Ingredients:3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 (3 to 4 pound) whole chicken cut up
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 to 1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning, or to your taste
1 cup of chopped onion
1 cup of chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup of chopped celery
2 teaspoons of chopped, pickled jalapeno
1-1/2 teaspoons of chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2 (14.5 ounce) cans of stewed tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
Hot, cooked rice
1/4 cup of chopped, fresh flat leaf parsley, optional
Louisiana Hot sauce, for the table
Directions: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Shake together the flour and Cajun seasoning in a zippered bag and toss chicken in the flour mixture. Brown chicken in batches for 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a 6 quart crockpot as it is browned. Add the onion, bell pepper and celery to the skillet; stir and cook for 3 minutes, then add the jalapeno, garlic, thyme and bay leaves and cook another minute. Chop up the stewed tomatoes and add to the skillet; add the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, then transfer to the crockpot on top of the chicken. Cook, covered, on low for 3 hours. Remove bay leaves, sprinkle with red pepper flakes if desired, serve over cooked rice garnished with chopped parsley. ~~~~~ Piquante is fairly spicy. If you want it more on the mild side, reduce the Cajun seasoning, and eliminate the red pepper flakes and hot sauce. However, your taste buds desire. ~ Chef ~
