Archive for the 'slow cooker' Category
Ta da! (Honestly – I didn’t even arrange the rosemary in this photo – it just came out that way.)
I’m really – for sure this time – bringing back Sunday Dinner.
I don’t mean that in the sense of reintroducing it to the world – I know this is something people commonly do – and yes, we’ve been eating dinner on Sunday nights for quite some time, but the tradition of bringing the extended family around the table for something that might even require actual napkins (as opposed to the omnipresent roll of paper towels) is something we’ve fallen out of the habit of. Not that it ever was a big thing in the childhood of my memory – throughout our twenties and most of our thirties we’d go to Mike’s parents house for Old Shoe Cooked in Beer, which we’ll just say didn’t foster the grandest memories. I’ve always wondered what it might have been like to marry into a big, food-loving Italian family who (in my fantasies) cooked through the middle of each Sunday to put on an early feast. Sort of like the afternoon equivalent of brunch. Mike and I used to say, back when we had a teeny apartment and no room, that we’d do this someday when we had a house. And finally – more reason than ever with my sister across the street – we’re instigating it.
I love the warm, chaotic bustle of a late Sunday afternoon and the collective sigh that follows as everyone disperses to finish their homework and get ready for the week. Even the overflowing sinkload of dishes doesn’t deter me.
Dinner tonight was leg of lamb – done almost effortlessly in the slow cooker.
Wait, I missed a part.
I’ll preface this by saying that I’m not particularly computer-savvy. I don’t do Google analytics and track search engine keywords nor do I know much about SEO techniques. But when I do take a peek at my stats, down at the bottom of the page (if I manage to scroll down there) there is a list of search terms that were inputted and resulted in someone finding Dinner with Julie. EVERY TIME I’ve looked at this list, “leg of lamb slow cooker” is there. Every single time. So either a lot of people want to know just how to cook a leg of lamb in a slow cooker, or I’m one of few who have written about it on this here world-wide inter-web. So it has been rattling around the back of my mind to do it again sometime.
The prep couldn’t have been much simpler. At around 11 this morning, as we were about to leave for the park, I remembered that I had it and it needed to start sooner rather than later if we were to eat at a reasonable time. It’s size wouldn’t allow me to brown it (the bone put it at an angle in the pan) and so I turned on the barbecue and quickly seared it (to add flavour) while chopping some Yukon Gold potatoes into the bottom of the slow cooker. I tossed the lamb on top of its potato bed, threw in a bunch of garlic cloves, pressed another few and rubbed it on the lamb, tossed in some rosemary and a glug of wine, set it on low and went out. (Note: The bone stuck out, keeping the lid from closing, so I covered the lot in foil to keep the heat in, then draped a dishtowel over it to weigh it down and make sure no steam pushed through.)
While we were out I found a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard from Hotchkiss Farms at Blush Lane, and so we also had roasted chick peas with garlic and chard – a perfect pairing for lamb. (I’ve become lazier about this dish the more I make it – I sauté the chick peas with a few cloves of garlic in a hot pan with plenty of canola oil until they darken and get crispy – throw in the chopped chard and some water or stock, lid it for about 10 minutes to cook the chard through, then take the lid off and make sure any moisture has cooked off, add salt, and it’s done.)
The lamb was fantastic. Perfectly cooked after 6 hours (not even, I think) – it fell off the bone but still had some tooth to it. The potatoes were intense, having absorbed all those lamby juices, and could have been easily roughly mashed (YUM) but we scooped them out, all deep golden and studded with softened cloves of garlic, and ate them alongside what was essentially pulled lamb. My mom and sister doused theirs in mint sauce. I want the leftovers wrapped in soft flatbread with tzatziki. For breakfast, maybe.
Leg of Lamb in the Slow Cooker with Garlic and Rosemary
olive or canola oil, for cooking
1 bone-in leg of lamb
4-5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped into chunks
1 head garlic, peeled
salt
a few sprigs of rosemary
about a wineglass full of red wine
Rub the oil all over the lamb and either brown it in a hot pan or throw it on the grill to get some colour. Meanwhile, toss all the potatoes and about half the garlic cloves into the bottom of your slow cooker.
Put the lamb on top of the potatoes, squish a few more cloves of garlic and rub it over the surface, then sprinkle with salt. Toss in a few sprigs of rosemary and pour some wine in around the potatoes, cover (if the bone sticks out, cover the lid with foil to seal in the heat) and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Carve the lamb and serve with the potatoes, finished with a squeeze of lemon, if you like. Serves 6-10.
