Slow-Cooker Chicken and Sausage Ragu

My family loves this recipe and I make it once a week. It is delicious, easy, and rewarding. It also takes me back to my

Sausage and Chicken in the slow cooker - a family favorite.

Italian roots. This recipe reminds me of Neopolitan ragu or the Sunday meat sauce my grandmother would make with baciole, but this can be done in the slow cooker when I am at work. I love coming home and having my house smell like grandma’s.

Slow-Cooker Chicken and Sausage Ragu

Servings 6

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs with the skin removed

6 hot Italian sausages cut into 1 inch medallions if you choose

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

4 tbs extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil

1 tbs dried pepper flakes

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 small onion grated or sliced thin

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 medium carrot grated

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh with seeds and skin removed)

1 tbs anchovy paste

1/2 fresh ground pepper

1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. Remove skin from the chicken and sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion power.

2. Bind the chicken thighs with twine. This step is optional, but it will keep the thighs together making them easier to remove and serve. You can also cut up the sausage into 1 in medallions if you choose.

3. In a bowl, mix the spices, pepper, tomato paste, anchovy paste, diced tomatoes, carrot, and onion.

4. Cover the bottom of the cooking vessel in sauce.

5. Layer in the chicken. Mine just fit in my slow cooker, but it is huge.

6. Cover with sauce and place on the bay leaf.

7. Layer in the sausage.

8. Pour on the rest of the sauce.

9. Cook on low for 7 – 8 hours.

10. Remove the chicken and sausage to a platter and cover.

11. Remove the bay leaf and reduce the sauce to desired thickness.

12. Taste and adjust seasoning.

13. Cover the chicken and sausage in the sauce.

New Year, Low-Carb Lamb Chili

Remains of New Year's Eve Revelry.

Happy New Year! After recovering from my out-to-late night and eating this delicious and bacon-loaded recovery breakfast, I thought about making some long cooking dish. I wanted to be able to sit at home, under a blanket reading a good book and not have to worry about fussing over dinner. I came up with the idea of chili.  And not just any chili, but one using the one of my favorite meats: lamb.  I love how lamb’s unctuousness can turn any ordinary dish into a lips-smacking, and finger-licking affair.  For this dish, I also added the marrow bones while it was cooking and reducing in enhance the flavor.

Low-Carb Lamb Chili

Lamb Chili with Marrow Bone

Ingredients:

3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil

2 lbs lamb stew meat, which usually come from lamb neck or lamb shoulder,cut into 2 inch pieces with (my lamb came with marrow bones)

1 lb hot Italian pork sausage removed from the casing

1 lb ground pork, cubed pork shoulder, or cubed pork butt

1 large sweet onion diced

2 poblano peppers seeded and diced

2 red, orange, and/or yellow peppers diced

2 cloves garlic diced

1 28-oz can whole, peeled tomatoes

1 6-oz can tomato paste

2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes no salt added

1 cup chicken stock

2 tbs Worcester sauce (optional)

Image via wikipedia

1 tbs anchovy paste (optional)

2 tbs chipotle chili powder

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbs smoked paprika

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1 tbs dutch process cocoa powder

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp kosher salt or sea salt

1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. In a 6-quart dutch oven over medium-heat, heat oil until it is shimmering.
2. Add the cubed lamb to the pot and brown on all sides.  Add this in three – four batches so the lamb does not steam.
   

   Fond image via wikipedia

   Brown bits (fond or suc in France) will start to build at the bottom of the pot – fear not. They are the essence of pure flavor.  Do not let this burn – reduce the heat if it becomes dark brown.

3. After the lamb has finished cooking, remove to a bowl.
4. Add the sausage and pork to the pot to brown over medium-heat in three batches and remove to a waiting bowl.
5. After the meat has been browned and removed to a bowl, add the peppers, onion, and red pepper flakes.  Saute until they are soft, scrapping the bottom of the pot to remove the delicious brown bits. The liquid from these veggies will help deglaze the pot.
6. Add the garlic and saute for one minute.
7. Add the anchovy paste and tomato paste. Saute for about one minute to begin to caramelize the tomato paste.
8. Deglaze the pan with chicken stock.
9. Reduce heat to low and add the meat back to the pot and stir to combine with other ingredients.
10. Open the can of whole tomatoes, reserve the liquid, and open the tomatoes with your fingers to remove as many seeds as possible because they are bitter. Then crush the tomatoes with your hands directly into the pot.  Add the remaining liquid.
11. Add the diced tomatoes and liquid.
12. Add the herbs, spices, pepper,  cocoa powder, Worcester sauce, bay leaf, and one tsp of kosher or sea salt. Reserve the rest of the salt for after the chili reduces because the salt content in the stock and tomatoes will vary.
13. Stir together the ingredients and cover.  The chili should be at a low simmer for one hour.
14. Taste the chili and adjust the seasoning to taste. Do not add salt yet.
15. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes – one hour to thicken the chili.
16. After the chili has come to the desired thickness, taste and adjust the salt levels. If you included the marrow bone, remove the marrow and stir into the chili. Remove the bones and the bay leaf.

You can garnish this with some smoked gouda, sour cream, or cilantro. This recipe will pair especially well with my coconut flour cheesy biscuits. You could also put this over Your Light Side’s caulitots or Paleo Gurl’s Kitchen’s twice baked cauli-tots.