It may be summertime (and it's even hot some days here in Oakland, east
of San Francisco's fog) but I still use the crockpot. Last week I made
the crockpot work two days in a row, using the same chicken. Seems to
me it had its own life cycle...

First day I "roasted" the chicken according to the manufacturer's
recipe (sorta again) - put a sliced onion and many whole cloves of
unpeeled garlic in the bottom of an oval crockpot. Rinse a whole
chicken, salt it, do whatever else you might think of to a chicken
you're going to roast. Now this procedure does NOT give you "roast"
chicken although that's what the recipe calls it. Squeeze a lemon all
over the chicken and if you care to, put the halves inside the cavity.
Also put more garlic cloves & salt and pepper inside the bird. If you
have fresh parsley, that would be good inside, too. If you feel like
slicing a celery stalk and some carrot, just make sure it's under the
bird. I drizzle some olive oil over the bird for good measure, and
throw in a bay leaf. Any further herbs you like never hurt. Stick that
bird in the crockpot, cover, and cook on high for three or four hours
(check your cooker's instructions) or low for at least 6 hours, could
go as long as 7 or 8.

You will get a lovely stewed bird with some amazing chicken juices. You
have not added any further juice to the bird besides the lemon,
whatever comes out of the onion, and the olive oil, but you'll have at
least two cups of rich broth when it's done, plus a stewed chicken.
Best of all, you can do something else in the two hours before dinner
besides mess with a bird. With two rowdy boys in the house I need to
have the meal under control at 5 pm because otherwise we are all nuts.

You want to use the chicken juices in rice? Go ahead.

I tend to strain it off after dinner and refrigerate so I can remove
most of the fat (but not all. Fat tastes good - so saith Patricia
Unterman, San Francisco food writer and restaurateur)

How my poor chicken got recycled for the second day - there was of
course enough meat left to pick on for lunch. I made chicken salad with
mayo, lemon juice, salt and pepper etc. Wish I'd had capers - note to
self, buy capers.

That morning I sliced up multi-colored summer squashes, more garlic and
onion, fresh basil, put it all in the crockpot with about a half cup of
the strained chicken broth. Salted well, added dried thyme and oregano,
and turned the thing on low. By supper time I had this marvelous summer
squash braise. If I'd had garden fresh tomatoes I would have used them
instead of the chicken broth. Canned tomatoes would also do - then you
wouldn't need broth, natch, just use a little of the juice.

This was at least ten days ago so I forgot what our main course was,
but I didn't have to deal with cooking a veg side (and we eat at least
one veg and a salad with every dinner). I probably broiled something
simple or maybe that was the day I told Darlingest Husband, the Atkins
eater, that he was on his own for the animal protein, while the kids
and I ate pasta.

OT note on my personal life, not that most of you care - There has been
some polite inquiry by an old-time RFCer as to why hubbie's last name
no longer appears on my "handle." I'm a writer and I use my maiden name
as a writer. For a while there when I was first married and socializing
with my in-laws at RFC events, I used hubby's last name. It helped RFC
people know that I'm related to those other folks. But darlingest
in-laws left town and pretty much left RFC so it doesn't matter so much
to you guys.

When I call my son's school I tend to use hubby's name. Why confuse
them? But the loss of his name on my correspondence and blog does not
indicate a loss of affection! Au contraire. Long timers (if there are
any of you left - hi Barb and Victor) may remember that I was always
circumspect about my better half, largely because he is intensely
private and is happier if I don't gossip about him.

End OT note.

Did the squash in crockpot again this week - it's just a lovely way to
get a big veg dish under control early in the day. This is a South of
France sort of a braise - you could add eggplant too but I would salt
and sautee it first. The squash ends up quite done - so if you must
have your squashes cooked al dente, this idea is not for you.

You could adapt your favorite ratatouille recipe for the crockpot if
you like - the cooking technique is similar, a long slow braise in
crockery.

