Love Your Slow Cooker
If there’s one thing I can’t go past in a Supermarket or homewares shop, it’s a nifty appliance I will use once then store in the cupboard to gather dust. My most recent purchase was a slow cooker, and this (believe me) has already proved itself deserving of a permanent place on my kitchen bench. If you don’t have one, buy one. They’re wonderful.
The theory is: (1) put a whole heap of delicious ingredients into the pot; (2) Apply lid; (3) Turn switch; (4) Go to bed. When you wake up (and this is especially good on the weekends if you can get a solid 10-12 hours of sleep) your meal will be ready and overflowing with delicious, tender, succulent flavours. I’ve also heard that many people pop it on in the morning before work, then return home to have a meal already prepared for dinner. Magic.
Today’s dish is slow cooked meditteranean lamb with polenta. (an early warning: the polenta is the only part of this dish that can’t be made in the slow cooker).
Ingredients
• 6 lamb chops
• Small handful of plain flour
• Herbs and spices (rosemary, paprika, lemon rind, salt pepper)
• 10-20 whole brown shallots
• 6-8 cloves garlic
• Splash of red wine
• 1 eggplant
• 2 zucchinis
• 425g Can crushed tomatoes
• Small can tomato paste
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
1. Crush some herbs and spices in a mortar & pestle
2. Add the flour to the powdery mix and use it to coat the lamb chops (it helps to add the meat and flour mixture to a plastic bag and shake).
3. Heat a pan to high with a little oil, and sear/brown the lamb chops for a couple of minutes on each side (I’m told that the high heat causes chemical reactions – I like to call them “delicious reactions” – that give the meat a great roasted flavour). Do the chops in two batches if necessary to ensure they are all browned.
4. In the same pan, add whole peeled shallots and rouglhy crushed garlic cloves. Toss until browned and add to the slow cooker.
5. Deglaze the pan with a little red wine to capture all the left over pan flavours, and add to the slow cooker.
6. Now throw all your vegetabless – eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes.
7. Top up the dish with tomato paste mixed into the stock.
8. Pop the lid on, turn the slow cooker to high and leave for 8-10 hours.
At 0 hours
At 6 hours
At 10 hours
By the end, the meat should be falling off the bone, and the vegetables should be deliciously tender.
Serve on polenta, cous cous or mashed potato. Add some yoghurt on the side if you feel like lightening it up.
There must be so many little tricks of the trade when making slow-cooked dishes, and I’ve only just joined the club. Does anyone else have any recipes or short cuts that they’d like to share?
I adore my slow cooker.
Tip 1 – years ago I used to do all the pre-cooking and searing, but have found that it really isn’t necessary. I now just put all the required ingredients directly in the slow cooker and switch it on – I get just as good a result.
Tip 2 – the slow cooker can save you money by cutting down on take away or convenience foods. At the start of winter, I spend a couple of weekends making different slow cooker meals and then freezing them in single serve freezer/microwave containers. Then when we are tired, or don’t feel like cooking, we can all just choose our particular favourite meal from the freezer and reheat.
I just heard about a recipe for slow cooked corned beef.Tried it last weekend & it was very nice.
This is so simple. Put your corned beef into your slow cooker & just add one bottle of ginger beer to it (I used 1.25 lt bottle). Thats all you add. The meat had more of the real flavour of corned beef & it seemed more tender to me, needless to say, my whole family enjoyed it. Try it, simple & tasty. I slow cooked it for 6 hrs cause I didn`t put it on till 12 noon.
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Love my slow cooker..used to be called a crockpot. Started using in 1985 after the birth of my first child, what a godsend. Both of my sons now own one since moving out into their own homes. No, you do not need to brown meat, and putting it on in the morning before work guarantees a tasty and tender meal when you get home with much less clean up. I tell everyone to get one!
Less clean up? This slow cooker business just keeps getting better and better. Thanks for the tip Jenna.
Hi Lou Im new to this site…
Your lamb and polenta sounds so scrummy, cooking with Red Wine gives it an even more rich flavour. I have a question regarding the recipe. I was wondering how many it serves (couldnt see it) I am on a weight loss journey and need to know how many serves so I can work out my portion for
myself.I would appreciate a reply. Thanks so much.Vanessa.
