it'seasy's Profile

If anyone's interested, here's my adaptation of the recipe. Bone in breasts are often on sale at one of my local supermarkets, so that's what I went with. it's very important to pat the meat dry with paper towels thoroughly, or they won't brown. I then pulled the skin away slightly and rubbed the paste mix under it and into the meat. Also, I didn't want to deal with stripping and mincing fresh thyme, so for the paste I used dried. I couldn't live without my non-stick pan, but for this purpose (browning and fond) a standard stainless skillet should be used. Heat olive oil until shimmering, add your breasts, skin side down, 2 at a time. Crowding them will also inhibit browning. It WILL spatter, so either use a spatter guard or stand back! About 3 minutes per side. Another good reason for leaving the skin on during the saute is that the garlic paste will burn before the meat browns without the layer of skin to buffer it, and burnt garlic tastes awful. The "poaching liquid" is good as is, but to deglaze the pan I had to add a splash of vermouth along with it to get a really good pan sauce (the yield is only about 4 TBS). This also adds more depth of flavor. White wine, or vodka can also be used. If you don't have any of these on hand - chicken broth, or even water are also perfectly fine. I happened to make lemon bars last night, and hate wasting anything, so I saved those rinds/wedges to use in addition to the one lemon called for here. I wanted BIG lemon flavor, so before juicing the one lemon, I grated the rind and put the zest in with the wedges. Once the browned breasts had cooled for five minutes, I snipped off the skin with scissors. You don't have to go crazy getting every last bit of skin, just whatever comes off in a nice big piece. There should be enough garlic paste stuck to the meat, if not you can scrape off anything still on the inside of the skin. Nestle them meat side UP in the crockpot as close to being in a single layer as you can, pour your pan sauce over them and scatter your lemons/zest, garlic cloves on top. I took an additional five minutes to peel the garlic cloves, as I didn't like the idea of papery skins in my dinner. This recipe says you don't have to, so it's up to you. I tied a small bundle of thyme with kitchen string, as I didn't want the woody stems of untied thyme floating around in there. I also added a bay leaf. Set on high for 41/2 hours or low for 61/2 hours. Half an hour before it's done, add your rosemary ( I would recommend using only fresh sprigs, as dried will lend a gritty texture to the finished dish) and your remaining poaching liquid. Yes, it's more work then your standard crockpot recipe, but it also tastes a lot better than your standard crockpot recipe.