Tag: slow

Slow Cooked Chilli Beef and Chocolate

I made the most amazing Chilli earlier this week, if I do say so myself.  I’d love to post the recipe but I can’t as I lifted it straight out Sarah Lewis’ 200 More Slow Cooker recipes.  However, I think I’ve cracked her secret…Dark Chocolate and Dark Muscovado Sugar.

I know it sounds insane adding chocolate to chilli, you can’t taste it but it gives it a smooth velvety texture.  I reckon you could add 25g of dark chocolate and 2 TBSP of Muscovado sugar to any chilli recipe.

We served ours on a bed of Basmati Rice with a huge dollop of sour cream.  When I do it again, I’m going to serve it with some Tortilla Chips.

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Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

My husband always looks so disappointed when I tell him we’re having soup for dinner!  However, after his initial moan, he really liked it.  It’s a hearty meal, great for those cold and dark winter evenings.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
  • 1.5 litres of chicken stock
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 TBSP of dried parsley
  • ½ teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Tagliatelle

 

Method:

  1. Put the chicken, stock, onion, celery carrot, herbs in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  2. When the chicken is tender fish it out of the slow cooker and shred it using a couple of forks and put it back in the slow cooker to keep it warm while you make the pasta.
  3. I used Tagliatelle, however, you could probably substitute most types of pasta.  Cook enough, following the instruction on the pack, so that you can almost half fill your soup bowls.  Then ladle over the soup.  I served with crusty bread.

Enjoy.

Click here for more Slow Cooker Recipes.

Disclosure:  That is not a picture of my soup as I forgot to take one.

The Best Slow Cooker Recipe Books Ever!

I’m always waffling on about my slow cooker as I use it at least 3 times a week and couldn’t live without it as a working mum.  People are often asking me for my recipes.  I do have a selection of tried and tested Slow Cooker Recipes here on the blog but I can’t recommend these two books enough as I use them weekly as  you can see by how tattered they are.

In fact, the two books are one in the same the larger one, weirdly, only has 100 recipes while the smaller has 200 but they’re by the same author and overlap.  However, if you’re buying it for a gift the larger one would be nicer.

They’ve completely opened my world up to the possibilities.  Slow cookers aren’t just for making beef stew.  Here are a few of my favourite recipes from the book.

  • Spiced Lamb Tagine
  • Abruzzi Lamb
  • Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs)
  • Lamb Rogan Josh
  • Sausages with Onion Gravy
  • Grean Bean Risotto with Pesto
  • Swordfish Bourride
  • Thai Green Chicken Curry

The smaller one is currently on sale on Amazon for about £4.

Disclosure:  Being completely cheeky but I’ve used my own affiliate code so if you do buy it I get a few pence.  Why not as I’m giving them a bit of free advertising!

 

Slow Cooker Curry Laksa Soup

This recipe was originally sent to me from the lovely folks at Blue Dragon but I’ve modified it to use it with a slow cooker.  It was incredibly easy and gorgeous.  It’s definitely gone on the ‘have again’ list.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 4 tbsp Blue Dragon Laksa Paste
  • 400 ml coconut milk
  • 200 ml chicken stock
  • 500g boneless chicken thighs, chopped into thin slices
  • 1 medium onion thinly sliced
  • 100g green beans chopped into 2.5 cm pieces
  • 1 tbsp of fish sauce
  • 100g bean sprouts
  • Coriander
  • ½ a cucumber but into match sticks
  • Straight to wok fine rice noodles

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and then add the curry paste and fry for about a minute.  When it’s aromatic add the coconut milk and chicken stock bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Add the chicken, onion and fish sauce for 4-7 minutes and simmer till the chicken is sealed.

2. Transfer to the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Approximately 1 hour before it finishes add the green beans.  This will stop them from getting too mushy.

3. Prepare the noodles as per instructions on pack.  Put a large handful in the bottom of each bowl.  Now top the noodles with a few generous ladle-fulls of the soup.

4. Garnish with the bean sprouts, coriander and cucumber.

I served it with bread but really didn’t need to as it was an entire meal in itself.

 

 

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy

I normally don’t post my recipes until I’ve tried them but this one smells so good I’m confident it’s going to be delicious!  I’ll let you know otherwise.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

  • 2 TBSP of Oil
  • 4 medium pork chops
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 tin of Baxter’s Cream of Mushroom Soup (295g)
  • ½ tin of Baxter’s French Onion Soup (415g)
  • 1 TBSP of butter
  • 200 grams of button mushrooms sliced

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, season the pork chops with salt and pepper and brown on both sides (approx 3 minutes per side).  Transfer to the slow cooker.
  2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté the mushrooms for a few minutes until they begin to soften.  They still have hours in the slow cooker so you don’t need to cook them fully.  Place on top of the chops in the slow cooker.
  3. Mix the Mushroom and French Onion soup in a jug.  Pour over the mushrooms and pork chops.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I tend to serve mine with rice and green beans.

Enjoy!

You can find a full list of my slow cooker recipes here.