Slow Cooked: 200 exciting, new recipes for your slow cooker (34 page)

Note:
You can also make a wonderful version with pumpkin or squash. Simply replace the apple with the same amount of pumpkin. Peel and chop it into 2–3cm cubes and follow the recipe above. Pumpkin is a sweeter taste than apple, so you may want to reduce the sugar. It also lacks the acidity of apple so will not keep as long. It must be kept refrigerated the whole time and will keep for up to 2 months unopened.

When I was a child, summer was all about the soft fruit. My granny’s farmhouse had a huge patch of raspberry canes and any Sunday afternoon there involved wandering through it picking fruit for tea. My capacity for eating raspberries was unrivalled whether straight off the bush or drizzled with sugar and cream. They tasted of sunshine and love. But no matter how many you ate, there were always mountains to bring home too since soft fruit in the summer is literally fruitful in its abundance.

If you have currants, raspberries or strawberries in the garden or allotment or know someone who does, you too will get to a stage when you just can’t eat them fast enough. This means the time for jam has come. Not only that, but with a slow cooker you’ve just discovered you can make jam without getting hot and bothered and allow yourself more time to enjoy the good weather.

People are always surprised when they see how simple jam is. It’s basically 50 per cent fruit and 50 per cent sugar cooked to the magic temperature of 104°C, whereupon it all comes together and sets into jam. Long slow cooking can reach this temperature easily without burning the fruit and you will get a jam that sets nicely as it cools.

I’ve made jam in the slow cooker using both fresh and frozen fruit and I find it’s a little bit easier to get a good set if you use jam sugar with added pectin. Pectin is a natural thickening agent found naturally in certain fruits such apples and oranges. It can be found in jam sugar or sold in liquid form, so it can be added to low pectin fruits such as soft fruits.

MAKES 4 SMALL JARS

1kg soft fruit, such as raspberries, strawberries, currants or a mix (see below)

1kg sugar (use jam sugar with pectin if possible)

If you are using fresh fruit, remove any stalks and any bruised fruit. Wash it well and dry it by putting it on a tea towel for 5–10 minutes.

Tip it into the slow-cooker crock and add the sugar. You can scale the amount of fruit up as long as you use equal amounts of sugar and fruit. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the sugar and fruit on high for 5 hours.

At 5 hours, I put two saucers in the freezer and then vent the slow-cooker lid for 30 minutes by putting a chopstick under it. This allows any excess liquid in the jam to cook down. You need to think about preparing sterilised jars at this stage (see
here
). Don’t forget to do any lids too.

After 30 minutes, take one saucer out of the freezer and put a teaspoon of the jam on it. Allow it to cool slightly and then run your finger through it. If it wrinkles, then you have reached 104°C and you now have jam.

Without touching the inside of your sterilised jars, fill them right to the top with the still hot jam using a wide spoon or a jam funnel. Cover while still warm with cellophane jam jar covers or the sterilised lids. Theoretically the jam lasts 6 months this way, but you’ll have eaten it all before then.

Note:
You can also use frozen and thawed berries if you don’t have access to large amounts of fresh fruit.

If you don’t know what I mean by dulce de leche, think of that sticky layer on banoffee pie. It’s made by slowly simmering condensed milk until it forms a dark caramel (although it doesn’t just have to be paired with bananas).

I always keep a Tupperware of it in the fridge as it will keep for up to 6 months. I drizzle it over stewed fruit for a quick pudding, stir through porridge instead of syrup for a treat and add to chai tea on a cold day. It can be used as a tart filling or stuffed into baked apples. It’s also excellent on toast.

You may have been put off making dulce de leche because you’ve heard the tales of tins exploding in hot water, but the slow cooker makes it very safe and simple. I do a couple of tins at a time and then decant them into sterilised jars as gifts since the shop-bought stuff is so expensive for a small can. All you need is a 397g tin of sweetened condensed milk and a slow cooker.

