I THINK MY slow cooker might be the dinner chef I’ve always wanted and have never been able to afford.
Let me explain.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like cooking dinner after work. My days can be mentally tiring. And with that, I sometimes feel physically tired as well.
I’ve had a slow cooker for years but I’ve never fully explored its capabilities.
Until now.
I was talking with my grandmother about not enjoying making dinner after work and she asked if I had a slow cooker. Then she handed me a book of recipes.
Within “Crockery Cookery” by Mable Hoffman (1975) is a recipe that sounded like it was created especially for me: the busy woman’s roast chicken.
I’m definitely busy. So busy, in fact, that I almost forgot to cook it.
I meant to make this recipe last Sunday but couldn’t wake up in the morning and forgot about it.
Monday morning, however, when I awoke to a frozen non-wonderland covered in snow, it seemed like a wonderful time to have a roast chicken ready for dinner when I got home.
I bought the ingredients the Saturday before, so everything was ready.
Honestly, buying two of the ingredients was way more difficult than cooking this chicken.
I’m not a wine person. I don’t know anything about it but when a recipe calls for it, I buy it. It’s usually pretty simple because it’s usually just white wine or red wine and that’s as specific as it gets.
This recipe calls for sauterne wine. What?
A simple internet search told me it’s a French sweet wine from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux.
OK, good to know. However, the wine aisle at my preferred grocery store didn’t have a single bottle of wine with the word “sauterne” on it.
Back to the internet while standing in the wine aisle — the digital age isn’t all bad sometimes.
Turns out a good replacement wine, because of its sweetness, is white zinfandel.
It didn’t really matter because I’d never be able to tell the difference.
So, with wine procured, I went on a search for Stove Top dressing. Again … what?
There was nothing in the store called Stove Top dressing. I found Stove Top Stuffing, but that’s not the same thing, right?
According to the internet, it is in fact the same thing. It all comes down to location. Some places call it dressing, some call it stuffing.
Either way, it gets shoved inside the bird.
The recipe came together pretty quickly, which was good because I had to leave for work an hour early to brave the winter weather terror that awaited me.
At lunch, I checked on the chicken and it was cooking well.
When I got home — only partially frozen — it was perfectly tender and tasty to boot.
Busy woman’s roast chicken from ‘Crockery Cookery’ by Mable Hoffman (1975)
1 6-ounce package Stop-Top dressing (it’s the same thing as stuffing)
1¼ cups water
¼ sauterne wine (I couldn’t find it. Used white zinfandel instead)
12 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces (baby carrots worked just fine)
1 4- to 5-pound roasting chicken
Salt and pepper
Prepare dressing (stuffing) according to package directions with 1¼ cups water. Set aside to cool.
When cool, stir in the sauterne. (I honestly couldn’t taste a difference.)
Meanwhile, in saucepan, cook carrots in small amount of water for 5 minutes. Drain and place in slow-cooking pot.
Rinse and dry chicken; stuff with dressing. Place on top of carrots in slow-cooking pot.
Sprinkle salt and pepper to your preference. I skipped the salt to lower the sodium content of the meal.
Cover pot and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until chicken is tender. Mine cooked for 10 hours because that’s how the day worked out. It wasn’t burned and was perfectly tender to the point that meat fell off the bone.
If a browner chicken is preferred, place in baking pan in 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
Slice chicken; serve with carrots. Makes six to seven servings.
________
Emily Hanson is a copy editor/paginator for the Peninsula Daily News. She is also a beginning baker and clumsy cook. She can be reached at 360-452-2345 ext. 560-50 or ehanson@peninsula dailynews.com.
