Slow cooker whole chicken with peaches, capers, rice

This recipe uses slow cooker, which always minimizes the mess in the kitchen and for that, I love my slow cooker.  This is one of the easiest recipes ever and also one of the best whole chicken dishes I have had in my life.

What makes this chicken recipe so special is that when chicken, peaches, capers and wine are combined together in a slower cooker for several hours, they produce some amazing mix of flavors.   The resulting chicken is moist and tender, both white meat and dark meat are cooked evenly, and both chicken thighs and breasts are juicy.  What more can you ask for in a chicken?   The resulting flavor is both intricate and simple. Coupled with rice and presented on a big platter, this chicken belongs to be served at the French brasserie along with a bottle of good white wine.     And you would never guess how little effort went into preparing it.   I love, love this recipe, and I have made it multiple times at home.    My mother-in-law invented it, and I successfully added it to my cooking repertoire.  This chicken is the definition of what I like to call peasant food.

The beautiful thing about this recipe, I’ll repeat, is that it doesn’t make any mess because you use a slow cooker: you put all ingredients in at the same time, set the timer and wait until it’s done.  No mess in the kitchen.

Slow-cooked whole chicken with peaches, capers, and rice:

1) Wash whole chicken thoroughly, remove any inside parts (neck, etc.)

2) Place chicken in a slow cooker.

3) Dice peaches in 1 1/4 inch size cubes. Slice onion in the same way – into 8-10 large cubes

4) Sprinkle diced peaches and sliced onions on top of the chicken and around the sides of it in a slow cooker.

5) Pour white wine along the sides of the slow cooker, so that white wine just goes straight to the bottom.

6) Generously salt and pepper the top of the chicken and the top sides of sliced peaches, onions slices.  Use salt and pepper to taste, you can always add more later.

7) Sprinkle the top of the chicken and sliced peaches with capers.

8) Close with the lid and set on “LOW” setting to cook for 7 hours. Or, set it to “HIGH” setting to cook for 3 hours. As the chicken is cooking, check your slow cooker occasionally. Depending on the size of your slow cooker, the chicken coupled with wine might produce too much liquid, in which case you occasionally pour that liquid away into a separate bowl and save it for later (to serve with chicken or use with other dishes as a bumped up chicken stock).

To cook rice:

1) Bring water and rice in a medium size pan to boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the type of rice you have. I usually buy long grain rice that cooks for about 20 minutes.

2) When rice is cooked, immediately add oregano and salt, mix well, close with the lid and let it stand for at least 10 minutes.

To serve:

Place chicken on a large platter, surrounding with peach and onion slices. Put rice on the side. Pour some chicken juice from the slow cooker around chicken. Slice fresh peach and garnish around the whole chicken.

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