Remove the label from the tin, put it on its side and cover with cold water. There should be at least 2–3cm of water above the tin.

Put the lid on the slow cooker, turn it on and cook on high for 8 hours. At the end of 8 hours, use tongs to remove the tin safely or allow the water to cool down first. Open the cooled tin and marvel at the gorgeous caramel inside.

You can’t really overcook this in the slow cooker. I have forgotten about it and left it for up to 14 hours and it’s totally fine, looking darker, but not tasting burned. Nor is there any danger of you burning yourself or the tin boiling dry. The only issue is being able to wait patiently for it to cool down enough to be able to dip a spoon into it…

Remember those little pots of diced-up candied peel that looked like twinkly little jewels, but barely tasted of citrus? I still loved it. When my mum’s back was turned, I’d dive into the baking cupboard and cram fistfuls of it into my mouth. It was my favourite bit of the Christmas cake as well. Discovering I can make it easily and economically in the slow cooker makes me almost giddy with excitement.

I squirrel away lemon rinds when I make Preserved Lemons, like
here
, and hoard my orange peels when the winter citrus season starts, slipping them into a plastic container in the fridge. I love the addition of grapefruit, but omit limes as they overpower everything for me.

This peel is packed with citrus flavour and will last up to 2 years in an airtight jar – if you can keep it away from me when I visit.

FILLS A 500ML KILNER JAR

4 lemons

2 grapefruit

2 large oranges (not satsumas)

1 tangerine

600g sugar

450ml boiling water

100g icing sugar

This recipe takes several days to be ready to eat. Most of it involves allowing it to dry out after cooking though, so don’t be put off by that.

You need to cut your peels to roughly the same size. Having cut the fruit in half, I quarter each half so I end up with 8 pieces per fruit. You don’t have to be just as precise, but do keep things the same size so they cook evenly.

I usually snip the peel out of the juiced lemons with a pair of kitchen scissors, but find the grapefruit and oranges are easier to peel with your hands. I don’t use small satsumas as the peel is very thin and tends to shrivel up when simmered.

Now, prepare the peels by removing any remaining flesh or pith from them.

Layer the pieces into the slow-cooker crock evenly and then sprinkle the sugar over the peels. Add the boiling water and put the lid on. Simmer the peel on high for 7 hours or until it is softly translucent, but not falling apart.

Allow to cool in the crock for about 30 minutes and then, using tongs, carefully lay each piece flat on a wire rack or mesh tray. It mustn’t overlap. It’s best to line underneath the rack as the peel will drip a bit. Leave it to dry out for between 3 and 5 days. I leave mine in the switched-off oven (with a massive note to remind myself) or an airing cupboard is perfect. The surface should be slightly crunchy with sugar, but still sticky.

Put it all in a freezer bag or large bowl and toss with the icing sugar. If it looks a little damp, add more. This stops it sticking together while you store it. Keep the candied peel in an airtight container like a glass jar and it will last for up to 2 years. I use mine in my Stout-soaked Christmas Pudding
here
and the Boiled Cake
here
.

Note:
You can also make candied ginger the same way. Peel about 600g of fresh ginger and slice into pieces 2–3cm thick. Place in the slow-cooker crock in layers and cover with about 600ml cold water and 800g sugar.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 8–10 hours. The ginger will become a dark orange colour and be beautifully softened. Scoop it out with a slotted spoon and allow about two-thirds of it to dry on a lined tray. After 48 hours, sprinkle with brown sugar and keep in a jar until needed.

Put the rest in sterilised glass jars with the hot ginger syrup poured over it and you have both stem and crystallised ginger for baking and cooking.

I am, not entirely irrationally, irritated by the fact it’s almost impossible to buy full-fat yoghurt in the UK anymore. Ninety-nine per cent of yoghurt seems to be fat-free or virtually so and thus is full of sugar and in some cases gelatine to thicken it. I really don’t understand it. Full-fat yoghurt is naturally about 4 per cent fat and requires no additives or adverts suggesting it is the most exciting thing to happen to women that week.

