Archive for the 'slow cooker' Category
I’m not really sure what we had for dinner tonight, to be honest. Or whether we technically did have dinner - we kind of skidded right through and suddenly it’s after 10 and I’m making creme brulee and curried squash soup, which would have actually made a fine dinner. I have two events tomorrow that require food, and because I didn’t get the final details of one until around 4 I headed out to grocery shop over dinnertime, thinking I was smart to go during the Grey Cup. It seems a lot of people had the same kind of smarts.
I made some chicken drumsticks for the occasion (Grey Cup) - threw them in the Crock Pot and sort of forgot about them, except for the occasional waft that crept by my nose. I am a big fan of chicken wings, but not a fan of all that skin and fat, which is really all there is to a chicken wing. If you pull the skin off of chicken legs they are far less in fat, have much more meat, and you can still eat them with your fingers. Try them with any kind of wing sauce and cook them in the oven, on the grill or in the slow cooker.
Sticky, Spicy Drumsticks
These are reminiscent of sweet and sour chicken, but with a spicy kick. Use less hot sauce if you’re feeding kids; more if you like to live dangerously. These do the trick when I’m craving a big sticky basketful of chicken wings. Cook them under the broiler or throw them on the grill for a smokier flavor.
8 chicken drumsticks, skinned and trimmed of any fat
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Tabasco or other hot sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
Combine everything but the drumsticks in a medium bowl. Add the drumsticks and stir to coat.
Grill or broil the drumsticks, brushing with marinade, for about 20 minutes or until cooked through. If there is extra marinade, bring it to a boil in a small pot and simmer for a minute, until thoroughly cooked. Serve with the drumsticks for dipping.
Makes 8 drumsticks.
Per drumstick: 144 calories, 2.2 g total fat (0.6 g saturated fat, 0.7 g monounsaturated fat, 0.6 g polyunsaturated fat), 13.3 g protein, 18.6 g carbohydrate, 47.7 mg cholesterol, 0.3 g fiber. 13% calories from fat
So those sort of got picked at over the course of the afternoon. And because my sister was coming by I made a crab, spinach and artichoke dip (faster than it sounds) which was baked until bubbly and eaten with grainy crackers.
Hot Crab, Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Omit the artichokes if you want just a cheesy crab dip, or replace it with half a package of frozen spinach, thawed with the extra moisture squeezed out. If it seems too thick for your taste, thin it with a little milk.
1 - 8oz. (250 g) tub light cream cheese
1 cup low fat sour cream
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. grated purple onion
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 small clove garlic, finely crushed
2 drops hot pepper sauce (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 - 1 lb. lump crabmeat, cartilage removed (or 2 – 170g cans, drained)
1 - 14 oz. (398 mL) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
half block of frozen chopped spinach, thawed with moisture squeezed out (optional)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or old cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Stir in sour cream, lemon juice, onion, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Stir in the crabmeat, artichoke hearts, spinach and cheese.
Spoon into a shallow baking dish or pie plate and bake for 20-30 minutes, until heated through and bubbly around the edges. Serve warm with baked tortillas, crackers, pita or bagel chips or fresh veggies. Serves 8.
Per serving: 165 calories, 8.6 g total fat (4.8 g saturated fat, 2.5 g monounsaturated fat, 0.5 g polyunsaturated fat), 12.3 g protein, 10.2 g carbohydrate, 41.4 mg cholesterol, 2.3 g fiber. 46% calories from fat
And for one of the events tomorrow I made some pre-yoga biscotti with oats, almonds and apricots, and I couldn’t very well bring the broken ones, could I?
Oat, Almond and Apricot Breakfast Biscotti
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oats
3/4 cup sugar (white or brown)
2-4 Tbsp. ground flax seed
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk or orange juice
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup dried apricots, slivered
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Put the flour, oats and sugar into the bowl of a food processor; pulse until the oats are ground. Add the sugar, flax seed, baking powder and salt and pulse to blend. Add the butter and pulse again until well blended. Transfer to a large bowl.
In a small bowl, stir the yogurt, milk, egg and vanilla together with a fork; add it to the dry ingredients and stir until almost combined; add the almonds and apricots and stir just until the dough comes together.
With dampened hands, shape the dough into a log that is about 14” long and 3” wide. (Or for smaller biscotti, make two narrower logs.) If you like, brush the top with a little beaten egg or milk, and/or sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes, until firm. Set on a wire rack to cool and reduce the oven temperature to 300°F. When the log is cool enough that it doesn’t crumble, slice into 1/2″ wide slices on a slight diagonal. Put the slices back on the cookie sheet, standing upright and spaced about 1/2”apart. Bake for another 30 minutes, until hard and dry. If you like, turn the oven off and leave the biscotti inside to cool.
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen biscotti.
Altogether it sort of counted as dinner, I guess. And good news: I’m making samosas tomorrow, so I’ll post the recipe rather than tease you about it!
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November 23 2008 | appetizers and chicken & turkey and cookies & squares and slow cooker and snacks | 3 Comments »
As promised, I hauled out my Crock-pot today. (Partly to celebrate the shiny new ones that are en route to Maureen and Theresa! I am heeding the request to post winners’ names. Sorry I’m so late.) And last night I pulled out a boneless leg of lamb that had been taking up altogether too much space in the freezer.
When outside it’s the same shade of grey all day long, so that you can’t tell what time it is until it begins to get dark at 4 o’clock, and the gritty snow and slush require you to halt the dog upon entering the house and wipe down his muddy paws every single time he has to go pee or sniff something, it puts me in the mood for a dark, sticky, robust, slow-cooked stew, preferably served over a mound of warm carbohydrates.
I’ve been thinking about braised lamb shanks, but this caught my eye as I flipped through magazines in the car on our drive home. The original is done in a Dutch oven and calls for raisins and figs, but I opted to stick with just figs, which aren’t as sweet as raisins; I imagine dried apricots would work well too. The lamb roast was cut into chunks, half of which are back in the freezer for a future experiment.
I browned and threw the meat/onion/stock component in at noon, and added the beans, carrots and figs at around 4. At 6ish I put a kettle on to boil and made couscous. (1 cup couscous to 1 1/4 cups boiling water; pour over the couscous in a bowl and top with a plate; leave for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork. I don’t even understand why they make instant couscous. Could it really be faster and easier?)
Mike loved this. I liked it more the deeper into the bowl I got; the combination of cinnamon and lamb has always been a little too Medieval for me. I can’t seem to shake the thought that it was once used to mask meat that had gone a little off. It makes lamb taste gamier to me. It was quite tasty though, and I imagine it will be more so tomorrow, and Thursday when I’ll be in Red Deer at dinnertime. This is another Great Thing about slow cookers in the winter: you can just lid the leftovers and set the whole thing outside, or in your garage, and plug it back in to rewarm the next night. (If you suspect any critters in your yard are cunning enough to access your slow cooker, hide it in the barbecue.)
Provided it’s cold enough, of course. Don’t try this in July. Or in Texas.
Middle Eastern Slow-Cooked Stew with Lamb, Chickpeas and Figs
adapted from Cooking Light Magazine
a drizzle of canola or olive oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and cubed
3 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cinnamon stick
1 can less-sodium beef broth
1 19 oz. (540 mL) can chick peas, drained
1-2 cups baby carrots
1 cup dried figs, halved
salt and pepper
fresh mint, if you like
Slow-cooker version: heat a drizzle of oil in a skillet and brown the lamb in batches, without crowding the pan, transferring to the slow cooker as you go. (No need to cook them through, just brown them to add flavour.) Add a little more oil and then brown the onions and garlic; add to the slow cooker. Pour about 1/2 cup of water into the skillet and scrape up any browned bits; add to the slow cooker along with the ginger, spices and stock. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. At around the 4 hour mark, add the chick peas, carrots and figs. When you’re ready to eat, season with salt and pepper and if you like, stir in some fresh mint (or scatter it on top).
Stovetop version: Heat a drizzle of oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; sauté the lamb in batches until browned. Remove from pan and set aside; brown the onions. Add the garlic and 1/2 cup water; cook for a few more minutes, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
Return the meat to the pan along with the ginger and spices. Add the stock, cover, reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Stir in the chick peas, carrots, and figs; cover and simmer 20-30 minutes or until carrots are tender. Season with salt and stir in chopped fresh mint just before serving, or sprinkle it on top of each bowl.
Serves 8.
Calories:310 (18% from fat)
Fat:6.2g (sat 1.8g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.6g)
Protein:21.4g
Carbohydrate:44.5g
Fiber:6.6g
Cholesterol:49mg
Sodium:542mg
Calcium:90mg
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November 18 2008 | freezable and lamb and slow cooker and stews & braises | 11 Comments »
If you didn’t get an email asking for your coordinates so I could ship you a spanking new Crock Pot this morning, sorry about that. I so wish I could have sent one to each of you, but I doubt the fairy godmother/FedEx guy will show up on my doorstep with 200+ new Crock Pots. That was so much fun though - it makes me want to give stuff away all the time - perhaps I will start Free Stuff Fridays (far better than Casual Fridays or Freaky Fridays, don’t you think?) so stay tuned. I’ll try to scare up some more loot.
In the spirit of the contest, and because I just got home last night from foodstyling for said Crock Pot media tour in Edmonton, I decided it was a slow cooker night. (That, and I had to do CBC traffic this afternoon until 6pm.) Besides, when I got home and unloaded all my gear and had Crock Pots all over my counter and scraps of ingredients including a pork roast left over from various TV shows, it made sense to throw it into a C-pot rather than put it away, and let it go overnight. Korey came up with a brilliant recipe combo - pulled pork - which I must say is about as simple but yet better than any pulled pork recipe I’ve made before - and then a Southwestern soup made with leftover pork and the rich pork stock that comes from it. And while you eat your pulled pork the poured-off stock chills in the fridge for a day, allowing all the fat to harden on the surface for you to scoop off. It really is quite brilliant.
Plus, I have to do traffic again tomorrow. AND make a turkey dinner for the Eyeopener crew tomorrow morning (or tonight, if you consider that the turkey has to go in at around 1 am), so I’m fairly confident I will be in no state to come up with dinner tomorrow night if something isn’t already in the works.
Since the pork was done overnight, at 7am I pulled it out, poured off the stock, and threw three cans of beans into the pot without even needing to wash it out. Large cans of red kidney, white kidney and navy beans went in with a chopped onion and about a cup of barbecue sauce, a glug of Worcestershire and squirt of grainy mustard. That simmered for most of the day, and when I got home and had 10 minutes to assemble dinner before A came over to prep the turpigen (tune in to the Eyeopener tomorrow morning for an explanation), it came together in under 5. I wish I could have made a pan of cornbread, or a cheesy beer loaf to act as pedestal for the pulled pork (which is easy to reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop), but I had to settle for a store-bought chewy-crusty bun, which wasn’t half bad.
Crock Pot Pulled Pork
This is unbelievably fast. While the pork is browning, hack apart the veg and throw them in the pot. They are only there for flavour for the pork and stock - you’re throwing them out anyway - so there is no need to be at all dainty about it. Then set the roast on top, pour over the beer and you’re done.
One 2 to 3 lb pork rib roast or shoulder
2 onions, quartered
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bottle dark beer
1 cup barbecue sauce (or to taste)
salt and pepper, to taste
buns or flour tortillas
Season pork roast on all sides with salt and pepper. Over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet, brown roast on all sides. Place onions, carrots and celery into the slow cooker; top with browned roast.
De-glaze skillet with about 1/4 cup beer, scraping up any bits stuck to pan. Pour liquid and remaining beer over roast in slow cooker. Cover; cook on low for 8 hours.
Remove roast and set it aside. Strain the liquid into a container, discarding vegetables. Place the roast back into the slow cooker, shred with 2 forks until it is completely pulled apart, discarding any chunks of fat you come across, and pour about 1 cup of the strained broth overtop; put the rest in the fridge to make soup with. Stir in the barbecue sauce. Set the Crock Pot on warm to keep it that way.
