Slow Cooker recipes

mags16 · 07-04-2009 4:00pm

I'm cooking this lamb recipe this weekend.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2009/0404/1224243692755.html

I think I'll do it in the slow cooker. I'll reduce the liquid of course, but by how much? 0.5litre maybe? It is still a lot of liquid if you consider the tinned tomatoes too.

I'll serve it with cous cous.

Dizzyblonde · 07-04-2009 5:51pm

That recipe looks yummy Mags. As a rule, you'd usually halve the amount of liquid when using a slow cooker. If you halve the stock you might want to use less tinned tomatoes though, so the ratio is ok?

Dolbert · 07-04-2009 8:43pm

I've just bought one for 14.99 in Tesco and I'm dying to try some of these recipes out!

mags16 · 12-04-2009 9:28pm

mags16 wrote: »

I'm cooking this lamb recipe this weekend.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2009/0404/1224243692755.html

I think I'll do it in the slow cooker. I'll reduce the liquid of course, but by how much? 0.5litre maybe? It is still a lot of liquid if you consider the tinned tomatoes too.

I'll serve it with cous cous.

I made this today and it was fabulous. I had 900g of meat and added 1 1/2 times more spices but kept the original amount of tinned tomatoes and chickpeas. The onion, garlic and meat was fried before being added to the slow cooker. I only added 400ml stock. I cooked it for 10 hours on low. Served it with rice and veg. Really tasty.

TequilaMockingBird · 14-04-2009 4:02pm

If your sauce is too thin, mix a spoon of flour with water and gently stir it through, a half hour before serving. It will thicken nicely.

I did pork medallions in the slow cooker. Gorgeous. I just cooked them in a little stock with a glug of sherry. I sieved the sauce and added a little cream, salt and pepper. Served it with baby potatos and salad.

I only ever brown a roast, I never bother with other cuts. I also never sweat or parboil anything, just chuck it in.

Housekeepers Cut of Beef is really nice slow-cooked. And cheap.

I read somewhere online about doing baked potatos in the SC, can't remember how, but its an interesting idea.

corblimey · 14-04-2009 5:35pm

Okay, so most cuts of meat (from Tesco chilled counter anyway) have a wrap around (piece of string, plastic sleeve, etc) - do I leave that on when cooking or take it off? I would normally leave it on when cooking in the oven, etc, so I assume it's okay to leave on when slow cooking - the cut loses its shape without it. Is there any danger of I don't know, this wrap "reacting" with the meat in some way when it's being cooked for such long periods?

TequilaMockingBird · 14-04-2009 5:39pm

Leave the string on. I remove the plastic, simply because I don't like the thought of it, but it is apparently safe to leave it on. In the slow cooker the food is cooked so gently anyway, it should stay in the same shape as it went in. As soon as you take a knife to it it will fall apart anyway, its so tender. You could always remove string/plastic and cut it before you cook it if you like.

denat · 14-04-2009 9:02pm

mags16 wrote: »

I made this today and it was fabulous. I had 900g of meat and added 1 1/2 times more spices but kept the original amount of tinned tomatoes and chickpeas. The onion, garlic and meat was fried before being added to the slow cooker. I only added 400ml stock. I cooked it for 10 hours on low. Served it with rice and veg. Really tasty.

This sounds really nice and thank you for link to recipe.

Did you drain toms and chickpeas before you added them?

Excess liquid seems to be a problem with many slow-cooker recipes.

I've only used my sc once but the amount of liquid was astonishing. It's not just the amount of liquid that bothers me and that it dilutes flavour but the fact that, the thinner the consistency, the faster it cools.

I like substantial hot food, rather than warm and watery.

mags16 · 14-04-2009 10:38pm

denat wrote: »

This sounds really nice and thank you for link to recipe.

Did you drain toms and chickpeas before you added them?

Excess liquid seems to be a problem with many slow-cooker recipes.

I've only used my sc once but the amount of liquid was astonishing. It's not just the amount of liquid that bothers me and that it dilutes flavour but the fact that, the thinner the consistency, the faster it cools.

I like substantial hot food, rather than warm and watery.

Drain the chickpeas but not the tomatoes. In fact, I used tins of chopped tomatoes from lidl. There was just enough thick tomatoey sauce. I also trimmed the meat very well so there was very little fat in it. If you like more of a kick to your food, you could add some chopped chillis.

molloyjazz · 14-03-2010 2:22pm

gonna try this tomorrow, looks lovely.. anyone got any good recipes using asian ingrediants?

