Slow cooker challenge - your best (easiest!) recipe

[WaitingForVino]

The idea of a slow cooker IMHO is to bung things in and have dinner at 8

Surely there's a way to use it that requires no "pre cooking" of ingredients?

( can you really just put some raw chicken and can of stock in, leave for the day, and find dinner when you get home? )

thats what i do lol i dont brown anything i chuck it all in with stock or sauce switch on and leave

I am a big fan of "bung it all in and leave it all day". I never brown anything first - although it definitely looks more appetising if you do. My favourite thing to do is a piece of gammon, covered with water and that's it! Leave it all day then fish out and slice up for tea. I then either use the water for a risotto, or throw in a load of lentils and whatever veg I have handy and leave on for the next day then whizz into soup at night.

I've been tempted to do that but doesn't the meat look a bit...er grey?

Chicken would look ok I guess, but red meat needs browning non?

Pork steaks, tin of chopped toms, tin of beans, diced onion and curry powder to taste.

Leave for hours and hours.

Bloody gawjus!!!

mmm that pork idea sounds good...thx Dee-mented!

i love my slow cooker - although it did take a bit of getting used to.

i do tend to brown meat, i think it gives a better flavour and also looks much more appetising. i also fry off some veg first - like onions and peppers, again i find this helps to release the flavour.

when i first starting using it i found that i was adding too much liquid and the finished dish sometimes lacked flavour because of this. you really need to add very, very little liquid.

i only got mine last week but ive made so far

braised steak with veg was gorgeous and fell off my fork when i was eating it.

bacon hotpot,that was bloomin lovely

and

tonight i did "spanish chicken"

browned some chicken thighs
jar of lloyd grossman tomato and basil sauce
new potatos sliced
onions
carrots
mushrooms
peppers
pasta put in half an hour before serving,

it was LOVELY!!!!!

am a real convert now.

Even just cooking the meat in there makes sure a difference, I've put chicken bits in and then added to a jar of sauce and it was fab.

I love the Morrocan chicken recipe from Annette Yates book "New recipes ..." - let me know if you can't get hold of a copy.

I find mine cooks everything quicker than it says in the recipe and it doesn't have a timer - but a friend just suggested that I use one of those timers that you can use to switch the lights on when you're on holiday.

Oops - Moroccan - need to go to bed.

You can "roast" a chicken by putting it in the slow cooker, replacing the lid and turning it on. I don't bother to roast chicken any other way any more (sure, it doesn't brown or crisp, but that doesn't bother me).

Jenk1 - did you cook any of those Spanish chicken bits before you put them in the pot?

Must get the courage to try it this weekend...!

jenk1 - am liking your chicken receipe especially as I have a jar of lloyd Grossman sauce in cupboard

Going to try it on Monday...wonder if I can freeze left overs...

Waitingforvino i just browned the chicken thighs very quickly and threw everything else in, it was really nice and i ate the left overs on saturday and it was still nice, am going to attempt nigellas ham in coke tomorrow!

jenk1 - tried to for dinner last night and it was delicious Although had chicken breasts in freezer so diced them and used that instead.

Also just bung everything in.. no pre-cooking. Its supposed to be easy isn't it?!

Just use lots of dried herbs and garlic - they work well in the slow cooker...

Sorry to butt in as I dont have a slow cooker - but I get Delicious magazine and they have a section of the November issue for slow cooker recipes - I am sure they have someone checking our threads!!