In my book, yoghurt is only exciting when you learn to make it yourself in a slow cooker and luckily you can all share in this skill because it’s also very easy. In fact, you can basically do it while you’re asleep. It’s a great way either to make full-fat yoghurt since you can’t buy it or simply to save money by making a big batch of yoghurt if you eat it a lot. It’s the most fun I’ve had with yoghurt on any occasion.

This is very low maintenance, but you’ll definitely need a thermometer for it. I got a digital one with a curved probe you can hang over the edge of the crock on a well-known auction site for around a fiver.

You make the yoghurt by scalding the milk, cooling to 43°C and adding a small amount of live yoghurt to ‘inoculate’ it. The milk is then allowed to cool slowly by insulating the crock and leaving it for 8–10 hours to turn into yoghurt. I remember my mum making yoghurt when I was kid by using a thermos flask, but this is much easier and very smooth in flavour.

MAKES 1 LITRE (SIMPLY DOUBLE OR HALVE IT AS NEEDED)

1 litre full-fat milk (I used 2 pints, but let’s not be pedantic)

2 tablespoons live plain yoghurt

Start by setting the whole slow cooker on top of a thick bath towel. You’ll use this to insulate it all and it’s easier to do it now rather than lift a crock of hot milk later.

Pour the milk into the slow-cooker crock. You can use any dairy-based milk, including powdered milk, and you could use semi-skimmed or skimmed if you prefer. I haven’t tested it with non-dairy milk.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and heat the milk on high for around 2 hours until it reaches 88°C. I leave the thermometer probe in while it heats so I can keep an eye on it. Mine takes almost exactly 2 hours, but different models will vary, so check frequently.

It is imperative to reach this temperature as it ‘scalds’ the milk, making it perfectly safe and triggering the necessary reactions for yoghurt or cheese making. Once it reaches 88°C, turn the heat off and take the lid off the slow cooker.

Leave the milk to cool naturally without being disturbed. You want it to reach 43°C exactly, which will take about 2½ to 3 hours to be reached as things cool slowly in a crock. I leave the thermometer in and check every 40 or so minutes. Don’t stir the milk.

When it reaches 43°C, skim off any skin that has formed on the top of the milk and put a ladle or cupful of the warm milk into a bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons of live yoghurt to ‘inoculate’ the milk and stir in well.

Return the inoculated milk to the slow-cooker crock, stirring it in from side to side a few times rather than in circles. Put the lid back on the slow cooker and wrap the whole thing up in your big bath towel.

Leave it undisturbed for at least 8 hours and preferably 10. Unwrap it and lift the lid. It will look like nothing has happened until you stir it and you’ll see that it has become a shiny and quite loose-textured yoghurt.

If you like your yoghurt a bit thicker, simply strain it through a muslin cloth in a sieve for about 15–20 minutes to allow the whey to drain out and the yoghurt to thicken. I use this whey for marinating meat or making bread, so don’t throw it out.

Pour the yoghurt into a sterilised glass jar or bottle and store in the fridge until needed. It will last up to 10 days chilled. Mix with fruit or granola or add to smoothies for breakfast or snacks. It can be added to soups and curries or used to top dishes. I add vanilla or chopped nuts or lemon curd to make a tastier version of some of the luxury single-serve pots on the market.

Note:
Simply reserve a bit of each batch to start the next one and you won’t need to buy sugary, shop-bought versions again. Plus you can make jokes about weaving your own yoghurt to people. Can’t do that with a celebrity-endorsed pot of yoghurt!

I think my favourite discovery was that you can bake extraordinarily good cakes, breads, buns and brownies in the slow cooker. Baked directly into the crock they will all be the shape of your slow cooker, but this is no problem when you see how good they taste. They also save on having to have exactly the right-sized cake tins if you don’t bake very often.