looking it up I think they negotiated an exemption. Interesting to read about it as it was around for 5 centuries and I’ve never heard it mentioned or read about it before. It will be a good question to ask my French teacher 😉 Love it when I learn something new – and even better if I can stump the French teacher lol