Interested in suggestions & comments.
My slow cooker is my favourite appliance! It cooks almost anything with little effort and doesn’t heat up my kitchen (great up here in Qld). You can do soups, stews, casseroles, anything you like in it. My kid’s favourite is an easy lamb stroganoff – diced lamb, onion, a can of cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 the soup can of milk, some tomato sauce and some Worcestershire sauce. Cook on low up to 7 or 8 hours, then add a little cornflour in cold water to thicken, and add 1/2 cup sour cream prior to serving. Serve with either rice or pasta, or even mashed potato. Yesterday I did 2 huge turkey drumsticks in it with wine and garlic, onion and carrots. We also throw in mince and a jar of spaghetti sauce for a simple pasta sauce and once I put in a whole small chicken with a jar of curry sauce and left it all day. The smell was amazing. Bones were a bit messy to pick out, but how easy! Ideas are endless…..found some good hints on American recipe websites.
Hi Lorrae I am new to this site just posted a msg for Lou as well. I was wondering how much diced lamb u add for this recipe or do u just go say by so many handfuls. I need to work it out for my portion control as I am on a weight loss journey and also I was wondering how many it serves. Appreciate your feedback.This is for your stroganoff.Vanessa
Iam very interested in any recipes and idea as I don’t have a lot of time to spend on cooking
I love my slowcooker/crockpot. Pea and ham soup is a favourite at the moment. Split peas, bacon bones and water – leave for the day and when i come home.. Soups on! You can add onion, and potato to it if you want to, but i love it plain. Or chicken soup – chicken wings, stock powder, water, frozen veg to throw in at the end. Use real veg if you have them, i don’t tend to remember to get them so frozen works fine for me. Also teriyaki chicken wings, 1 onion, 1 cup of soy sauce and 1 cup of brown sugar, mix it all up and pour over wings. Forget about them for 4 hours. Wonderful stuff, i’ve also just learnt about doing polenta in the slow cooker too. Did i mention i love my slow cooker? LOL
What great suggestions – thanks everyone. There will be more slow cooker recipes coming over the next few weeks (and I will almost certainly try some of the hints above).
Thanks for the extra recipes girls….. I`ll try them too.
I bought a slow cooker six months ago and every recipe I tried was a disaster. I followed all instructions, trimmed fat and browned the meat etc., but every time the dish ended up tasting fatty and horrible. Has anyone else had that happened and if so what would you suggest? I have temporarily given up on it as I was sick of throwing food out.
I always thought our slow cooked meals tasted bad if we used meat without the bone in it. For example, chicken breast never worked for us, but drumsticks were delicious! Could that be a cause Marty?
My advice – treat your slow cooker to some lamb shanks. If the slow cooker fails on that, then eliminate the appliance with extreme prejudice.
Sounds awful! I have heard a few people mention slow cooker disasters the first few times they were used. The advice bestowed on me was to cook it for as long as possible; if it doesn’t taste great at 6 hours, leave it on for 8, or 10, or 12. I don’t think you can overcook things in a slow cooker – especially if it contains bones or tough meat.
You dont need to brown meat for the slow cooker. I get up early to go to work, and just put all the ingredients in and turn on low. By the time I get home from work, dinner is done. Try this: Boneless chicken thighs (no skin), packet of Taco seasonning, 400 g can of tomatoes, and enough chicken stock to cover the ingredients, cook for 8-10 hours. When you are ready to eat, check if you need salt and pepper. Serve with corn chips, guacamole, sour cream and grated cheese – hmmmmmmmmmm. If you notice that there is fat on top of any meal cooked in the slow cooker, just skimm it off before you serve with spoon or paper towel.