March 14 2010 | lamb and slow cooker | 24 Comments »
For the boys, anyway. Uninspired but wanting to get rid of the wad of poorly arranged chicken thighs from my freezer, I skinned them and threw them in the slow cooker with a carrot, celery stalk, red pepper, lots of garlic, chicken stock and a couple handfuls of lentils and barley. The dry beans and grains absorbed almost all the liquid – almost like I planned it that way – but I couldn’t give the ratios here; aim to have the liquid come about halfway up the chicken, make sure the dry stuff is stirred in rather than propped on top, and you’ll be fine.
As for me, well, Chef Giuseppe Di Gennaro from Capo cooked for me tonight. There might have been some other people around too – I didn’t really notice. It was the Avenue Magazine Food Awards, where they revealed the much-anticipated March issue (and Paul is on the cover! Yay Paul! Yay Rouge!) which is famous for its list of the Top 25 Things to Eat in Calgary (by Cinda Chavich) and the city’s best restaurants, by vote. Rouge was named Restaurant of the Year and Capo once again came in as “Worth the Splurge” (it’s worth getting yourself a sugar Daddy – or sugar Momma, whichever the case may be). And so to celebrate, Giuseppe came to make us fresh ravioli:
(I think my knees just went weak typing that. And I’m sitting down.) They were made with fresh pasta of course, stuffed with mascarpone and ricotta and doused in some sort of pure meat heaven reduction. I did get the recipe but I’m not going to even bother relaying because I can’t imagine it could possibly hold a candle to going down there and having them make it for you. And it looks like it requires a lot of dishes.
As for the rest of the list, I could hardly relay it all here – but Avenue hits the stands any day now.
February 26 2010 | slow cooker | 9 Comments »
One of my New Year’s Resolutions (or – thoughts I tend to get more of at this time of year regarding what I’d like to do more or less of) is to eat more soup. It’s important to have achievable goals. And to eat more vegetables.
Here is yet another extreme leftover makeover wherein the sloppy seconds almost trumps the original: any soup started from a meaty ham bone, particularly one containing black beans or lentils. This ham first made its debut while the family painted across the street – a great easy meal for a crowd that costs less than ordering pizza. Honestly. (Ham – $15. Biscuits from scratch – $1. Having your sister move in across the street – priceless. Although that really doesn’t have much to do with the ham, but it sounds nice.)
Also – do pizza leftovers take care of dinner another night? I didn’t think so. Pizza crust soup is nowhere near as appetizing.
Ham & Lentil Soup
1 ham bone, with lots of meat left clinging to it
+ 1 chopped onion
+ 3 chopped carrots
+ half a bunch of celery, chopped whole from the leafy end, including the leaves
+ 2 cups dried green or brown lentils
+ 1 L beef or chicken broth
+ 1 L water
+ bay leaf
+ large soup pot or slow cooker (6 hours or so on low)
= happy gut.
(Sorry for the abbreviated post – I was working late on one relating to weight and the new year and all that, and it became apparent closing in on midnight that I wasn’t going to finish it proper-like. And I didn’t sleep at all last night, panicking over the sudden realization that I have to address a sold-out Jack Singer Concert Hall in less than a week and nothing fits.)
January 05 2010 | slow cooker and soup | 16 Comments »
Have been reduced to a bobblehead with a wonky neck spring. Brain function reduced to a trickle. Discovered don’t have a waist upon trying on Julia Child outfits (Oxford-style shirt, tied apron, which makes me look more like Paul Prudhomme) in front of full-length mirror.
Ghoulash for dinner. Wanted to tell you about it. V. good on brown rice. Leftovers. Better after a day or two in the fridge. Freezes well.
