French Crock-Pot Lemon Chicken - Mijoté de Poulet au Citron

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...While searching for new recipes, I came across a website that I think you will enjoy. It is called Easy French Food and you can find it here. I had gone there specifically to search for French chicken dishes that could be made in a crock-pot or slow cooker. I found just one and gave it a try for dinner tonight. As many of you know, I have a love-hate relationship with my crock-pot. I love to use it for soups and stews, particularly those in which meat is cut into relatively small cubes. I'm less enamoured of its use for large pieces of meat or poultry, because I'm of the opinion that the crock-pot and slow cooker leach flavor from animal protein. I think the sauces and gravies they produce are  wonderful, but the meat itself is pretty flavorless and has a mealy texture that I find unpleasant.  Now I know that mine is a minority opinion and that scads of you love to use your crock-pots and slow cookers on a regular basis. I respect your opinions and I hope you'll respect mine. The intent here is not to start a debate or argument, I just wanted you to know that I continue to search for recipes that will prove me wrong. The recipe I'm featuring tonight falls into that category. This is an extremely easy dish to make. Having prepared it once, I have a couple of suggestions that I think will make the dish even better. I cut back on the amount of lemon juice used in the original recipe. A half cup sounded a bit excessive so I cut it back to one third. I also decided to thicken the finished sauce with a quick-blending flour, such as Wondra,  to create a sauce with enough body to coat the back of a spoon. That was really helpful. We enjoyed the chicken. It will never be a favorite of ours, but I would make it again on a busy winter day.  Next time  I'll  add olives and capers to the sauce the last half hour of cooking. I hope those of you who are looking for new crock-pot recipes will give this one  a try. Here's how the chicken is made.

Crock-Pot Lemon Chicken...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Easy French Food

Ingredients:
2 onions, cut in eighths
3 cloves garlic, peeled
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 sprigs of tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:
1) Spray interior of crock-pot with nonstick cooking spray. Place onions and garlic in the crock-pot.
2) Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then slather them with mustard and place in crock-pot.
3) Pour lemon juice and chicken bouillon on top and then finish with tarragon sprigs (or sprinkle on dried tarragon).
4) Cook on low heat for at least four hours,stirring once.
5) Remove tarragon and discard. Transfer chicken to a shallow serving platter. Stir cream into sauce. Nap chicken with sauce and serve immediately, passing extra sauce at table. Yield: 4 servings.

Note: For extra lemon flavor, place a couple of slices of lemon on top along with the tarragon before cooking.

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