Category: Slow Cooking

Slow Cooker Sunday: Eva’s Slow Cooker Mince Meat Pies

slow cooker mince piesI was inspired by @utterlyscrummy to have a go at making mince pies using my slow cooker.  I’ve never made mince pies in my life and I almost chickened out when I saw you can buy a box of them for a £1.  However, the end result was much better than I expected and we all had fun making them.

I roped in my neighbour ‘Eva’, an aficionado in the kitchen, to give me a hand.  We’re very different in the kitchen.  I tend to follow recipes like a science experiment but she just bungs everything in similar to the Muppet’s Swedish Chef.

However, this is the recipe we cobbled together in the end.

Makes:  12 Mince Pies

Ingredients

Filling

  • 1 tsp of Clementine Zest (approx ½ a Clementine)
  • 5 small dessert apples or 2 large cooking apples.  Cored and roughly chopped.  We used Royal Gala.
  • 2 Cardamon pods (Big Brown ones) cracked to release the flavour
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  • 2 tsp of mixed spice
  • 4 cloves
  • 500g of Dried Mixed Fruit
  • 1 TBSP of Light Muscovado Sugar
  • 1 TBSP of Dark Muscovado Sugar
  • 125 of Apple Juice

Pastry

  • 500g Dessert Pastry Block you could also use regular shortcut pastry.

Method:

1.)  Throw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker, mix well and cover and cook overnight.  Approx 10-12 hours.
2.)  Roll out the pastry block on a lightly floured surface until it is 2-3mm in thickness.  Try not to handle the pastry too much or it becomes tough.  Use a fluted edge cutter to make the bases.  It should be a 2-3 cm bigger in diameter than the openings in the muffin tins.  Gentle encourage them in.flutedcutter
3.) Fill the bases about 2/3 full of the filling.

4.) We used a selection of star cutters to make our tops.

starcutter

5.) Pop in the oven for 20 minutes at 160 degrees.

startops

6.) Remove from tin while still warm and place on a cooling rack.

7.) Use a sifter to sprinkle icing sugar on top.

Mince Pies

They tasted so much better than store bought ones!  Enjoy!

Will you be using your Slow Cooker over the holidays?  Pop your recipes below.

Don’t forget we’re also on Pinterest with over 80 Slow Cooker Recipes to inspire you.

Merry Christmas and All the best in 2013!



My Top 5: Slow Cooker Recipe Books for Christmas

If you’re looking to buy someone a Slow Cooker Recipe Book for Christmas, these are my all time favourite 5.  I have quite a collection of Slow Cooker Recipe books but I always find myself going back to these ones again and again.

Slow Cooker Recipe Books

1)      Ultimate Slow Cooker Book Over 100 simple, delicious recipes by Sara Lewis

2)      200 Slow Cooker Recipes by Sara Lewis

3)      200 More Slow Cooker Recipes by Sara Lewis

You’ll notice the first 3 are by the same author Sara Lewis, I would recommend absolutely any book written by her.  I’ve rarely had a duff recipe and she’s given me the confidence to go beyond Stews!

There is a little overlap between the first two, but if you’re buying a gift the first one is much nicer looking but has half the number of recipes.

4)      DK The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney

The reason I love this book is because for each recipe there is a slow cooker method and the traditional method.  So, if I forget to put food on in the morning, there is still time to rustle up dinner.  I also love the fact that it has a Recipe Chooser at the beginning of the book, choose the type of meal Vegetarian, Chicken, Pork etc and it lists, with pictures a selection of meals.

And finally,

5)      Soups for your Slow Cooker by Diana Peacock

We’ve tried quite a few recipes out of this book; Chinese Pork and Noodle, Mixed Fish and Vegetable and Chargrilled Red Pepper and Tomato.  What we found is that many of the recipes are more substantial than soups and are meal in themselves.

Happy Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Sunday: Mixed Fish and Vegetable Soup

Fish Soup

We’re very good at eating at least one portion of fish a week.  However, there are many benefits for having it twice a week.  This week we’ve had Fish soup at the beginning of the week and have a Fish Pie penciled in for Friday.

