Beef and Vegetable Casserole

This recipe comes from the ultimate Sally Wise cookbook which is one I have come to love and use regularly. I have found that one of the down sides of slow cooking is that flavours can disintegrate quite easily. The ingredients used in this recipe add great flavour to slow cooked meals. You can use any sort of chutney for this recipe. It's perfect for a simple family meal when you are short on time. Make sure you check out her website below for more recipes and information.

 

Ingredients:

3 carrots
1 onion
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
1kg beef diced
1/2 cup beef stock
1/4 cup red wine
3 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons chutney
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon corn flour

Slice the carrots,onion and capsicum. Add the beef to the slow cooker. Add veggies to the slow cooker. Add the wine, stock, the sauces, chutney and salt. Stir and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours. This should serve 6 people.

www.sallywise.com.au

BBQ Pulled Pork

Pork is a favourite of mine but I have always been too scared to cook it until I found this blog post 'How to Slow-Cook Pulled Pork' www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/how-to-make-pulled-pork/ . I used half a jar of Char Sui Sauce (Chinese BBQ Sauce) but you could use any BBQ sauce you desire. I served the pork on a freshly toasted bun and hot chips. I real crowd pleaser!

1. Prep the Pork
Start with about 1 kg boneless pork shoulder roast, which makes about 10 sandwiches. You can trim the excess fat from the outside of the meat with a sharp knife. If necessary, cut the meat to fit into slow cooker.

2. Season the Pork
Season the meat on all sides with a sprinkling of salt and ground black pepper. In a small bowl stir together 1/2 cup water, 3 tablespoons cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, and 1 teaspoon ground cumin or chili powder. Pour the water-vinegar mixture over the meat in slow cooker.

3. Cover the cooker and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours or until the meat is very tender.

4. Pull the Pork, Reheat & Serve
Remove the meat from the cooker and discard the cooking liquid. Using a large carving knife, cut the meat into large pieces .
To shred, insert two forks into a piece of meat and pull in opposite directions to get long, thin shreds. Repeat with remaining meat.
Stir in half a jar of Char Sui Sauce with a dash of water. If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting; cover and cook for 30 to 45 minutes or until heated through.
To serve, pile the pulled pork mixture onto 10 split kaiser rolls or hamburger buns.

A Scottish mother's pea and ham soup

Tonight I had the great pleasure of dining at a friend's home and dinner was prepared in, what else, but a slow cooker!

My friend has generously agreed to share her mother's recipe for the delicious pea and ham soup that we enjoyed with a lovely soft loaf of farmhouse-style bread:

- In the morning before work, pop in about two and a half cups of dried green peas and a ham/bacon hock and add enough water to fully cover the ham hock. Leave the slow cooker on, covered, while you are out for the day.

- When you've returned home, remove the hock and the meat should be wonderfully tender and falling off the bone. Chop the meat and return it to the slow cooker.

- Sautée a bunch of chopped shallots in a frying pan and add to the slow cooker.

- Season with salt and keep the soup warm on low until you are ready to serve! Voila!

And, to top this delicious meal off, our lovely and supremely talented hostess served creme brûlée for dessert showing her mastery, not only of the slow cooker, but the blow torch also! Amazing!

Roasted eggplant and lamb stew

A friend tipped me off to this combo of 'smoky eggplant' and lamb, which is served as a soup at one of her favourite weekday lunchtime spots. On a rainy afternoon, I gave it a whirl as a stew, and served with toasted flatbread and hummus, it was delicious.

I brown the diced lamb first and set it aside, covered. I deglazed the pan I used for browning the lamb to make the most of those flavours and added those juices to the slow cooker. I also popped the diced eggplant on a lined baking tray and roasted until softened.

Into the slow cooker went onion, garlic, celery, dried cumin, dried coriander, stock, the browned lamb and the eggplant. I had it on high at first and then low for about 8 hours. Yum!

Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon is perfect winter comfort food in my opinion. I changed this recipe slightly by only adding 6 onions as the recipe asked for 12. I served this with mashed potatoes, a side of green beans and a glass of red wine.

1.5 kg chunk or blade steak

150g lean rindless bacon

6 small onions

200 g mushroom

2 carrots

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon beef stock powder

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon dried marjoram

1 cup red wine

2 teaspoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoons cornflour (optional)

Cut all visible fat from the beef and cut into 1.25 cm dice. Dice the bacon and peel the onions. Place all into the slow cooker and stir to combine. Slice the mushrooms and place on top. 

Mix together the salt, stock powder, thyme and marjoram, red wine, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce and pour over contents of cooker.  Place lid on cooker and cook for 4-5 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low.

If necessary, mix cornflour with 2 tablespoons of cold water to a paste and use a little or all of it to thicken the dish.

Source: Sally Wise Slow Cooker-Easy and delicious recipes for all seasons

Lamb Tagine

I always get excited when a recipe is recommended. Friends of mine who are regular slow cookers past on this quick and easy lamb tagine recipe. I am so glad they did, as it was delicious. The only ingredient I couldn’t buy was preserved lemon.  A substitute for it is sautéing finely chopped lemon with salt, sugar and oil until the lemon rinds are soft. This worked a treat- thanks for the recipe Anna and Stu.

Ingredients

500 g diced lamb 


1 teaspoon fresh ginger 

2 cloves garlic, crushed 


1 red onion, sliced 


1 teaspoon turmeric 


½ teaspoon cinnamon 


2 teaspoons ground cumin 


1 tablespoon honey 


2 teaspoons sugar 


1 x 400 g tin diced tomatoes 


1 cup chicken stock 


1 cinnamon stick 


10 prunes 


¼ preserved lemon, finely diced 


¼ cup almond meal

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped 


1 tablespoon coriander, chopped

Method

1. Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker, expect the last 5 ingredients, mix well.

2. Set slow cooker to low and leave to cook for 8-10 hours.

3. Half an hour before serving, stir through prunes, preserved lemon, ground almonds, parsley and coriander.

4. Serve with cous cous.

For a vegetarian version, use a can of chickpeas instead of lamb or to give it some more body add the chickpeas with the lamb. Serve with cous cous with currants and almonds.

Source: http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/slow-cooker-lamb-tagine-L4406.html