Slow cooker: what are your best recipes?

[MyCatShopsAtAldi]

We have just acquired a slow cooker and I’m not sure where to start with it. Keep wimping out and sticking to usual recipes in the Le Creuset. The only point I seem to have taken on board is that you need a lot less liquid, and that stuff may turn out better if you brown/sweat it first.

If you have a slow cooker, what’s your favourite recipe or thing to cook in it?

Thanks in advance!

[dreamingofsun]

sorry may not have explained that well.....by base i mean the bolognese mix

[Al1langdownthecleghole]

I agree with using less liquid - and remember vegetables leak a lot of water when slow cooked, so something with a lot of root veg needs even less liquid.

I prefer meat to poultry, as it’s easy to overcook chicken. Regardless of the recipe timings, personally I rarely cook chicken for more than an hour.

Beef brisket works particularly well in a rich sauce. I do a sort of ragu with red wine that is really good.

[Babdoc]

sashh, I am still laughing at your comment that you don’t care about the unbrowned sausages looking like willies! Thanks for cheering me this cold winter morning.
I was given a slow cooker for Christmas, so am taking notes. Thinking of making a dhansak in it to christen it.

[Nyx]

I love my slow cooker. Here's a lovely, easy and very tasty recipe for pork (chops or whatever):

www.themagicalslowcooker.com/slow-cooker-pork-chops-and-onions/

[Nyx]

Oh, I brown the pork - takes hardly any time - but for that recipe, don't need to cook the onions first.

[SilenceIsNoLongerSuspicious]

If you have a slow cooker with a metal insert, it’s easy to brown meat on the hob while chopping the veg, then dump the veg in, put the insert in the slow cooker and you’re done. But for a work morning, just dumping it all in works fine, just not quite as nice for things like sausages. Doesn’t make any odds for things like beef, I find.

[sashh]

@Babdoc may you enjoy many willy sausage casseroles

A very simple one that works with pork hocks too.

lightly flower the sausages, put them in the SC, add 50/50 cider / water mix and seasoning.

When you are ready to eat get out of the freezer- make some mash and use the cider liquid to make a sauce.

[andyoldlabour]

Bought some reduced braising steak yesterday, marinated in red wine in the fridge. Will slow cook a bouef bourgignon tomorrow, add chopped carrots, chunks of shallot, button mushrooms, pre brown the meat in flour and butter with chopped onions, bring the red wine marinade to a simmer to burn off the alcohol. Put it all in the SC on high for four hours. Fry off some lardons in a pan and add them to the SC for the last hour.
I haven't had this for over a year.

[sashh]

bring the red wine marinade to a simmer to burn off the alcohol

Actually that's a really good point, SCs don't get hot enough to cook the alcohol out so if you have guests who are driving it might be better to not cook with alcohol.

[Babdoc]

Burn off the alcohol? What heresy is this?!
I’m even more amused now at the thought of coating the willies in flowers before cooking, sashh!

[Al1langdownthecleghole]

If you’re starting it off at 7am, can I recommend prepared veg packs from supermarkets to save time & oniony hands? I like the ones with potatoes in and then just serve with bread & butter.

Another tip if using alcohol, is to prep everything in a Tupperware the night before including the booze then all you have to do is tip it in and turn it on.

[imp2007]

Brilliant thread thank you place marking for a proper read later. Love the sound of Hawaiian pulled chicken and the Massaman beef curry.

Not really a recipe but if I'm really in a pinch often thrown in a pack of chicken thighs, jar of cooking sauce ie sweet and sour and a few big handfuls of frozen peppers - leave on low all day or high for 4 hours and done!

[sashh]

@Babdoc I'm dyslexic, the PC I use to study has software that picks up homonyms, I should think about installing it on this PC too.

[Babdoc]

sashh, I hope you don’t think I was mocking your dyslexia - I definitely wasn’t, I just assumed it was an amusing typo! Sorry if I upset you, nothing was further from my mind.

[sashh]

@Badoc

No Problem, dyslexia often causes funny typos, it makes we read things wrong and funny sometimes.

[andyoldlabour]

My DW has informed me that our kitchen smells like the first time we had BB in Beaune in 1998. Hopefully in around three hours time it will be ready.

[SpaceOp]

I use ours for stews a lot.

Lamb stew (this is me writing it down but it's all sort of in my head and I wing it a lot).

Lamb shoulder or neck, cut into chunks (quantities really up to you - I tend to do about 600-800 g and would consider that enough for 2 meals for the four of us. If you like it very meaty, do 600g for one meal and lower veg etc). Please do not buy "stewing lamb in chunks" from the supermarket. It is never fatty enough.

Dredge the lamb in seasoned flour and brown in a saucepan. Tip into slow cooker.

Sweat/saute chopped onion (and any other obvious ingredients you have lying around such as celery, leek etc). Do not add garlic because, in my experience (although I think it has something to do with the type of slow cooker you have) the garlic will taste funny when it is slow cooked. Tip into slow cooker.

Peal and chop (into big chunks) carrots or other preferred veg of this sort. Butternut works well but doesn't freeze well if you're planning to save leftovers (goes mushy - tastes fine, but doesn't look as good). I hate turnips/parsnips but those would, of course, work.

in the pan throw in a generous amount of red wine add a tin of chopped tomatoes or passata, a large cinnamon stick, two star anise, a drizzle of honey, a bay leaf and, if you like, a clove or two. Bring to the boil. Add to slow cooker.

Add a stock cube (I use the gel ones) and then top with boiling water from the kettle enough to just about cover everything. (A few things poking up is fine). Stir enthusiastically to dissolve stock cube. Add salt and pepper. Cover and cook for approximately 4 hours on low or 8 hours on high. On mine, I can eat it at that point or leave it for up to about five hours on high or 10 on low.

By itself, that will work nicely. I usually open it up about 30 minutes before and add a tin of cannellini beans or a tin of chickpeas to up the nutrition and to make it go further. Another variation is to add about half a cup of puy lentils at the beginning (may require a bit more liquid). My mother always adds peas to her lamb stews - usually by microwaving them for 3 minutes then stirring in immediately before eating (again, peas don't work as well as leftovers or when frozen so this is best if you're going to eat the entire thing in one go).

For beef, I do the same flour/fry/onion thing but add LOADS of ginger with the onion mix. I might add a little passata for thickness but only about half a small box. Little bit of white wine, a bay leaf and maybe a clove. Usually add lentils rather than beans/chickpeas.

[MyCatShopsAtAldi]

@SpaceOp, that lamb stew sounds great! Thank you! So far, we have experimented with braised pork from the slow cooker recipe book I got for Christmas (delicious but more liquid than I expected), followed by chilli which worked really well. Going to try jambalaya tomorrow...

[Snowpaw]

I really like chicken thighs in a slow cooker - definitely better than breasts. A few ideas.

A packet of chicken thighs, cover with a jar of pesto. You can add to this green beans, mushrooms, an onion, cherry tomatoes, anything really. Eat it with baguette to dunk in the juices or cook some pasta / micro rice.

Chicken thighs plus a packet of fajita seasoning, onions and peppers. Eat with wraps / wedges etc

Chicken thighs and a tin of condensed mushroom soup

[Icantfindanewname]

I always recommend this one - very popular with the kids (and I like it even though I don't like honey) damndelicious.net/2013/11/02/slow-cooker-crockpot-honey-sesame-chicken/