Chicken Adobo

The picture makes this tasty chicken look much more amazing than it actually does. It's trick photography at it's finest! Reality is that it will end up looking like an old piece of leather, but not tasting as such.

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 shallots, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 pounds boneless/skinless chicken

Rub the olive oil around the inside the slow cooker. Mince shallots and garlic and add them to the pot, along with the brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves. Pour chicken broth, soy sauce, and apple cider vinegar into the pot. Remove any excess fat from chicken; this more goes for thighs than it does drumsticks, but you don’t want too much fat sitting in the pot while you chicken cooks. Add chicken to the pot, and pour some of the sauce on top of the chicken so it’s coated. Set the slow cooker to low and let it cook for 6 hours (if you want to double this recipe, put it on low for 8-10 hours). When the chicken is ready, remove it from the pan.

The chicken will be delicious as it is with a little of the sauce poured on top, but you can always take it up a notch by doing the following:

Set the chicken on a lined baking sheet (on top of a cooling rack in a lined baking sheet, if you have one, but it’s not completely necessary). Strain the sauce into a pot, so that you remove the shallots, garlic, and bay leaves from the liquid, and place the pot over medium-high heat. Cook the sauce, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes, until reduced to about half. While you reduce the sauce, preheat the oven to broil. When the sauce has reduced, brush the chicken with it and broil for 1-2 minutes, until slightly charred and crispy. Serve alongside some rice, bread, or steamed vegetables.

Note: I went the extra step by doing the broiling thing. If I had it to do over again, I would save the unused sauce (I washed it down the drain in an effort to get a jump on cleaning up the kitchen) to pour over our rice. I may also skip the broiling, shred the chicken, put it back in the strained sauce and put all of that over rice.