Ingredients

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 1/2 pounds beef chuck roast, boneless, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 green onions, cut into ½-inch slices
6 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon Asian chile paste
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
9 ounces fresh udon noodles, cooked and drained
3 cups bok choy, trimmed, washed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced

Directions

In a large skillet placed on stovetop set to medium-high heat, heat peanut oil and sear beef on all sides, turning each piece as it browns. Sear the last batch of beef with the onions and garlic.
Place all the seared beef in the stoneware along with the ginger, chile paste, water, chicken broth, soy sauce. Stir well to combine ingredients. Transfer the stoneware to the slow cooker base unit. Cover and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours or on Low for 7 to 8 hours, or until the beef is very tender.
Just prior to serving, add the noodles to the beef and stir well. Add the bok choy to the beef and noodles and stir again. Heat on base on High until the bok choy is tender-crisp, about 15 minutes. Garnish the beef with the cilantro and serve while hot.

kylith · 14-03-2010 9:27pm

TequilaMockingBird wrote: »

I read somewhere online about doing baked potatos in the SC, can't remember how, but its an interesting idea.

It's very easy. Just wrap a few spuds in foil and stack them in the SC, no need for any liquid. Cook on low for about 8 hours. The best baked spuds I've ever tasted.

kylith · 13-07-2010 1:02pm

Does anyone have any summer recipes for their SC? Can you bake in them? I'd love to use it for bread

joeKel73 · 24-10-2010 7:39pm

I've a slow cooker recipe question so thought i'd add it to this thread instead of starting a new one.

I bought my first slow cooker today! This 3.5L Breville: http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4201276.htm
(Reduced from €54.00 to €19.19 in Argos!

)

I cooked this (Jamie Oliver) Beef and Guinness stew recently and it was by far the best stew I've ever tasted. I took 3hrs in the oven.

I'm going to give it a go on the slow cooker tomorrow. So how long should I do it for? I'm guessing low for 9hrs??

And both times I did it in the over before it reduced to almost half the volume despite a loose cover... from what I read in the manual you should use about half the liquid when adapting a recipe for a slow cooker. So less guinness and less chopped tomatoes?

Also Jamie says not to pre-brown the meat... I didn't before and it worked out great, is that still true for slow cookers?

Anyone got a good slow cooker recipe for chicken or vegetable curry? An Asian food shop has opened around the corner so hoping to try out some nice spice combinations!

Thanks!

Dizzyblonde · 24-10-2010 8:10pm

You really do need to use half the amount of liquid in a slow cooker because it doesn't reduce at all - in fact you'll end up with more liquid than you started out with. For some reason meat cooks quicker than vegetables so you need to make sure your veg aren't too chunky and are sitting in liquid. Meat can sit up out of the liquid and still cook perfectly. 9 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high will definitely do it.

joeKel73 · 24-10-2010 8:31pm

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

You really do need to use half the amount of liquid in a slow cooker because it doesn't reduce at all - in fact you'll end up with more liquid than you started out with.

Thanks. Would you brown the meat or not (like in the recipe)?

Well I've got 800g meat (rather than the 500g in the recipe). So I'm thinking I'll use the original recipe quantities for the tomato and guinness so the proportions and non-reduction should cancel out.... I'll throw in an extra onion and carrot too.

I'm also very interested in the electrical efficiency of these things compared to cooking in the oven. I've a plug energy monitor thing I picked up in ALDI a few months ago, I'll run it through that and see how much it uses over the 9hrs.

Now that I'm thinking, I might just cook it over the night on the night units.... :cool:

Dizzyblonde · 25-10-2010 11:21am

Sometimes I brown the meat, sometimes not. It all depends on the recipe. You don't have to brown it in order for it to cook.

Something you should look at doing in the slow cooker is pulled pork. It's really good.

joeKel73 · 25-10-2010 12:15pm

Put my stew on last night.

When I came in this morning it was nicely cooked through but very watery compared to the oven version. Meat was very tender. A lot of the flavour was also missing though.

Had a bowlful and it was still a very nice stew, just not as flavoursome as the oven version.

So half an hour ago I thought I'd simmer it in a saucepan on a medium/high heat for 20mins to thicken it up a bit. Went to check my emails and when I got back to the kitchen the place was smoke - the bottom had burned solid to the bottom of the saucepan and now it's just all black burned lumps through it. Disaster! :mad:

So first impressions: makes nice tame stew.

On the energy point of things, on low it runs on 125W, doesn't seem to switch on and off on a thermostat like I'd have expected. So came to 1.25kWh over the 10hrs. On night units, that cost me about 10cent!

joeKel73 · 28-10-2010 8:27pm

Have since made chilli and today chicken korma and both were excellent! Faith restored.

nyeb2007 · 02-11-2010 12:47am

just wondering has anyone made rice pudding in their slow cooker - bought the rice today and would like to try this in the morning - wondering would you reduce the liquid you add by a half or even more?