Slow Cooker Sunday: Mixed Fish and Vegetable Soup

Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Fish
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 3 hours
Total time: 3 hours 20 mins
Serves: 4
Three Fish and Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP of vegetable oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 stick of celery, chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 6 florets of broccoli, but into bite sized pieces
  • 3oog of
  • mixed white fish
  • cut into small pieces (we used hake, haddock and cod)
  • 1.3 litres of fish stock
  • 1 tsp of dried parsley
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 100g of frozen peas
  • 50g of fresh beans cut into 2cm pieces
  • 175 ml of dry white wine
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan.   Sauté the onions, celery, carrots and broccoli for 15-20 min.  Transfer to the slow cooker.
  2. Add the fish, stock and parsley.  Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
  3. Cover and cook on high for2.5-3 hours.  Add the peas, beans and wine halfway through the cooking time.
  4. Ladle into large soups bowls and serve with crusty bread
3.1.09

 

Disclosure:  Our Fish was compliments of DelishFish

 Now it’s over to you to share what you’ve had bubbling away in your slow cooker.  For a full list of recipes shared over the week pop over to our Pinterest Board.  Thanks for joining in.



Slow Cooker Sunday: Special Edition – Food Styling with Ren Behan

I find it very difficult to make brown gloop look appetizing!  The lovely Ren Behan, a friend and local food blogger, kindly invited me around her house for a session on Food Styling.  I had no idea there was actually such a thing.  Apparently, there are people who do this for a living!  They travel around to different food shoots with a van full of props.  I’ve still got a long way to go but I learned a few things.

Tips for Food Bloggers

  1. Get a decent camera!  Everyone had digital SLRs and there was me with my iPhone.  I got a bit lost when they started talking decimal points and aperture.  However, after the session I came home and found a couple of apps that can help make your photos look like they were taken with an SLR camera.  The first which I’ve been using for awhile is Camera Plus and the new one I down loaded is called Afterfocus.  It allows you to choose the area you would like to focus on then blur the background also known as Bokeh.
  2. Natural light is a must.  This is difficult as we often eat late and it being winter in the UK there isn’t a lot of natural light.  The trick is to set aside a portion and take a photo in the morning.
  3. When presenting food, apparently, less is more.  I’ve had a bad habit of taking photos of it in the slow cooker, which didn’t result in appetizing photos.
  4. Props!  Don’t go out and buy 6 full dinner sets but buy the odd plate, bowls, and cutlery.  Charity shops and places like Matalan are brilliant for this.  Also, start collecting pieces of fabric that you can use to add interest/colour to your photos.
  5. Get a collection of wooden boards.  Look for offcuts at your local DIY store.
  6. When presenting food use odd numbers.  (E.g.  1, 3, 5, 7)

I’ve only been applying these tricks for a week but I’ve already seen a big improvement in the quality of my photos.

Thanks Ren

Now it’s your turn to share your Slow Cooker recipes using the Linky below.  We’re also on Pinterest if you want to see the recipes from past weeks.  The hashtag for Instagram and Twitter is #scsunday



Slow Cooker Chili with Chocolate

Slow Cooker ChiliI was given a bit of a challenge for tonight.  Thanks to the folks at Booths, I have been put up against Sally Whittle in a cooking competition to see who can produce the nicest meal that incorporates some of Saint Emillion Grand Cru Red Wine.  If you know us both you can see the funny side of this, we are great mums but not known for our domestic abilities.

At first this seemed like a very unfair challenge as I do a bit of slow cooking and I was under the impression that Sally couldn’t cook, but it now looks as though she can, but doesn’t purely down to being ridiculously busy.  She’s taken up the challenge with gusto, there are not many people in this world more competitive than I am but she is……according to her she is an AWESOME cook.  She’s also incredibly modest.

I’m not sure how to break this to her, but I didn’t find time to cook myself today and I have issues with sharing my wine with food.  But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching laughing at her rolling up her sleeves and getting stuck in with zeal and I must admit I’ve been egging her on knowing I hadn’t cooked myself.  Yes, I am evil.  I was at work today so hubby did the cooking but it was one of my recipes, I literally laid everything out for him, including all the spices but I promise to enjoy a glass of red with it.

Does this mean I have to forfeit?

Pictures to follow

Slow Cooker Chili with Chocolate

Recipe Type: Slow Cooker Chili with Chocolate
Cuisine: Main
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
The temperature has dropped dramatically today and it only makes sense to have some chilli.  This recipe is full of aromatic spices, plus the secret ingredient of chocolate, which sounds odd but gives it a velvety texture.
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP sunflower oil
  • 500g minced beef
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 400g chopped tomatoes
  • 410g kidney beans, rinsed
  • 2 TBSP dark muscovado sugar
  • 300ml Beef Stock
  • 25g Dark Chocolate
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Sour cream to serve
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the mince with the onion.  Add the garlic, spices and bay leaf and cook for another minute.  Mix in the tinned tomatoes, beans, sugar, stock, chocolate and season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
  2. Transfer it all to the slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
  3. Serve on a bed of basmati rice with a dollop of sour cream