Lucky Stew in the slow-cooker

My wedding gift from one of my very best friends was a beautiful cookbook that she created by asking all of the women in my life to contribute recipes to it.  It is filled with so very much love, photos, and yummy recipes.  Jack and I decided that we are now on a mission to make every single recipe in that book.  This is one of those recipes.

This recipe is from our friend, Michelle. She notes in the cookbook that they stole this recipe from Rick Bayless. You can find the original recipe here. They say that it's their go-to recipe when they want to throw something in the crock pot. They usually double it since it is always better the next day.

I re-named this recipe Lucky Stew because I was offered a job the day I made it and now I get to work with Michelle who contributed this recipe! 

I can't believe how simple this was to prepare.  I cut up the onion, tomatillos, and potatoes the night before and threw it together in the morning before work.  It was so nice to have such a savory meal to come home to. Thanks Michelle and Jeff!

Morning photo:

1 Medium yellow or white onion, sliced into rounds about 1/4 inch thick

4 Medium (about 1 lb) of potatoes (we used red) sliced about 1/4 inch thick

8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (1.5 lbs or 2 lb if bone-in)

1 cup cilantro leaves (yes, 1 cup - but it doesn't end up tasting too "cilantro-y" at all) we used a whole "bunch"

8 - 12 medium tomatillos, husked and rinsed and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapenos 

2 tablespoons pickling juice from the jalapenos

Spread layers of the ingredients in the slow cooker as follows, sprinkling generously with salt after each layer:  onion, potatoes, chicken thighs, cilantro, tomatillos.  Rick notes that this is the only salt in the dish, so be sure to add enough.  I sprinkled each layer as though I were just eating that.

Scatter the jalapenos over everything, then drizzle on the pickling juice.

Cover the slow cooker on high for 6 hours.  If your slow cooker is awesome like Michelle's and automatically turns to low after the timer goes off, know that it can sit on warm for another 4 hours or so before the chicken starts to overcook. 

Also: When serving, make sure to get a bunch of the awesome juice/sauce that accumulates on the bottom of the slow cooker.  If you want, you can boil this down a bit to make it even richer and thicken it a bit.  Serve as is, or on top of rice, tortilla chips, or with tortilla shells.

Evening photo: