Red Wine Chicken Crock Pot

This is a recipe that was suggested to me by a friend while I was living in France and now it is one of my favourite dishes to cook. The French love cooking with wine and so do I (sometimes I even put it in the food!!). This recipe is a great, simple way of bringing a French touch to an American style of cooking.

Personally I don't think it matters which red wine goes into the dish but I'm sure there will be many wine snobs and top chefs out there insisting it does. I have used a different wine on different occasions for this dish - including merlot, cabernet sauvignon and rioja - and I think they all taste delicious, giving the dish a fantastic richness.

The ingredients and preparation for the dish are simple.

For four people you will need:

3 or 4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely diced
1 regular can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp of tomato puree
1 cup of chicken stock
1/2 cup of red wine of your choice
12 oz of fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 red peppers, sliced
Handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
Pinch of salt and pepper.
Cheese for grating (I like to use Parmigiano Reggiano, but any cheese would do)

First off, place the onion, garlic, mushrooms and red peppers in the bottom of the slow cooker. Then place the chunks of chicken on top. After this its a simple case of just tossing in the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, wine, the stock and seasoning (keep the basil out for now, it will be added in just before you serve).

Cook on HIGH for about 5 hours and that is pretty much that.

When it comes to serving spoon the mixture onto a plate and grate some cheese over the top (and if you have forgotten to add the fresh basil don't worry; just place a couple of leaves on top of the chicken for an effective garnish)

I recommend serving with vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots and potatoes, or, if you are feeling in a particularly French mood why not try a potato gratin dauphinois.

So there you have it, an extremely simple but delicious dish that will ignite a love affair between you and cooking with red wine. After this there are so many possibilities for cooking with wine.