It’s Fall, and that means there is no shortage of Fall flavor in Jacob’s kitchen. Here’s a recipe that takes some classic harvest vegetables and combines them with the delicious flavor of herbs and tender fall-off-the-bone chicken thighs.

The first is a favorite fall seasoning blend that has some of those earthy aromas with great flavor! Use the mix below to make some for this dish. I used about 75% of my mix in my recipe, you can use less or more. It will make about 1/4c or so of seasoning.

Fall Seasoning Blend

  • 1 T dried sage
  • 1 T dried thyme
  • 1/2 T dried rosemary, crushed
  • 3/4 T garlic powder
  • 1/2 T Paprika
  • 1 t salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 t pepper, plus more to taste

Ingredients:

  • Fall seasoning blend, ~ 2-3 tablespoons
  • 1 lb baby potatoes, sliced into bite size
  • 1 lb baby rainbow carrots
  • 2 T minced garlic
  • 4-6 chicken Thighs (~ 2-3 lbs)
  • 1/3 c balsamic vinegar
  • 3 T honey
  • 1 lb asparagus trimmed
  • Parsley for garnish

Directions:

  1. In a small bowl, mix the seasonings together
  2. Add the potatoes and carrots to the bottom of the 6 quart slow cooker.  Drizzle with oil and half of the seasonings and minced garlic.
  3. Toss to coat.  Place chicken on top of vegetables, lightly spritz with oil and add remaining half of spice mixture and garlic.
  4. Whisk together balsamic vinegar and honey.  Drizzle over chicken and vegetables.
  5. Cook low and slow for 4-5 hours.
  6. with 20-30 minutes before serving, add the asparagus on top of chicken.  Cook for additional 20-30 minutes, until asparagus is tender.
  7. Serve hot with chopped parsley for garnish.

Tips/Tricks:

  1. Did you know you can keep asparagus fresh longer in your fridge? Store it in a mason jar with water at the bottom of the jar. Think of it like a flower vase, but for asparagus. You can also do this for many herbs.
  2. Chicken thighs are full of flavor. Don’t go light on the seasoning blend, instead make sure the chicken gets plenty of it on the skin so it’ll soak through with flavor. You can also broil your chicken thighs for 2-3 minutes to get a crispier skin if you so desire.
  3. If you want to use store-bought olive oil, you can totally do that, but it has added fillers in it which help propel the oil from the bottle. I enjoy this air-pressure oil sprayer, which I can use any oil I want. Every month or two, I’ll empty it out, soak the bottle and the sprayer to clean it and keep it from gunking up and then fill it back up. It’s a little extra effort, but I don’t mind it.

See more recipes from Jacob on https://www.wcia.com/cooking-up-a-storm/.