I’ve been experimenting with some crock pot recipes and made a really good one that seems to be lacking something. It’s almost like a chicken corn chowder. Gold potatoes, chicken breast, canned sweet corn, smoked sausage are crocked all day in chicken stock. Then chopped green onions are added close to the end, and garnished with shredded cheddar cheese. It was well received by the rainy clan and I thought it was good, but it seemed like it needed something to provide a little snap/crunch.
Might satisfy that by serving with oyster crackers, but it seemed like something actually in the stew would be better. I can’t think of anything that would work. Crocking all day is going to take the snap out of any veggies I add. And I couldn’t come up with anything I could add with the green onions that would be basically raw when added so late.
Lots of stuff can be added right at the end. You already mentioned green onions - you could just put those on top when serving instead of “close to the end.”
Alternatively, if you wanted more of a crunch, forget the green onions and instead use chopped red onion, added at serving time. Depending on the flavor profile, you could quick-pickle the onion (dice and put in white wine vinegar for 15-30 minutes before serving, drain before adding to the bowls.)
I liked puddleglum’s bacon idea. A lot. That’s probably what I’d go with.
Other crispy stuff to add at the end:
freeze-dried corn kernels. Heck, lots of freeze-dried veggies would work.
popcorn!
diced red bell pepper. Would look pretty too.
Parsley. Doesn’t add much snap but looks nice and adds a little snap.
Others have given great ideas to add crunch. I know you didn’t ask about this specifically, but oftentimes when people say a recipe just lacks “something”, that can be fixed by adding an acid. For something like this, maybe squeeze in some lime juice, or add a splash of white wine vinegar. If you don’t mind spice, pepper sauce would be good too. The acid just brightens up the flavor and takes something from “meh” to “hey, this is really good”.
Loving the topper suggestions there are some I hadn’t considered. I’m going to ignore all the calls for bacon. That just seems like it would be redundant since it has smoked sausage in it. I can’t believe I’m advocating against bacon
This intrigues me too. Not familiar with this exactly…though I inadvertently do something very similar quite often. Do you think precook the mirepoix or since I’m crocking just add it at the beginning?
Yup. Another trick is to place some chopped fresh herbs in the soup bowls prior to ladling the broth in. You get a blast of aroma and flavor that way. Try thyme or sage or maybe basil.
