Beautiful Bexhill on Sea (ok, I’m biased!) has a wonderful library, housed in a very lovely Victorian Building which, I understand, was once a school.
Bexhill Library (I came across this photo on the internet – happy to acknowledge if it’s yours!)
We have access to books in Spanish for Big Man, books about Quilting for me, novels, internet, and pretty much everything you’d expect from a good library. We have a particularly good section of cookery books which allows me to try out ones I’m thinking of buying and to check out ones I’d never previously come across.
Because of my recent new love affair with my slow cooker, The Slow Cook Book caught my eye. What I like about this book is that apart from some really good recipe ideas (soups, stews, casseroles, tagines and curries) it details two ways to cook each recipe – both in the slow cooker or in the oven or stove top if you don’t have a slow cooker. What a great idea!
Most slow cook recipes are pretty flexible and forgiving, so you don’t need to follow them slavishly. The main thing to remember is that slow cookers don’t need quite as much liquid as conventional cooking as this cooking method tends to conserve most of the liquid.
A mustard chicken casserole caught my eye and as Big Man is a fan of English cider, I thought I’d add that in as the flavours would work well together. It was a simple dish to pull together, with a little preparation before putting it into cook and then forgetting about it for a few hours. It tastes even better made a day ahead.
Serves 4
- 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp English mustard
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 8 large chicken thighs, skin on
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large onions, halved and sliced (not too thin)
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved lengthways
- A few sprigs of thyme
- 300ml or chicken stock mixed with 300ml of your favourite cider (or use just stock) which you need to warm – this is sufficient for the slow cooker. For the conventional cooking method you will need 900ml of liquid.
Mix the mustards and honey, season the chicken thighs and smother them with the mustard mixture. Leave for at least 30 minutes (or prepare ahead and leave overnight).
If cooking in the oven, preheat to 160C/325F or Gas 3. Heat half the oil in a frying pan and on a medium heat, fry the chicken in batches until it is browned all over. Put the chicken pieces in the slow cooker or a casserole dish.
Add the remaining oil and fry the onion and garlic until the onion starts to turn brown, Add this with all the sticky bits from the pan and any marinade that remains from the chicken, plus the hot liquid to the slow cooker/casserole dish. Add the time and stir everything gently before covering and cooking in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours or in the oven for 2 hours.
When prepared, taste and adjust the seasoning and serve with mashed or boiled potatoes and steamed or lightly boiled greens.
Chica Andaluza 
I am really sorry I wasn’t able to visit when Pete was over – he was busy for 4 days with work – imagine the fun we could have had!
I really need to look at getting a slow cooker – looks fabulous Tanya.
Have a beautiful day.
🙂 Mandy xo
It would indeed have been fun! Maybe one day we’ll get over to your part of the world J
Oh yes, come soon and stay for long – we have lots to share with you. 🙂
J J
I love a good library… especially when you stumble across the treasure of brilliant books. Your chicken looks delicious (as always)! 🙂
Thank you – it’s a great library and very much supported and used by the locals which is really the most important thing!
Oh yummy: this recipe I am going to ‘pinch’ for certain: love the idea of the cider and the two mustards . . . . it will be stovetop but my cooker does turn down beautifully slow. I know you say skin on – I presume you mean bone in also? I normally get boned and skinned thighs for all my Asian fare but shall order a few lots for this dish 🙂 !
Hi Eha – yes, bone in as well as skin on. I much prefer thighs to any other part of the chicken!
I’m very impressed with your library – I’d expect them to have books on learning languages, but I didn’t realise that libraries here have novels in other languages. I think you could do the same in the oven for 8 hours if it is set around 70º C and you use a cast iron casserole. It has to be above 68º C to kill any bacteria in the meat. I bet the chicken was good 🙂
Thanks for the tip about the oven temps. And yes, there is a selection of language tools but also a choice of books (reference and novels, and we can also order books from bigger libraries) and probably about a dozen or so languages… J
Amazing – I don’t think my local one is that good. I haven’t been there for a while, but it seemed to me that they kept reducing the number of books they had.
My best buddy was part of an action group at her local library in Norbury which the council wanted to shut down – loads of people borrowed pretty much all the books to show how they felt and until all the books were back they couldn’t shut it and then rethought the proposal – I believe it’s now open and even better than before. People power J
Excellent and what a great idea to keep it open 🙂
Really love this recipe .
I used to cook meals in a slow-cooker ,years ago and I think I’ll go back to this method , at least for a certain kind of meal/poultry/venison dishes!
Thank you, Chica
It’s a new way of cooking for me and I love it!
What a great, delicious recipe!
