The aromatic in this slow chicken is preserved lemon, and the feature is fennel though truthfully the lemon pretty much overpowers the fennel. The preserved lemon pretty much fills both the lemon and olive slots from the original Slow Lemon and Olive Chicken recipe, which is very good and I suggest if you don't happen to have preserved lemon on hand.
4-5 chicken thighs
1 preserved lemon
1 fennel bulb
Skin or don't skin the chicken thighs.
Rinse and finely chop the lemon and dice the fennel. If the fennel fronds are fresh, definitely put them in too. Layer the lemon and fennel in the cooker with the chicken: bottom layer of veggies, layer of chicken, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, another layer of veggies, another layer of chicken, and another sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Set the slow cooker on low, and then go away for four hours. When the chicken is done, take it out of the cooker, and at this point you can turn the cooker up to high to reduce the vegetables a bit, and the chicken can cool in a bowl. Take the meat off the bones if you want and portion out the chicken and sauce between your containers.
To eat later: steam frozen vegetables on the stove, reheat chicken in the microwave, and plate them together. Or cook veggies in a casserole in the microwave on high for four minutes, add the chicken, and finish cooking the veggies with the chicken for another 3-4 minutes.
