Slow-Cooker ‘Faux-tisserie’ Chicken with Wilted Spinach and Salsa Verde

Thursday, October 25, 2018
Slow-Cooker ‘Faux-tisserie’ Chicken with Wilted Spinach and Salsa Verde

Since I last posted, I’ve been on a bit of a whirlwind adventure. I’ve planned a wedding and spent the last two months travelling the globe with my new husband. The best part about all of this was the food! We ate like kings and queens, breakfast, lunch and dinner and experienced foods we could never have at home. The problem with this incredible adventure is that in coming home to my neat and empty kitchen, I’ve almost forgotten what to do in it! Queue my absolute saviour of the week, the Crock-Pot Express Multi-cooker. I spent the entire day yesterday trying to re-organise my life, meet deadlines (something I haven’t had to do in a while) and as I did so, this little machine was slowly but surely making a dreamy dinner. It’s been like a little butler in my time of need with its twelve cooking settings, including pressure cook, slow-cook, steam and sauté, so I can prepare pretty much anything I’m in the mood for, using just this one appliance and with basically zero clean up, given it’s non-stick and dishwasher proof inner pot. It also has 12 one-touch cooking settings (including eight one-touch pressure cooking meal settings), so I literally can go into zombie mode when making usually time consuming and complicated meals, and when using the pressure cooking function it cooks meals up to 70% faster! And hello, homemade yoghurt! I’ll be testing out that setting soon. (Yes, that’s one of the settings)!

Since I left London in the Summer and have arrived back in October, this invitation to the best kind of celebration couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m excited and relieved to be celebrating the month of Crocktober with Crock-pot, to help us all slow-down, slow-cook all October long. The Crocktober 31-day slow cooking challenge is aimed to help us all put our feet up, enjoy that extra hour in bed and get more quality time with loved ones. Importantly, #Crocktober sets out to remind us that it’s possible to cook delicious meals without taking up the whole day.

Rotisserie chicken is one of my absolute favourite comfort foods and I had been dreaming of getting into my PJs and tucking into something along those lines the whole journey home. This would taste delicious slow-cooked, so I decided first of all to try out the slow-cooking function to make this dish. All I had to do was rub the chicken with the easiest marinade in the world, and stick it in the Crock-Pot Express Multi Cooker and let it do its thing, while I got on with getting back to normality. The results were amazing and I was so excited about how it actually caramelises, even without the powers of an oven! As you might be able to tell, I’m a little bit in love with my new right hand man.

This is dinner perfection every night of the week. The spinach is done in literally 10 seconds and so is the salsa verde! You seriously can’t go wrong! I really advise you to give it a try!

#chefsofconvenience, #crocktober

Slow-Cooker ‘Faux-tisserie’ Chicken 
with Wilted Spinach and Salsa Verde

Serves 4

YOU WILL NEED:
For the chicken:
1 whole chicken
3 sprigs rosemary
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 garlic powder
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
2 lemons, halved
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 whole head of garlic, cut in half widthways
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 bag fresh spinach

For the Salsa verde:
2 big handfuls fresh parsley
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil


 Dry the chicken really well with paper towels.

Mix together the dried herbs, sugar, paprika, a pinch of salt and pepper and the olive oil until it forms a thick paste.

Rub it over the chicken and until it’s totally covered.

Place half of the onion pieces, half of the garlic and 2 of the lemon halves in the base of the Crock-pot Express Multi-cooker or slow-cooker. Then place a rack attachment (if possible) at the bottom of the slow-cooker and place the chicken on top. Stuff the inside of the chicken with the remaining lemon, garlic and onion and some of the rosemary sprigs. (If you don’t have this rack attachment, place the chicken directly on top of the onions, garlic and lemons).

Put the lid on securely. Put the machine on slow-cook mode and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until golden and crisp. If you’d like the chicken a little bit more crispy you can place it under the grill for 2-3 minutes.

To make the salsa verde, chop the parsley and garlic very finely and combine with the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, chilli flakes and nice pinch of salt and pepper.

Remove the chicken from the slow-cooker as well as the rack. Add the spinach and allow it to wilt for a few minutes in the sauce leftover at the bottom.

Pour the spinach onto a plate and serve the chicken on top with the salsa verde and whatever side you choose!

Enjoy!


This recipe is sponsored by Crock-pot.