Serve buffet-style with buns or tortillas and if you like, shredded cheese, chopped tomato, lettuce, caramelized onions or creamy cole slaw.
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October 09 2008 | beans and pork and slow cooker | 10 Comments »
I do believe I have achieved one of the most visually unappealing meals possible - the fleshy colour and mushy texture of both chicken and smashed potatoes did not make this an easy photo.
I was all set to make French onion soup tonight, to justify my 25 cent purchase of two soup bowls circa 1972 at a garage sale last summer, when I got a call just after noon to see if I was available to go do traffic on the Homestretch. My first reaction: what can I put in the slow cooker that will be done in 6 hours? And can any of it come from the freezer?
I remembered something I saw on S’s blog recently - chicken cooked in applesauce - and considering my plethora of apples, mushy apples, applesauce and other apple products, it seemed fitting. Plus our nice, non-carnivorous neighbours brought over a box of frozen chicken breasts they got as a freebie-with-purchase last week at Superstore. It seemed like good three-year-old food: chicken with applesauce. I wondered if I had any rhubarb in the freezer too, thinking it would go well with the chicken and apples and would make it a little more than just chicken cooked in applesauce, and I came up with a freezerbagful of pureed rhubarb that I had stashed away for a night of rhubarb bellinis that never happened.
So I put four frozen chicken breasts in, and about a cup each of applesauce and rhubarbsauce. And a bit of cinnamon, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I forgot about the garlic and vinegar, and the chunk of onion I meant to put in was still sitting beside the pot when I got home. It cooked on low for 6 hours.
It still worked. It was a bit odd. W thought it was weird and refused to eat any. Mike liked it. I ate it, but thought I could have made better use out of those chicken chests. Awhile later when I was putting it away I picked at W’s and liked it much more; the sauce seemed to thicken up and the chicken was incredibly moist. It might be worth making using cranberry applesauce, or at least a few cranberries added to the mix.
The smashed potatoes were leftover from our Thanksgiving shoot (smashed potatoes are so much less pressure than mashed - just use thin skinned ones and you don’t even have to peel them), and the beets I had tucked in the oven to roast while I had it on for something else and had to be used; I cut chunks into a hot pan and drizzled them with balsamic vinegar and honey in a lazy attempt to recreate the balsamic carrots and beets I had thought at the time I’d be living on for the rest of summer. Winter too.
Buttermilk Smashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions
about 5 Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered or cut into 6
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced (or 2 shallots)
1 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup(ish) buttermilk
salt and pepper
Cover potatoes with salted cold water in a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
While potatoes are simmering, heat the oil and butter in a skillet and cook the onion over medium heat, stirring often, for about 10 minutes or until deep golden.
Drain potatoes, return to pot and coarsely mash with a potato masher, adding the buttermilk, salt and pepper. Stir in the onions and serve right away.
Serves 4.
(I do believe I have reached the double digits. Gulp.)
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September 23 2008 | chicken & turkey and slow cooker and veg | 8 Comments »
I’m not really a steak and potatoes gal. Which isn’t to say I don’t love steak or potatoes; I just don’t come to a meal by considering the meat first and then filling the space around it with the requisite starch and veg. As you may have noticed over the past 239 (!) days, I tend toward meals that combine all elements into one.
Or maybe I’m just lazy.
But I was perusing Stephanie’s blog - she is using her Crockpot every night for a year (a braver soul than I, I think) and came across a recipe for a layered dinner - the name of which shot me straight back to the 70s - where you tuck your steak, potato and corn in the crockpot and leave for 7 hours, and come back to them all cooked. And it worked, technically, although it all came out roughly the same shade of beige, and was a litte… utilitarian. This photo gives it a little more justice than it likely deserves. It may be plasphemous to a nice steak, but low-slow heat works wonders on a cheap one. I told Mike to pick some up and he grabbed eye of round, which turned out a little on the dry and stringy side. This would be a great way to do bison, I think. I browned it quickly first in a bit of oil in a hot pan, just to give it colour and flavour. Whether a recipe instructs to or not, I generally brown meat before I throw it in the slow cooker; it makes a huge difference, flavour-wise.
