Slow Cooker Chicken alla Cacciatora with Capers

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the ingredients

   Finely chop the onion, cut the bell pepper into pieces about 2 cm across, and mince the garlic. Pat the thighs dry with paper towels, then season them evenly with 5 g of the salt and the pepper. Set aside the remaining 2 g of salt for the sauce.

   
2. 2

   Brown the chicken

   Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the thighs in two batches, about 3 minutes per side, until browned on the outside; they do not need to be cooked through yet. Transfer them to the slow cooker.

   
3. 3

   Make the sauce base

   Add the onion and bell pepper to the same skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes, until the onion softens and browns slightly at the edges. Add the garlic and anchovies and stir for 30 seconds. Pour in the wine and cook for 2 minutes, scraping up the browned bits. Stir in the tomatoes, passata, stock, capers, and remaining salt.

   
4. 4

   Slow-cook

   Pour the sauce over the chicken thighs in the slow cooker. Add the rosemary and bay leaf, then turn the chicken in the sauce to coat. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours without opening the lid. At the end, check the thickest part of a thigh with a thermometer, making sure it does not touch the bone: it must reach at least 74 °C. If it has not reached this temperature, continue cooking and check again after 30 minutes.

   
5. 5

   Season and serve

   Remove the rosemary and bay leaf. Stir the wine vinegar and chopped parsley into the sauce; taste and check that it is sufficiently salty and bright. Serve hot with the bread. The chicken skin will not be crispy after slow-cooking.