BTW it was actual rice pudding rice I bought not just long grain - although basically the only difference is the price:mad:

psycho-hope · 02-11-2010 1:45am

found this website during the week, the auther/owner set herself the target of using her slow cooker every day for a year, the receipes are all gulten free too. the mesurements are american but theres plenty of sites that will convert them to mls/grams
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/12/crockpot-chicken-makhani-indian-butter.html

elvis jones · 15-12-2010 1:44pm

nyeb2007 wrote: »

just wondering has anyone made rice pudding in their slow cooker - bought the rice today and would like to try this in the morning - wondering would you reduce the liquid you add by a half or even more?

BTW it was actual rice pudding rice I bought not just long grain - although basically the only difference is the price:mad:

I plan to do this at the weekend,

I'm just using rice, milk, double cream, sugar, cinnamon and butter !

I'll cook it on low for about 6 to 7 hrs and see how it goes.

I'll butter the crock pot and add all the other stuff in a sauce pan and then transfer it !

Oh and doing rib eye beef cooked with red wine as well !

Betsysquared · 07-01-2011 11:18pm

foto joe wrote: »

Have since made chilli and today chicken korma and both were excellent! Faith restored.

Would you have a recipe for the korma please Joe?

pugwall · 09-01-2011 5:27pm

Betsysquared wrote: »

Would you have a recipe for the korma please Joe?

2 cloves of garlic / a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger / ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper / 1 teaspoon garam masala / ½ teaspoon sea salt / 2 tablespoons groundnut oil / 1 tablespoon tomato purée / 2 fresh green chillies / 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut / 2 tablespoons ground almonds / a small bunch of fresh coriander
Spices for toasting 2 teaspoons cumin seeds / 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Whiz all the ingredients in a food processer. Bash the toasting spices in a mortar & pestle before adding them. Add a can of chopped tomatoes and a tin of cocant milk too. Then put the sliced chicken fillet pieces, an onion, 2 peppers, some mushrooms in the slow cooker. Cover with the above sauce and cook on low for 8 hours. Nicest Korma ever. You coud add cream too if you like but I think the above is fine. Actually, we're having it tonight

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/curry-recipes/easy-homemade-curry-pastes

Betsysquared · 09-01-2011 6:07pm

Thanks Pugwall!

Will try that this week

curly from cork · 09-01-2011 6:36pm

thanks every one , i have enjoyed reading the last few pages. i went out and bought a slow cooker in tesco yesterday, but when i opened it found it to be too small. so i will return it. it was 3. 5 litre, i have been looking at the argos catalogue. just wondering should i go for one that is ceramic? or does it matter ?
thanks

Name Changed · 09-01-2011 8:18pm

Quick question re use of slow cooker....

Can you put a roast in the slow cooker, as in a pork loin joint or a beef joint, lamb etc?

If yes, would it be better to cut the fact off first?

Also, if you're cooking something like a pork loin joint, could you throw your potatoes and veg etc in the bottom of the slow cooker as you would with other recipes?

I'm heading to Tesco now to buy one of those slow cookers for €19.99. I've never used one before and was just looking for a little advice.

I'm looking forward to doing curries and casseroles, etc, but it'd be handy if you could cook joints in them...

pugwall · 09-01-2011 11:16pm

Betsysquared wrote: »

Thanks Pugwall!

Will try that this week

You're very welcome.

The above Korma went down a treat erarlier. We had 2 friends over for dinner and they devoured it

Please let us know how you get on with it this week. Its a fab recipe:D

pugwall · 09-01-2011 11:20pm

Name Changed wrote: »

Quick question re use of slow cooker....

Can you put a roast in the slow cooker, as in a pork loin joint or a beef joint, lamb etc?

Yes - I haven't tried it myself yet but my mom reqularly cooks a roast of beef in her slow cooker with some red wine, a couple of cloves of garlic, a small bunch of fresh herbs, an onion or two and cooks on low for 6/8 hrs. Really tasty!!!

Name Changed · 10-01-2011 7:25am

pugwall wrote: »

Yes - I haven't tried it myself yet but my mom reqularly cooks a roast of beef in her slow cooker with some red wine, a couple of cloves of garlic, a small bunch of fresh herbs, an onion or two and cooks on low for 6/8 hrs. Really tasty!!!

Brilliant. I'll give that a go tomorrow. I have a nice pork joint in the fridge.

I wouldn't cook my veg with the pork though. I'll do that separately.

Name Changed · 10-01-2011 7:58am

Could you actually cook potatoes, carrots and other veg under a pork joint in a slow cooker?

Slow Cooker recipes

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