Easy Oven Baked Sausage and Tomato Risotto

Black Dog RisottoStir Free Sausage and Tomato Risotto

Everyone is a sucker for a photo of a cute puppy, right?  Don’t worry it will all make sense soon.

I don’t often make Risotto as I don’t have the time or patience to be standing at the cooker for 40-50 minutes stirring.  However, I came across this recipe for Sausage Risotto which is done in the oven and requires very little stirring just a bit when you brown the sausages and sauté the onion.

This reminded me how much I like risotto and now that I can do it without being chained to the stove I will be making it more as it’s such a quick and easy mid-week meal.  I’m going to try and make a Prawn and Pea Risotto at the end of the week.  I’ll let you know how it went.

Oven Baked Sausage RisottoI used Black Dog Risotto and Tomato but you could use plain Arborio rice but it probably wouldn’t have that extra zing.

Plus, A percentage of proceeds from sales of all Black Dog Deli products will go to The Labrador Rescue Trust, who have recently homed their 10,000th dog.

Hence the photo of the adorable Lab.

Easy Oven Baked Sausage and Tomato Risotto
Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP Olive Oil
  • 4-6 Pork Sausages
  • 1 red onion chopped
  • 300 g Arborio Rice
  • 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 375 ml of chicken stock
  • 375 ml of water
  • dried parsley
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the sausages for about 10 minutes until they are brown and almost cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  2. Add the onion to the pan, you may need to add a bit more oil. Sauté for about 3-5 minutes until soft.
  3. Cut the sausages into bite-sized pieces, try not to burn your fingers. I wore an oven mitt.
  4. Add the rice to the pan and cook for a minute, stirring continuously. Add the sausages, tomatoes, stock and water and stir. Bring to a boil then transfer to an oven proof dish. Cover with foil and cook for 30-35 minutes. The liquid should have absorbed. Do check to see if the rice is cooked.
  5. Serve in large bowls and garnish with some dried parsley if you want.

 

What’s your favourite kind of Risotto?

Disclosure:  I received the Risotto complimentary for review purposes.

Quick Creamy Prawn and Spinach Pasta Recipe

creamyspinachandprawnpastaWe were out all day on Sunday and I wasn’t organised enough to put anything in the slow cooker in the morning so when we got home it was a bit of a scramble for dinner as we were low on groceries as well.

I raided the freezer and found a couple of bags of frozen prawns and some frozen spinach and this is what I came up with.

The added bonus of this recipes is that my 5 year old could help out and everyone devoured it.

Do you have any quick emergency meals using stuff around the house?  Please do leave them in the comments below.

 

Quick Creamy Prawn and Spinach Pasta Recipe
Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Pasta
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • 400g pasta (I used Farfalle, but rigatoni, linguine, spaghetti or penne would work as well)
  • 400g cooked frozen prawns (I used a combination of large and small ones)
  • 90g frozen spinach (partially defrosted)
  • 3 TBSP
  • Crème fraîche
  • 25g grated parmesan
  • Salt and Pepper to Season
Instructions
  1. Bring a large pan of water to a boil.  Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions.  5 minutes before it’s finished add the prawns to the pan with the pasta and boiling water. Ensure they are cooked through.
  2. Strain using a colander and return to the pot. Add the spinach, cream, cheese and season with salt and pepper.  Mix well, until the spinach has fully defrosted.

 

Introducing My New Slow Cooker Blog

I finally decided to take the plunge and start a new blog just for my slow cooker recipes. I was very conscious that I may be confusing my readers.

Those who subscribed just for recipes may not be interested in my parenting antics and those who were coming to laugh at my parenting ability (or lack of) and didn’t have a slow cooker, may not be interested in all the recipes.

Don’t worry if you have any of my old recipes bookmarked as they will stay put, but any new recipes will be posted on Slow Cooker Queen. So, feel free to pop over and subscribe to the new blog. I’d love to hear any of you feedback both positive and negative.

 

Slow Cooker Recipe Blog

As for the name, Slow Cooker Queen, I genuinely don’t believe I’m royalty but on a few occasions I’ve been called this on Twitter so it seemed fitting and I’m always tickled when people do say it.

