For this recipe you need:
Whole Chicken
Garlic
White Wine
White Pepper
Sea Salt
Mushrooms *optional
Cornstarch
Put whole chicken in crock pot with 1 to 1 1/2 cups white wine. Season with sea salt and white pepper (this is a must as black pepper will ruin it) ( Ingredient aside: if you don't keep white pepper in your spice rack, you can get little packs of it in the Hispanic section of your food store much cheaper than buying in the regular spice section. It is great on chicken and fish....much better than black. If you like it then you can get a larger quantity) Toss in about 5-6 peeled garlic cloves
Cook chicken until it is almost falling off bone but not quite for presentation. Depending on crock pot, this could take between 5-8 hours. I used to cook mine on low overnight and it was usually perfect but I had a really oldschool crock pot that never got all that hot...lol.
After chicken is done, remove from the liquid in the crock pot. It should have increased in volume from the original amt of wine you put in. You will want to remove as much of the chicken fat as possible from this liquid. You can pour in a bowl and let it come to the surface and remove with a spoon or just let the crock pot cool if you are not in a huge hurry. DO NOT PUT THE CROCK POT AWAY YET..WE ARE NOT DONE WITH IT.
Mix about 2 tablespoons of corn starch (organic of course) and about 1/4 cup of COLD water and stir until it is the consistency of heavy cream....put your wine stock into a small saucepan and bring to just the edge of a slow rolling boil, add the cornstarch mixture a little at a time and stir until it begins to thicken. You may not have to add all the cornstarch to get the consistency you want. It should be the thickness of a glaze or gravy. Put the chicken back in the crock pot and cover with the glaze. Leave on lowest setting. If you want, you can throw in some thinly sliced mushrooms during this cooking phase.
BIRD'S NEST MASHED POTATOES:
What you need:
Potatoes
2 eggs, separated
Cook potatoes as you would for making mashed potatoes. Add sea salt and partially mash potatoes. Combine 1/2 to 1 stick of melted butter or margarine, a couple tablespoons of milk or heavy cream and the yolks of two eggs and beat well.( Save the egg whites you separated for later). Add butter/milk/yolk mixture to potatoes and continue with preparation. When they are the consistency you want, prepare a cookie sheet with a piece of foil that you brush with oil to prevent sticking. Place consistent sized heaps of mashed potatoes onto the cookie sheet and make an indention with a spoon in the top of each mound of potatoes. Brush the tops and sides of potatoes with egg white and place under the broiler of your oven (on the middle rack, so you do not scorch them) until they begin to just start to brown. This part is kind of like making meringue, so watch them carefully.
Remove chicken from pot, place on platter. Surround with potato "nests" and pour glaze over the potatoes and the chicken. Serve.
This is an amazing recipe. I have been making it for over 30 years. It came from an antique French game cookbook I got a long, long time ago and still have. The recipe begins by telling you how to catch, kill and prep your chicken....lol.