Bon appetit!
Leila

On 8 Jul 2006 22:08:46 -0700, "Leila" >
wrote:

>It may be summertime (and it's even hot some days here in Oakland, east
>of San Francisco's fog)

Hey, we're neighbors. Cool.

ObFood: Tonight's D&D fare was adzuki-bean dip (with onions, chili
powder, and cumin seeds), layered with salsa, sour cream, and
guacamole), tortilla chips, jalapenos, and stuff folks brought -- port
wine, chocolates, popcorn, baby carrots, stuff like that.

Oh, and I made some peanut-butter-and-sesame cookies that were okay,
but not great.

serene
--
Kissing Hank's Ass is 10 years old! http://jhuger.com/kisshank
My personal blog: http://serenejournal.livejournal.com
My new cooking blog: http://serenecooking.livejournal.com

Leila wrote:
> It may be summertime (and it's even hot some days here in Oakland, east
> of San Francisco's fog) but I still use the crockpot. Last week I made
> the crockpot work two days in a row, using the same chicken. Seems to
> me it had its own life cycle...
>
<snip>

Thanks for posting this! I always wondered if I could crock chicken
and not add water or broth. And the veggie recipe sounds delightful.
I am wondering if I could cut the cooking time to get a slightly more
firm finished product....?

-L.

On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:16:37 -0700, Serene >
wrote:

>On 8 Jul 2006 22:08:46 -0700, "Leila" >
>wrote:
>
>>It may be summertime (and it's even hot some days here in Oakland, east
>>of San Francisco's fog)
>
>Hey, we're neighbors. Cool.

I can highly recommend the two of you to each other. Both very
special ladies.

Carol

"Leila" > wrote in
oups.com:

> t may be summertime (and it's even hot some days here in Oakland, east
> of San Francisco's fog) but I still use the crockpot.


Leila!

Skipping the crockpot chicken topic, "The Smokehouse" on Telegraph Ave.
(just north of Alcatraz Ave a few blocks), "the planet's best burger
joint" imho, sustained me for years.

Revisited it back in 2003. SAME AS IT EVER WAS! -- Talking Heads

Andy

On Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:29:14 -0500, Damsel in dis Dress
> wrote:

>On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:16:37 -0700, Serene >
>wrote:
>
>>On 8 Jul 2006 22:08:46 -0700, "Leila" >
>>wrote:
>>
>>>It may be summertime (and it's even hot some days here in Oakland, east
>>>of San Francisco's fog)
>>
>>Hey, we're neighbors. Cool.
>
>I can highly recommend the two of you to each other. Both very
>special ladies.

Well, you and Leila both are welcome at my place (in North Oakland)
any time. :-)

serene
--
Kissing Hank's Ass is 10 years old! http://jhuger.com/kisshank
My personal blog: http://serenejournal.livejournal.com
My new cooking blog: http://serenecooking.livejournal.com

Andy wrote:
> "Leila" > wrote in
> oups.com:
>
>
> Skipping the crockpot chicken topic, "The Smokehouse" on Telegraph Ave.
> (just north of Alcatraz Ave a few blocks), "the planet's best burger
> joint" imho, sustained me for years.
>

for those not in the know, the Smokehouse does not serve weed. You'll
have to go almost anyplace else for that.

I lived around the corner from the Smokehouse my first 3 years in
Oakland (the town border snakes through people's back yards in the
neighborhood) and my hubbie and I went there on our first
it's-not-a-date-we're-just-friends-so-we-can-eat-where-we-really-want-to.
He was enchanted that I would eat at the Smokehouse, since I was
working at a culinary school and most women of my demographic group in
those days at that place turned up their noses at red meat. Hubby grew
up about 6 blocks up Woolsey from the Smokehouse. Anyway, we were
pretending it wasn't a date but it really was, and although we count
some other restaurant as our official "first date" eatery, it's really
Smokehouse.

I used to like their chili.

We just drove by there yesterday and noticed that the laundromat/liquor
store north of Smokehouse is now a block of very officey-looking condo
lofts. Why do people want to live in new lofts that look like 1960s
dental offices?

Leila