By Vicki Needham
I grew up eating a comforting chicken dinner most Sundays. I remember asking my mom, “What’s for dinner?” and frequently hearing, “Chicken.” “Oh,” would usually be my response. Now, as a grownup (a relative term) I’m finding there’s more to just sticking a chicken in the oven with a couple of potatoes. Cooking chicken is … sexier.
For the record, I didn’t eat any of the chickens in these photos — they were at a B&B in Vermont I visited in August 2009. Their eggs were delish though and they were pretty darn entertaining as you might be able to guess from the shot of the guy giving me ‘the eye.’
So on to chicken cooking …
I buy my chicken from a local butcher, The Organic Butcher. Don and Wendell get their chickens from a couple of organic farms in Pennsylvania. If you eat meat, it’s a great shop located in McLean, Va. They sell a wide variety of meats, wine, local cheeses and produce. They make some *outstanding* chorizo, as well as a nice rotation of other sausages, steaks and roasts, all from local farmers.
In the past, I’ve roasted chicken in the oven. While that came out really well I wanted to give it a shot in my crockpot, a Christmas gift from my parents. It has served me well during the cold winter for soups and stews.
By Vicki Needham
So here’s what I did to make a fall-off-the-bone chicken and it couldn’t have been easier.
I put some frozen pumpkin — a New Zealand pumpkin, gray outside and bright orange inside — grown by my friends Matt & Mary on the bottom of the crockpot. I then added a few red potatoes, some mushrooms and poured a little bit of chicken stock on top of the veggies.
Then I cleaned the chicken, patted it dry, sprinkled salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme on the chicken and the veggies, placed it into the crockpot and put it on low. That was it. After about 4.5 to 5 hours, the chicken was done. It was tender and juicy and fell off the bone. Yum!