The corn was grimly overdone, particularly where it had come in contact with the edge of the bowl; there it was dark, dry and shriveled. If I ever do it again, and I don’t arrive home five minutes before we eat, I’ll throw the corn in only for the last hour. However. I noticed just now that I was supposed to wrap the corn in foil; I had seen the same instructions for the potatoes and didn’t bother - the smallish, nubbly potatoes I threw in turned out wonderfully soft - and must have skimmed over the part that told me to wrap the corn too. Oops.
I also opted against the tequila, as tequila and I have not gotten along since the mid-90s, but did add a splash of stock and some Worcestershire sauce. So under these potatoes and veg, which I did nothing to besides wash and poke (the potatoes), are sitting on two steaks, over which I poured about 1/4 cup of chicken stock. I didn’t have onion flakes either, and was too lazy to slice a bit of onion into the mix. A few fresh garlic cloves would have gone well too. I cooked the lot on low heat for 8 hours, but probably could have gotten away with 6.
So today I’m Mary Tyler Moore, working all day in the newsroom and then coming home to a steak and potato dinner for my happy family.
I’m going to make it after all.
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August 27 2008 | beef and one dish and slow cooker | No Comments »
Today was not a good day for Spanx. It wasn’t the best day for a boiled dinner either, and I know, it could not sound less appetizing. Technically it wasn’t boiled, but slow-cooked. Either way an unusual choice - I’ve never eaten corned beef brisket before, let alone cooked one.
But. Every time I haul out my slow cooker (it’s not that big a deal, really) I get all giddy over it and go on a slow cooker kick for awhile before putting it away again. After the pulled pork fiasco I wanted to give it another go, so stopped at the grocery store on the way home and perused the meat section.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen those sealed plastic packages containing corned beef brisket in brine - they have them at Safeway, and every single time I see them I pause and ponder it, partly because they are foreign to me, and partly because Mike always said that corned beef brisket was the only thing his dad made for dinner growing up that was edible. His dad was famous for getting deals on cheap cuts of meat (shoes, really) and ancient chickens and boiling them in beer until they turned into some sort of unidentifiable jerky. Served with boiled-to-death potatoes and unpeeled carrots. And maybe some broccoli so mushy you could spread it on toast.
I figured a brisket, corned or not, was an ideal candidate for the slow cooker and so finally grabbed one, if only to shut up the little voice in my head that went hmm every time I saw them. For the past 20 years. (Mike and I started dating when I was 16. Or 17? Yes 17 - soon after the 1988 Winter Olympics. After having a crush on each other for a year and having teenage angst about it to everybody, our friends locked us in the basement at a party until we made out. Even then it took a good 4 hours to get the nerve up. So there you go - you know how old I am.) That adds up to a lot of time spent going hmm.
It turned out to be brilliant for the slow cooker - all I did was upend the package into the pot, cover it with water, and set it for 6 hours. (I wonder if Stephanie has tried this?) I was taking over traffic duties on CBC this afternoon and broadcasting live from Globalfest, so knew I wouldn’t arrive home until close to 7. After 6, Mike pulled the brisket out of its broth and set it aside, added some baby potatoes, chunked carrots and turnips (it seemed like a good fit) and wedges of cabbage to the broth - this is called New England Boiled Dinner - and it’s one of the recipes I pulled out of Cooking Light years ago and stuck in my to-make recipe binder. (Their photo looks far better than mine though.) So crank the slow cooker up to high and cook the veg until they are tender - or pour the broth into a pot and do the same thing - and you have these fantastically salty, seasoned veg to go with the meat.
The brisket did shred very satisfactorily with a fork - I love that. But overall I was less thrilled with it than Mike was. It was OK, but I wouldn’t likely make it again. Except the corned beef brisket part, which was damn tasty. It would make a fantastic Rueben, with saurkraut and Swiss cheese.
And I just realized that last night’s and tonight’s dinners rhyme - back bacon biscuit and corned beef brisket. Maybe Mike will write a song about it.
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August 16 2008 | beef and one dish and slow cooker | 4 Comments »
