Post Breakdown Prosecco Chicken, that's why mums go to the coop.

A slow Cooker Recipe. 10 -15 mins prep.

I remember, wistfully, the days when I lived in a big four bedroomed house, with three bathrooms and a husband home every night to help with bedtime. I used to order vegetable boxes from the Organic Pantry at Tadcaster, fish from Priestley Fish on Bradford Market and organic meat boxes from Swillington Farm. The only thing I had to worry about was what tasty, nutritious treats shall I cook up tonight or what shall I do for the next PTA event? To all my friends I was the perfect mother and the perfect wife, having the nickname Bree (in reference to the desperate housewives character) by some friends. We had big dinner parties every weekend with a huge dining table to fit 18 people round. Every kitchen gadget imaginable that I could fit into my many cupboards, even a hostess trolley and a smoker. On the surface I had everything, an amazing pimped out house, 6 holidays a year, two beautiful children, a good job, a handsome husband with perfectly coiffed hair, he has a wicked sense of humour and even better dress sense. However behind closed doors my marriage was failing. I think I felt such a failure, that I needed to excel in other areas of my life. I put all my energies into motherhood, in the process I didn't even know who I was any more.

Fast track two years on and one mini nervous breakdown later. I have a new house, a new guy, a new job and a new cooking blog. I remember who I am again. However, I'm now in a tiny, one and a half bedroom 300 year old cottage, with two kids jammed into bunkbeds like sardines, no central heating and the tiniest dining kitchen ever. We struggle to get the three round the table. Sadly, the days of big elaborate dinner parties are gone along with the comfort and financial security that comes with being married to a banker. These days when I have invited friends round it's been fish and chips on the garden bench. Or like last saturday, sharing a bottle of prosecco in butterfield park while the kids run round with the dog. Life is certainly much more exciting now, and I'm certainly more authentic to myself but it's a lot harder. These days every week I say to myself I must start doing the organic thing again. However it goes out the window faster than I can open a bag of wotsits to placate my three year old who is sat watching cbeebies now, so I can write this blog. I certainly wouldn't win mother of the year 2016. Yet again I will find myself in the Coop after the school run. Sometimes life gets crazy, thank god the Coop!

One day last week I found myself in there again, grabbing the usual nasty premade pizzas until I noticed a fridge full of reduced chickens, next to some lardons. Oooooh Coq au Vin, I thought, I'll go and get some wine. Now those of you who know me, will know that I'm very partial to extra dry prosecco, after my many trips to Italy last year. Well, my hero, the late Keith Floyd always said if you wouldn't drink it then don't cook with it! So it would have been rude not to buy it, after all what would I do with the rest of the bottle other than drink it that evening?

Ok so the chickens weren't Poulet de Bresse, but at £1.59, an absolute steal! I grabbed two (one for the freezer) and rushed to the tills, where made an announcement to another mum about the bargains. She scrambled off to the chicken fridge with her buggy. If the idea of jointing a chicken fills you with horror, you can do one of two things. Either think bugger it life is too short and bang it in the slow cooker whole, which is perfectly acceptable; alternatively here is a video from our national treasure, good old Delia Smith.

PROSECCO CHICKEN RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

A chicken whole or jointed, or a packet of chicken legs

1 onion

About 4/5 carrots

1 packet of smoked bacon lardons/pancetta/steaky bacon chopped (you need the fat for flavour)

3 sticks of celery

Mushrooms

One chicken stock cube or stockpot

Half a bottle of prosecco

200ml water

Salt and pepper

Half a teaspoon of herbs de provence or thyme.

2 tablespoons of plain flour

2 tablespoons of standard olive oil (not extra virgin)

6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled if you want, just remember not to eat the skin

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish when it's cooked (optional).

METHOD

1) Put your slow cooker on high to warm up and a pan on the hob on high heat. Meanwhile fry the bacon on a high heat stirring regularly so it's evenly browned.

2) If you are jointing your chicken do it now in between stirring your bacon, it takes less than two minutes, watch the Delia video.

3) When the bacon is browned, lift it out of the pan and straight into the slow cooker.

4) Put the olive oil in the pan and sprinkle flour over chicken on both sides to coat.

5) Fry the chicken on both sides until it's golden brown.

6) While the chicken is browning chop your carrots. I'm sorry all you precise people but for this life is too short to peel carrots. If they're already cleaned just line them up on a chopping board as featured below in the photos. Simply cut the ends of and just chop them into big chunks.

7) Chop the onion and celery and add to the slow cooker with the cloves of garlic.

8) When the chicken is browned on both sides add to the slow cooker and put the pan back on the heat. Pour in half a bottle of prosecco and the chicken stockpot/cube. You need to boil the wine on a high heat for a couple of minutes to kill the alcohol. This has the added bonus of deglazing the pan and removing all leftover flour etc in pan. Good for colour, flavour and makes it easier to wash your pan after.

9) Pour this too into the slow cooker and add salt, pepper, the water and herbs.

10) Cook for 8-10 hours on low or 6 hours on high depending on what time you start and what time you want to eat. Add mushrooms chopped into 4 one hour before the end. Serve with rice, mashed potato or crusty bread. Enjoy with a glass of the rest of your Prosecco!

If you would like to send feedback or need any help with the recipe, please contact me on kirsty@kirstyiscooking.co.uk. I would love you to share using the buttons below. TIA Kirsty xxx

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