Chicken, Tomato and Olive Sauce

After a blazing hot and humid summer, it's been nice to pull out the slow cooker and get back to these "set it and leave it" recipes.  The long slow cooking process also helped get rid of the smell in our new apartment, a scent which we ascribed to the previous tenant leaving a dead body somewhere between the studs in the walls.

Okay it wasn't that bad, but we didn't like it either.  A few days of baking and an essential oil diffuser have seemed to do the trick. Actually, it's probably just passage of time and displacing the previous owner's smell with that of our stinky pugs.  I knew those two would come in handy one day!

For a while I was using America's Test Kitchen recipes a lot. This time was no different.  Isn't it nice to know that I can drop off the face of the blogging earth and return totally unchanged (except for growing a parasite inside me)?

This slow cooker sauce is nice because the acidity of the olives balance out the richness of the chicken.  It is a very hearty sauce, really thick, so a small serving goes a long way. Not that we do small servings in these parts.

From America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution

1 onion, minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS minced fresh thyme of 1 tsp dried
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
15 oz can tomato sauce
2 TBS Minute tapioca
1.5 lbs skinless chicken thighs (I got bone-in and discarded the bones after cooking, but you can use boneless to begin with)
1/2 cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
1/4 cup minced parsley
salt and pepper

In a microwave-safe bowl, mix together the onions, garlic, oil, thyme and red pepper flakes.  Heat for 5 minutes in microwave, stirring occasionally.

Place the onion mixture into the slow cooker, and stir in the broth, wine, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tapioca.

Salt and pepper each side of your chicken thighs.  Place chicken into slow cooker, and try to submerge those suckers.  

Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Gently pull out chicken thighs, and shred the meat using two forks. The meat should fall off the bone and shred quite easily.  Discard the bones.

Stir the shredded chicken back into the sauce, along with the chopped olives and parsley.

Cook pasta according to package directions, and serve with sauce.

Ta-da!