quick advice need please for recipe ingredient (tomatoes). TIA

[mckenzie]

I'm about to prepare a beef and vegetable stew for cooking in the slow cooker tomorrow. The recipe calls for 115 grams of tomatoes wich I dont have. I have plenty of pomodorino tomatoes or I have tins of tomatoes. Which do you think would be best? Or shoudl I wait and get some regular tomatoes and add them tomorrow?

TIA

I woudl add the tin of tomatoes - pomodorino ones are too nice to spend the day in the slow cooker! They'd go all mushy as well. hope that helps

thanks naswm. I was thinking the same as I popped two in my mouth before putting them back in the fridge. i was just concerned the tin would give me too much extra juice/liquid for the recipe. Only one way to finds out huh??

If you go with the tinned tomatoes, but strain away the juice first it shouldn't be a problem.

oh yes good point about the liquid - I woudldnt bother strsaining them though, just reduce the other liquid, eg stock. Let us know what it is like. I have a slow cooker but NEVER use it

well naswm, it was very nice (even if I do say so myself) The recipe was written for using just one pot but after I'd done so much with it last night I transfered it to the slow cooker today and finished it off slowly and it was grand. Tinned tomatoes worked okay too. I'll write the recipe here for you if you like.

ooo yes please!

will do. The DCs had the leftovers for dinner tonight and still enjoyed it. always a good sign!

hi mckenzie - I made my first beef and veg casserole in my new slow cooker today and it was pretty good. I hadn't considered preparing it the night before but it would make much more sense for days that I work and can't be spending precious time in the mornings. Do you just bung everything in together and put it in the fridge until the morning or do you brown the meat etc?

hi bodiddly

I did prepare this one by adding some spices to some flour and then covering the meat in the flour mix and cooking it on the hob just to brown it, having already softened the onions and then I added the carrots, stock and lager and simmered it really gently for quite a while during the evening (about 60 mins i think). I then added some pieces of sweet potato and let that simmer for another 15 mins then added tomatoes, celery, peppers and frozen peas and put it in the fridge overnight. I got it back out about 3 and put it in the slow cooker on high and it was delicious when we ate it about 5.45pm.

If it sounds like the prep work was a pain, it honestly wasn't. I did it while I was cooking that nights dinner and then it just sat on the hob during the eving - no big deal. The lager I think really made a differnce - the meat was very tender from having been cooked slowly but the stock was also extra delicious.

I'll post the full recipe tomorrow.

Did you get any recipe ideas with your slow cooker?

I don't always brown the meat by the way - sometimes i just bung it all in and hope for the best! This was a new recipe though so i thought I'd follow it fully and I must admit, it was nicer

hi bodiddly

I did prepare this one by adding some spices to some flour and then covering the meat in the flour mix and cooking it on the hob just to brown it, having already softened the onions and then I added the carrots, stock and lager and simmered it really gently for quite a while during the evening (about 60 mins i think). I then added some pieces of sweet potato and let that simmer for another 15 mins then added tomatoes, celery, peppers and frozen peas and put it in the fridge overnight. I got it back out about 3 and put it in the slow cooker on high and it was delicious when we ate it about 5.45pm.

If it sounds like the prep work was a pain, it honestly wasn't. I did it while I was cooking that nights dinner and then it just sat on the hob during the eving - no big deal. The lager I think really made a differnce - the meat was very tender from having been cooked slowly but the stock was also extra delicious.

I'll post the full recipe tomorrow.

Did you get any recipe ideas with your slow cooker?

I don't always brown the meat by the way - sometimes i just bung it all in and hope for the best! This was a new recipe though so i thought I'd follow it fully and I must admit, it was nicer

thanks - I was looking for anbother recipe book this morning and came acros my slow cooker recipe book, so maybe I can be inspired to get it out and exp[eriement again? Have to find room in the kitchen for it first.... The bread maker is out atm and Ihave NO worktop spare....

did you use lager rather than ale? I used red wine with mine which worked quite well. Mine was nowhere near as adventurous as yours just onion, carrot, beef, red wine and a cheat as didn't have time (jar of dolmio) ... was yum. I bought a really cheap slow cooker from tesco for £12.98 and at that price unfortunately you don't get a recipe book or even any suggestions! Any ideas you have that have been tried and proved would be gratefully appreciated.

I just wasn't sure about browing meat and then putting it in the fridge until the next day before cooking. Didn't know if that was dodgy or not! Think I will try a chicken cacciatore next.

I did keep cooking the meat after I had browned it bodiddly. I used a bottle of Budweiser for the recipe as it was all i had in the house! DCs thought it was fantastic that they were 'eating' lager!!