slow cooked coq au vin

It's no secret that I love to cook/bake/eat and during winter I really love nothing more than throwing everything into a slow cooker and letting it do all the handwork.  I know, Masterchef purists would be horrified, but meh, I'm a busy mum who sometimes just can't be bothered making a meal from scratch.  So, for those of us who sometimes like to be a little lazy, here's my slow cooker version of Chicken Coq Au Vin...which may or may not be cooking as we speak/read/type....

700grams chicken thigh meat, cut into bite sized pieces

60g pancetta or bacon, roughly chopped

1 cup red wine

1 cup chicken stock

3 eschallots (fancy onions), peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

gourmet garden chunky garlic

gourmet garden thyme

button mushrooms

bay leaves

Now normally I just whack everything into the slow cooker and let it work it's magic for a solid 5-6 hours, but because I had a bit of time up my sleeve today, I tossed the chicken in some flour and cooked it & the pancetta off until it was golden brown.

While the chicken and pancetta was browning, I threw all the other ingredients into the slow cooker and then tipped the chicken on top.

And apparently, according to the cookbook I used (ABC Delicious), it will come out looking something like this....

Hmmm...looks delicious alright.  Wonder if mine will look quite that good?  I'll let you know tomorrow xox

How about you?  Do you use a slow cooker?  Feel free to share your fave recipe below...