Chicken Pastel is a version of Chicken casserole – the Filipino style. That means – we get and put whatever is available and add sugar to taste. I didn’t like putting hotdogs in this because it would turn the sauce pink. No matter what you do, the hotdog would always dominate the dish with its strange chemical aftertaste. That’s why I decided to create a variation using what I had in the fridge – leftover chorizo and vienna sausage.
Since it was a Sunday and I had more time to do this, I sauteed the sauce before adding it to the slow cooker.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 kilo chicken
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 box cream
- 1 cup beef broth
Sliced:
- 1 carrot
- 1 bell pepper
- 8 pcs potatoes
- 1 pc chorizo
- 1 small can vienna sausage
Minced:
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 onion
How I Did It:
- Melt butter in pan. Sautee garlic, onions [till transluscent]. Add chorizo and cook until brown. Same thing with vienna sausage. Add bell pepper. After 5 mins, add beef broth.
- Arrange the chicken in the slow cooker. Add broth.
- Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
- After 3 hours [or 6 hours on low], lightly fry sliced potatoes in oil. Add potatoes, cream, and carrots and cook for one more hour on high.
Notes:
- Beef broth brings out the chicken taste better. Same when cooking beef – I’d use chicken broth. Don’t know why but it does make a big difference.
- I learned that lightly frying potatoes before adding them to a stew affects the flavor of the sauce in a subtle kind of way. You also get to taste the potato because it will not fully absorb the flavors of the broth.
