Crock Pot Spanish Braised Chicken for Two (plus leftovers)

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: Thought it was dry and agreed not as tasty as other dishes we've tried.
SHE SAID: This was ok.  Not as tasty as our Chicken Fricassee (Cuban style).

Finished product

This week has been a busy week for us...no time to cook in the crock pot...but we definitely had time this weekend!  Here's another recipe we saved from Stephanie O'Dea's blog, but we tweaked the recipe a bit since we had white wine already in the house.  Wanted some leftovers too for work lunches, so we made enough for dinner for two and one day of leftovers.

Reading Stephanie's recipe reminded us of one of our favorite Cuban dishes "Chicken Fricassee".  There are many versions of this dish, including a Puerto Rican one which we've made also, but our favorite is still the Cuban style.  We were tempted to turn the Spanish Braised Chicken into Fricassee, but decided we should try something new.  Mmm..we'll have to make Chicken Fricassee in the crock pot soon!  So many recipes to try, so little time!

Before

The cook forgot to follow Stephanie's suggestion of cutting the chicken in half to help with the dryness.  Our chicken came out dry.  The leftovers were cut in half and sat in the crock pot for an hour in the juices...hope this helps.  We had thighs in our hands at the market, wished we stuck with thighs.


Here's our tweaked recipe...it's almost the same as Stephanie's.

RECIPE:

Serves 2-3, 4-qt crock pot

1 T. butter
4-6 chicken breasts (cut in half)
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. dried thyme
1-2 bell peppers, sliced (used one since it was a large bell pepper)
1 medium red onion (sliced into rings)
1/2 c. white wine (original recipe called for brandy)
1/2 an orange, juiced
12 lg. green olives, chopped (stuffed with pimentos)

After 7 hours

Plug in crock pot and turn on low before you chop veggies.  Add butter and spread around pot.  Add chicken.  Add all dried spices on chicken.  Cut bell peppers and onions, mince garlic (we use the already minced garlic from Costco), add to chicken.  Top off with wine and orange juice.  Chop olives and sprinkle on top.  Cover and cook 7-8 hours on low.

We served this with Japanese (short grain) rice and white corn.  As mentioned earlier, it didn't wow us, but it was still good.  Perhaps it would come out better with thighs and the brandy.

Enjoy!