Thanks Rosemary J
What a great recipe – I absolutely adore mustard, so we’ll definitely need to give this a try!! And what a beautiful library, too 🙂
It was lovely having the two mustard flavours with the cider – yum!
Looks yummy. I love my ancient slow cooker – it feels like someone else has done the work by the time you eat.
Smiling at your comment! It’s so true, by the time you get to eat the meal, you’ve forgotten the preparation you did hours back J
8 thighs eh? I could make a double batch and reduce the squawking, scratching, egg hoarding population of Serendipity Farm by 8! Great idea Ms Chica, I am onto it! Now I just need to get Stevie-boy to do the deed… 😉
Sounds like there has been a lot of hatching and matching going on at Serendipity Farm but not enough despatching 😉
I love libraries too, the older the better. I still read books and fill my home with books. Even though I use Kindle, it will never replace my books!
This meal is heavenly, I love the mustard and cider combination. I’m a big fan of dark meat, so using thighs in this dish is another plus for me!!
I don’t yet have a kindle but I think I would still hang on to my books like you!
This meal sounds like something I would enjoy. I never thought to look at my local library for cookbooks. That’s so awesome yours has them 🙂
I think I stumbled across them by accident a while back as I wouldn’t have thought to look for them there either. The collection seems to be growing so clearly they’re popular!
That looks divine, with all that golden skin and sweet onions! I don’t own a slow cooker, but I could see that working well in a clay pot in the oven. Thanks Tanya! xx
Oh yes, in your romertopf (sorry, not sure how you spell it)!
I’ll have to pull a bottle of cider from the wine cellar and make this dish soon…it sounds yummy.
I thought of you and your cider as I was opening the bottle!
That is gorgeous. Those are two of my favorite things and you’re using them as a glaze for chicken…just yum! With honey too? Serioulsy, Chica, I’m coming over.
Your place at the table is ready 😉
I can just imagine how delicious this dish tastes Tanya! The addition of apple cider sounds particularly appealing… plus we just bought a couple of jars of honey from the markets on Saturday, so perfect timing!
I’ve also got a few cookbooks on loan from the library at the moment. Such a great way of trying before you buy… 🙂
It’s great being able to “try before you buy” at the library!
wow…it look delecious. i wondering the real taste……
I love spending an afternoon in a good library (almost as much as I love food), and this recipe looks delicious!
It’s easy to “Lose” a few hours in a good library!
It definitely is!
Oh yes, pleeeeease – this sounds great (I can almost sniff it form here, *almost*). Mmmm…
Good food smells wafting your way!
The slow cooker book sounds an excellent idea, Tanya. 🙂 .Does the cider make the sauce sweet? I suppose you could use dry cider if you prefer.
I used a medium cider and it wasn’t sweet at all – just sort of appley!
I, too, am a fan of checking out cookbooks from the library for a test drive. 🙂 Chicken and mustard were made for each other and adding apple cider, then slow cooking it all to temper and meld those flavors…wow! This has to be good. I love cooking with hard cider.
Big Man enjoys cider as a drink, so there’s always some around the house – I shall have to pinch it more for my cooking J
Don’t have a slow cooker (yet) but will try this on a regular pot for sure! 🙂
Would be just as good!
This looks like such a good recipe, Tanya. I consider vinegar my “secret” ingredient and often use it to flavor stews and braises. As for mustard, I’ve used it with all forms of pork but never have I thought to use it with chicken. As a mustard lover and slow cooker cook, this is one dish that I’ll be making one lazy Sunday afternoon. That’s the best part about a slow cooker. Fill it in the morning and just sit back and while away the hours.
Bexhill looks like a cozy village, Tanya. A well-stocked library says much about a community. How lucky to have found a place there.
This would be sooo good with your home made mustard! We’re lucky in that the two places we call home are very different but each with a special charm that we love.
Excellent idea, the taste is very good. It look delicious and beautiful too
whether, if I had someone who every day to cook meals for me as it was, what my weight is increasing? 😀
☺
wow, wonderful library and good recipe ..
well,can you believe it,I live in Fuerteventura[Fraggle ,my pet name for the rock]and I’m originally from Bexhill,I go back quite often as my partner lives there[well he’s with me until Dec,then we both go back to Blighty.On my last visit to Bexhill I decided to buy a slow cooker and have been experimenting for about 2 months,decided to check the web to see if had any dishes that required cider as did a pork casserole a couple of days ago in it and had surplus so lo and behold I found your recipe and am in the process of doing it right now,small world eh ,saludos xx
El mundo es un pañuelo, as they say in Spain! It’s a small world! Welcome to the blog, I love my slow cooker. Gammon for us too today 😀