Thanks again for all your support and I do hope to see a few of you over there.

Cheers,  Chrissie

Slow Cooker Paprika Chicken

I was originally inspired by the Hairy Dieters (Bikers) Chicken Paprika Recipe.  I didn’t buy the book because I’m on a diet, even though I should be, but because I was at a friend’s recently and she made the Lamb Tagine and it was amazing.  I had a quick look through the book and saw quite a few recipes that I could adapt and that I wanted to cook.

It was a really nice midweek meal.  However, next time I may consider adding more Paprika to give it more of a kick.

Slow Cooker Paprika Chicken
Recipe Type: Slow Cooker
Cuisine: Main
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP sunflower oil
  • 2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 500 g chicken thighs, halved
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 TBSP paprika
  • 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 300 ml of
  • chicken stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • 3 large peppers (red, green yellow) chopped into chunks
  • 1 TBSP cornflour
  • 1 TBSP water
  • Crème Fraiche
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan.  Fry the chicken for approx 5 minutes until it is sealed.  Add the onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes until they soften.  Stir in the garlic and paprika and cook for another minute.
  2. Transfer to the slow cooker.  Pour in the tomatoes and stock, add the bay leaves, herbs and peppers.  Mix well and cook and cover on low for at least 6 hours.
  3. One hour before serving, mix the corn flour with the water in a separate bowl.  Then mix into the slow cooker, replace the lid and cook for another hour.  This should help thicken it.
  4. Serve on a bed or rice with a dollop of Crème Freche.  Don’t forget to ferret out the Bay Leaves.

 

If you decide to try the recipe, please do pop back and let me know how you got on.

And if you subscribe to my blog, using the form in the sidebar you can get a free copy of my first ever eBook ‘There’s More to Slow Cooking than Stews – 10 Recipes to get you going’.

Slow Cooker Sunday: Creamy Chicken Pasta


Yes, you can cook Pasta in a slow cooker!

I must admit that this isn’t the normal type of thing I cook.  However, it is school holidays, our daughter eats at the childminders for the majority of the week, so I was conscious of making child friendly meals.  We’ve had Sausage and Mash, Macaroni and Cheese and this Creamy Chicken Pasta.

I do wish she had a wider palate, but I have tried and it’s difficult to persuade her to eat slightly spicier food.  I’m fairly confident I couldn’t get her to eat a Lentil Dahl.

I originally, came across this recipe on Chic Pins at first I was a bit flummoxed by the measurements, I couldn’t locate the egg noodles and I prefer to use chicken thighs as I find they don’t dry out as much as breasts do.

So I’ve anglicized it a bit, even though I’m Canadian.

 

Slow Cooker Sunday: Creamy Chicken Pasta
Recipe Type: Slow Cooker
Cuisine: Child Friendly
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 500 g of Chicken Thighs, skinned and cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1.2 litres of Chicken Stock
  • 2 tins (295g) Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
  • 50 g of butter
  • 320 g of tagliatelle
  • Parsley to garnish
Instructions
  1. Place the chicken, stock, soup and butter in the slow cooker. Mix well. Cook and cover on low for a minimum of 6 hours.
  2. An hour before you are going to serve put the Tagliatelle in, replace the lid and cook for another hour.
  3. It’s that easy. Serve with garlic bread and greens.

 

Don’t forget Slow Cooker Sunday is all about sharing recipes and getting inspiration from others.  Feel free to add your own recipes below.  They can be old or new and don’t even have to be your own.  Just one you’ve tried and liked.

And if you need extra inspiration, don’t forget to check out our Pinterest Board, with over a hundred recipes.

Google+ fans, we also have a Community ‘All Things Slow Cooking’ feel free to join in.  Thanks to Aly Hodge it’s now starting to grow legs.

And if you subscribe to my blog, using the form in the sidebar you can get a free copy of my first ever eBook ‘There’s More to Slow Cooking than Stews – 10 Recipes to get you going’.