Foodie Fridays: Slow Cooker Coq au Vin II

Whenever the weather turns wet and dreary, as it has in Georgia lately, I feel the need to make a comfort food slow cooker recipe that takes little effort but results in a warm and delicious meal satisfying to both mind and body.  I was in the mood for a slow cooker coq au vin, but decided to try a different recipe from a previous one I had made, mostly to use up some ingredients I had in the freezer and pantry.  I found a few recipes online and put together my own version, which requires less effort than most but is still full of flavor.  I try to avoid having to cook ingredients before putting them in the slow cooker, so I eliminated any frying, searing, and sautéing steps.  I did like the idea of boiling the wine down to concentrate the flavor, and I kept that step.  While there may be even more flavorful recipes for slow cooker coq au vin out there, I found my recipe to be quite tasty and effortlessly easy, which is just what I wanted.

Slow Cooker Coq au Vin II

1 bottle red wine
3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bag (12 oz.) frozen pearl onions, thawed
16 oz. whole mushrooms, cleaned and halved
1 bag (16 oz.) baby carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 C. chicken stock
1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
3 sprigs fresh thyme
6-8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled*
3 T. butter, softened
3 T. flour

Pour the wine into a medium-sized saucepan and boil for about 15 minutes until it is reduced by half.   Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Combine the onions, mushrooms, carrots, garlic, chicken stock, reduced wine, salt, thyme sprigs, and half of the crumbled bacon in a slow cooker and stir until well combined.  Season the chicken breasts with salt and nestle into the vegetable mixture in the slow cooker.  Top with the remaining crumbled bacon.

Cover and cook on HIGH for about 4 hours.  Combine the butter and flour to make a paste.  Add to the slow cooker and stir into the liquid.  Cook on LOW for an additional hour until the mixture has thickened slightly.  Serves 4-6.

*I used precooked microwaveable bacon.  If you cook raw bacon in a skillet, you can use the drippings to sauté the mushrooms and sear the chicken (dredged in seasoned flour if you like) before adding them to the slow cooker.  These extra steps will apparently add more "layers of flavor" to the end result, but, lazy cook that I am, I avoid any extra cooking like the plague, especially if frying is involved, and my version had quite enough flavor for my taste!