Marty,
Try some gravy beef. Cut the fat off and cut into chunks, flour lightly with some mixed herbs and pepper added into the flour and brown in a fry pan. Put aside, fry a mixture of onions celery carrot and any other root vege eg. parsnips or swede (if liked) and place the vegetable in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the meat and then about 3/4 cup of beef stock or red wine and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Add a couple of bay leaves together with a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs or a bouqet garni. You don’t need much liquid as the meat will make its own. put the lid on and leave for six hours to 8 hours. This makes a hearty stew and is delicious. You can add tinned tomato for variety or alternatively I have added 1/2 packet of french onion soup mix in the liquid for added depth of flavour.
i agree marty, i dont cook meat with bones or fat.(i dont like fat)
i use lean beef, lamb or chicken and find that works really well.
a nice recipe is a whole lean piece of beef (eye of silverside) put on an upside down sauce in cooker to keep meat off base sprinkle with pkt of french onion soup(dry) splash of balsamic vinegar and splash of good red wine. cook about 8 hours. take meat out. then pour the juices into a saucepan and thicken with cornflour to make a delicious gravy.
happy cooking.
The slow cooker is essential for having healthy, home-cooked wintery meals that don’t take a lot of effort. If I’m in a rush, I don’t brown the meat, just throw it all in together, raw, and let it do it’s thing.
You can choose to save a few dollars by buying cheaper ingredients and usually get away with it – but when you do splurge and buy some top quality meat you will be rewarded with outstanding flavour and an unbelievable home meal experience.
I’d be interested to hear if anyone has any responses for Marty’s issues #11 as I’ve never had this experience myself and am wondering whether it’s to do with ingredients or perhaps the slow cooker itself??
I’m vegetarian & I find my slow cooker great for cooking health curries and heart stews using legumes and vegetables. I tend to leave my vegetables fairly chunky as I like them to hold their shape around smaller split peas, lentils, chick peas and the like.
It’s so easy. Chop a carrot, broccoli head, cauliflower head and what ever else you have in the fridge in quarter chunks, tip in a tin of diced tomatoes & a tin of whatever legume is in the pantry, go crazy on the spices & nuts (I like cashews for extra protein) & you’re done! Super cheap, no fat (if you leave out the nuts), low GI & full of flavor!
Hi Vanessa – this recipe went quite a long way – we got 5 big serves out of it, then had at least 3 more for left-overs. Depending on how big you like your portions, I would say this recipe would serve 8-10 people. (I’ve been taking the advice of some of our blog readers and have been freezing the left-overs – perfect for those cold nights when you don’t want to cook).
Hi Lou
Thanks so much for your very quick reply, I love when u can freeze things also, as u said good when u have run out or maybe dont feel well or just plainly cant be bothered and much better then a tempting take away although havent had that in a long time. Thanku again so much.Vanessa (PS I love this site and everyones comments):}
Thanks to everyone who replied to my post on slow cooking disasters. I really appreciate the advice. I will try cooking meat with a bone in it to see if that helps. I’ll have to pluck up the courage to give it another whirl. Please send a message if you’ve had a similar problem as it would be nice to know it’s not just me!
Speaking about slow cookers, I have had mine for 33years. It is one of the old fashioned “crock pots” and I treat it as a family heirloom!! It is invaluable in Winter and has cooked many a fine meal. When winter comes around I always go to Coles and get gravy beef and a mixture of root veges and cook up a storm. I’ve also made bolognaise sauce in it and it was yummy. Slow cooking is definately a godsend for anyone working as your meal is ready when you get home. As for the person who puts their’s on overnight, I wouldn’t last with the delicious aroma… I would be out of bed tasting every hour or so.
Cheers Mariln
Yep, Winter is definitely slow cooker time for me! Lamb shanks are a favourite, but I also like vegetarian recipes with chick-peas or lentils or navy beans. As someone trying to live more frugally, I appreciate the way it can make cheaper cuts of meat (e.g. soup bones – one raw for my dog, the rest in the pot with vegies and herbs for me)into rich and tasty meals. And as others have said, being greeted with that lovely aroma when coming home in the evening is just great!
Had lamb shanks just last night actually – made the gravy out of the juices from the slow cooker
I bought a slow cooker only a couple of months ago and I can now say I am hooked. I never brown and I only use meat on the bone and so far so good. But the best thing about it is the pasta sauce can leave cooking for hours and sauce is great!!