Pulled Pork Ghoulash
adapted from Jamie at Home, by Jamie Oliver (a stunning book-I highly recommend it!)
canola or olive oil, for cooking with
4-5 lb. pork shoulder, preferably bone-in
1 large purple onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 yellow or orange pepper, seeded and chopped
2-3 hot chile peppers, seeded and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. hot or 1 Tbsp. mild smoked paprika
1 19 oz. (598 mL) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
salt & pepper to taste
½ cup sour cream or crème fraiche (optional- Jamie spikes his with lemon zest and a handful of chopped fresh parsley)
Brown rice or warm cornbread, for serving
Heat a drizzle of oil in a heavy skillet set over medium-high heat and brown the pork shoulder on all sides. Transfer it to a Dutch oven or slow cooker. (If you want to cook this in the oven instead of the slow cooker, preheat it to 325°F.) Add the onions to the pan and cook until they start to turn brown; add them to the Dutch oven or slow cooker; ditto the peppers, chile peppers and garlic. Add them to the pork and onions, and add the paprika, tomatoes, vinegar and sugar as well.
If you are using the oven put a lid on the pot and put it in for about 3 hours. If you are using a slow cooker, set it on low for 6-8 hours. Take the lid off and test the meat – it should pull apart easily with a fork. Remove any bones and continue cooking with the lid off if you’d like to thicken the sauce. Skim any fat from the surface, or cool the pork completely, then refrigerate it overnight; this makes it easier to pull the solidified fat from the surface, and it always tastes better reheated the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to improve.
Using two forks, shred the meat and distribute it through the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice or split cornbread, topped with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche. Leftovers are grand, and freeze well.
Serves 8-10.
One Year Ago: Beef Stu, Garlicky Cheese Biscuits and Blood & Gutscakes
October 29 2009 | pork and slow cooker | 20 Comments »
As I type this it’s closing in on midnight and I’m trying to decide my best plan of attack to cook a turkey (and all the trimmings, including dessert) perfectly by 7:30 am tomorrow morning, without it drying out or my having to get up at 3 am to check on it. Normally sleep deprivation would be something I’d rather avoid, but it so happens I’m flying to TORONTO tomorrow afternoon to be on CANADA AM on Wednesday, which requires a 7:30am call time (that’s 5:30 my time), which will likely translate to a 5:30 wake-up call (that’s 3:30 my time) – not that I’ll be sleeping anyway, but fretting that my alarms won’t go off, my cab will get lost on the way to the studio, I’ll forget what I’m supposed to be talking about, that sweater I chose to wear was the wrong choice after all, or (most likely) all of the above. So I really should get at least a little bit of sleep tonight.
And I may have told you this before, but the entire reason for my trip is to cook a turkey in a CrockPot. (There’s a twist – you’ll have to watch to find out!) And so I had to practice cooking a turkey in a CrockPot (genius it is – not pretty, but impossible to mess up or dry out) which meant a whole lot of leftover turkey before Thanksgiving even rolls around. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Now that I know it can be done (and how ridiculously easy it is) I’ll be cooking turkeys year-round, doing them up in the slow cooker instead of roasting my usual two chickens at a time, and then shredding the incredibly moist meat for use in sandwiches, soups, really anything that calls for chopped cooked chicken, which covers a lot. Any meat that has been cooked on the bone is more flavourful, and you can imagine how moist and juicy a bird done in the CrockPot ends up.
So late this morning, knowing my sister and her kids were coming for dinner and the CrockPot was still sitting on the countertop, I tossed everything in and when I ran in the door at 5:30, had dinner on the table in 15 minutes. (Rounded out with frozen brown rice -yes, you can make big batches and freeze it!- and some quickly steamed green beans.) I love the idea of adding spinach – thanks to my friend Korey for that, and the basis of this recipe.
Butter Turkey with Spinach
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 28 oz (796 mL) can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
4-5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2-3 tsp. curry paste
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 cups roughly chopped or shredded leftover roast turkey or chicken
4 cups fresh spinach
1 cup plain yogurt, half & half, whipping cream or any combination of these (or more or less to taste)
chopped peanuts or cashews, for sprinkling on top (optional)
Put everything but the spinach and yogurt in the CrockPot, and cook on low for 4-6 hours (if you want to start with raw chicken – use skinless thighs – cook for 6-8 hours on low). When you’re ready to eat, tear in the spinach, stir it in until it wilts, and stir in the yogurt or cream. Serve immediately, over rice. Serves about 6.
(This is Ben, not W, if you’re amazed at how suddenly huge he’s become.)
And the turkey dinner, by the way, is for Jim and Angela and the crew at the Eyeopener tomorrow morning. It’s Thanksgiving week, after all!
One Year Ago: Roast Lamb, Baked Potatoes, Glazed Carrots and Turtle Bars
October 06 2009 | chicken & turkey and slow cooker | 24 Comments »
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