Slow Cooker Harissa Chicken

Spring. March 2022. The decision is made. I am retiring. After forty-three years, I am leaving the classroom. The decision arrived not with a bang but with a whisper, during a Tuesday morning lesson on The Scarlet Letter, when I looked at my juniors and felt something shift — not a loss of passion, never that, but a recognition that the passion has a new direction, that the energy I have been pouring into the classroom for forty-three years needs to flow somewhere else now, toward the writing, toward the blog, toward the book Rebecca says I am writing without knowing it, toward the kitchen that is waiting for me to give it my full attention.

The caregiving played a part. I will not pretend it didn't. Teaching and caregiving simultaneously has been like running two marathons at once — possible, barely, if you are stubborn enough and your shoes are good enough and you refuse to acknowledge that your legs are giving out. My legs are not giving out. My legs are fine. But my heart is divided, and a divided heart does not teach well, and my students deserve a whole teacher, and Marvin deserves a whole wife, and I cannot be whole for both anymore. So I choose. I choose Marvin. I choose the kitchen. I choose the writing. I choose the next thing.

I told the principal. I told Helen. Helen cried, which was unexpected because Helen has the emotional display range of a cactus and I have never seen her cry in twenty-two years of friendship. She said, "The English department will not survive." I said, "Helen, the English department survived before I arrived and will survive after I leave. But the apple cake will stop." She said, "Then I will retire too." She was joking. Probably. I hope she was joking. I need Helen to stay. Someone has to eat the lemon bars.

I made brisket to celebrate. Or to mourn. Or to process. The three activities are indistinguishable in my kitchen. The brisket braises regardless of the occasion's emotional valence. Six hours, low and slow, the meat surrendering to heat and time, and when it is done, you cut it against the grain and it falls apart in clean, tender slices, and the falling apart is what I am doing too, and the tenderness is what I am becoming, and the cutting against the grain is what this decision is: going against the grain of forty-three years of habit, of identity, of being Mrs. Feldman the English teacher. I am cutting against the grain. The slices will be tender.

Marvin did not understand when I told him. I said, "Marv, I'm retiring from the school." He said, "Good." Whether "good" meant he understood or was simply his default response to information, I cannot say. I choose to believe he understood. I choose to believe the "good" meant: it is time. Come home. Stay in the kitchen. Be here. I choose.

The brisket I made that day was mine and Marvin’s and nobody else’s, but when it came time to share something from that week with all of you, I reached for this Slow Cooker Harissa Chicken — because it carries the same logic: heat, time, and surrender. The harissa paste is bold and a little unruly, the way change always is at the beginning, and by the time the slow cooker is done with it, everything has softened into something extraordinary. Six hours on low, and the world rearranges itself into something tender. I know the feeling.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 6 hours | Total Time: 6 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/3 cup harissa paste
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, for serving
Cooked couscous or warm pita, for serving

Instructions

Build the base. Spread the sliced onion across the bottom of the slow cooker insert. Drizzle with olive oil and scatter the minced garlic over the top.
Make the harissa sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the harissa paste, diced tomatoes, honey, cumin, smoked paprika, coriander, salt, and pepper until well combined.
Add the chicken. Nestle the chicken thighs in a single layer over the onions. Pour the harissa tomato sauce evenly over the chicken, making sure each piece is well coated.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours, or on HIGH for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, until the chicken is fully cooked through and tender enough to shred easily with two forks.
Shred and finish. Use two forks to pull the chicken apart directly in the slow cooker, letting it absorb the accumulated juices. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top and stir to combine.
Serve. Spoon the chicken and its sauce over couscous or alongside warm pita. Garnish generously with fresh cilantro or parsley.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow Cooker Harissa Chicken — Low and Slow, Like Letting Go