Here is a totally different flavored chicken laced with some subtle spices, currants, and honey in a tomato based sauce that uses cooked salsa. It is a brilliantly simple recipe that tastes like a whole lot more and is adapted from one of all my friends’ favorite recipes that appeared in one of the best cookbook series in print, The Best American Recipes by Fran McCullough (Houghton Mifflin). This came from year 1999. Serve with couscous to be authentic.
Overview
Recommended Size: 1 1/2 to 3 quart cooker
Machine Setting: Low
Cook Time: 2 to 2 1/2 hours
Serves 2, maybe with leftovers
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 (3/4 to 1 pound) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, rinsed and dried
- 1 cup tomato salsa (Mexican-style: I use Salsa de Luna or Newman’s Chunky)
- 2 tablespoons dried currants
- 4 teaspoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
Spray the cooker with nonstick cooking spray. While the couscous is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add almonds and cook, stirring, until golden, 1 minute. Remove from skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on paper towels; coarsely chop. (Alternatively, you can just use packaged toasted sliced almonds.)
Add garlic to skillet and cook, stirring, just until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add chicken thighs and cook, turning once, until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. (Alternately, you can broil the thighs.) Transfer to the crock. Combine the salsa, currants, honey, cumin, and cinnamon and pour over the thighs. Cover and cook on LOW for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the chicken is fork-tender and the juices run clear when pierced with a fork. Season to taste. Serve over couscous, topped with the toasted almonds.
Excerpted from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook, by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. (c) 2005, used by permission from the Harvard Common Press.
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