Slow Cooked: 200 exciting, new recipes for your slow cooker (8 page)

500g Meat or Sausage Ragu (see
here
or
here
)

200g mozzarella, grated

If you are using dried lasagne sheets, put a large pan of water on to boil on the stove. Boil each sheet for about 60–90 seconds to soften them. Lift out with tongs and place each one in a single layer side by side on a clean tea towel. Trim the corners of six of them into a rounded shape with kitchen scissors when the sheets are cool enough to handle.

Make the white sauce (béchamel) by melting the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir the plain flour into it to make a roux. Cook it for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly to soften it. Add the milk in increments, whisking constantly to make a smooth white sauce. Melt the grated Parmesan into it and turn off the heat.

Line the slow-cooker crock with some reusable baking liner and start making the lasagne by layering about half the ragu into it. Put three sheets of lasagne on top of it, using the rounded ones at the edges.

Pour half the white sauce on top of the lasagne sheets and arrange a second layer of the pasta on top of it. Cover these with the rest of the ragu and arrange the third layer of lasagne on top of that. Finish with white sauce.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the lasagne on low for 3 hours. The white sauce on top will look like it is drying out slightly, but don’t worry. It is just baking beautifully. About 90 minutes before you are ready to eat, scatter the mozzarella over the top of the lasagne and replace the lid.

Cook for another hour and then turn off the heat and allow it all to sit for 30 minutes. This makes it easier to cut and serve and the lasagne tastes better when not served radioactively hot. Eat in slices with salad and/or chips and a cheeky glass of red wine.

Meatballs are such a favourite of mine that they deserve several recipes in this book. These are a classic Italian-style beef meatball, perfect for cooking in a tomato sauce to make that Italian-American classic, spaghetti and meatballs, or putting into a wrap or sub for a seriously special lunch. I also use them for the Bunnychow
here
and if I know I’m using them for that, I omit the Parmesan and oregano. These are really versatile, but I could honestly just eat a huge plateful as they are because they are so light and tasty.

SERVES 2–4 (THEY FREEZE WELL UNCOOKED)

2 slices of bread (white or brown) or 80g breadcrumbs (not golden)

75ml milk

500g beef mince, not too lean, chilled

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

50g Parmesan, grated (optional)

1 teaspoon tomato purée

1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 × 400g tin plum tomatoes

½ teaspoon sugar

50ml white wine or vermouth

50ml water

salt and pepper

Remove the crusts from the bread and then soak the bread in the milk for about 10 minutes. This works best with stale bread. If using breadcrumbs, soak them too. Make sure you don’t use ‘golden’ breadcrumbs, which are very oily. Either use packaged white ones or make your own from stale bread and freeze until needed.

Squeeze out any excess moisture from the bread and place it into a large bowl together with the chilled minced beef, the chopped onion and garlic, dried oregano, Parmesan, if using, and salt and pepper. Add the tomato purée. Mix well with your hands to combine everything, but don’t overmix.

Add the beaten egg half at a time, mixing it all in well with your hands to break down the meat.

Wet your hands slightly and then pinch off small portions of the meat mix and roll into balls about the size of an unshelled walnut. Put each one on a plate as you go. If the meat gets sticky, pop it back in the fridge for 5 minutes and then start rolling again once chilled.

Chill the meatballs for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Set them into the slow cooker in one layer. It doesn’t matter if they are touching slightly. Mix the two cans of tomatoes together, breaking the plum tomatoes up slightly. Season well and add the sugar to stop any acidity. Add the wine or vermouth and the water so that the meatballs are submerged.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the meatballs on low for 7–8 hours. The sauce will thicken and all the flavours will combine. Serve warm, but not piping hot, over pasta or gnocchi.

A staple way to feed a family inexpensively in America, the humble meatloaf hasn’t had its heyday in the UK yet and I just don’t know why. It’s easy, economical and utterly delicious. Plus, it reminds me of my very first job working in a fifties-style American diner, where it was called ‘Meat Loaf Me in St Louis’ on the menu and sounded hilarious ordered in a Belfast accent. Serve it here with mashed potatoes and green beans and the Tomato Ketchup
here
. Puns optional.

SERVES 4–6

350g pork mince, chilled

150g breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

75g chorizo, finely chopped

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons milk

touch of cornflour (optional)

This is so very easy to make. Add the mince, breadcrumbs and the thyme, mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce to the chopped vegetables and chorizo and mix well with your hands. Break the mince up and then add the beaten egg. Keep mixing with your hands, adding the milk a tablespoon at a time until it is smooth.

Pack the meatloaf mix into a lightly oiled loaf tin and cover the top of the mixture with foil to prevent any moisture getting into it. I used two of those foil takeaway containers, one inside the other. They don’t have the deep lip of most loaf tins, so fit better in the crock.

Set it into the slow-cooker crock and then pour boiling water halfway up the side of the loaf tin. Cook the meatloaf on high for 5–6 hours or 7–8 hours on low.

Carefully lift out the meatloaf in its tin when you are ready. There will be quite a lot of gravy in the tin, which you don’t want to spill. Pour it off and thicken with a touch of cornflour mixed with cold water if you prefer.

Tip the meatloaf out of its tin and serve in slices. It’s best warm rather than piping hot. I am inordinately fond of it cold in a sandwich with lots of ketchup.

Despite sounding like a student kitchen special, this dish is utterly delicious and a really good way to make those premium packets of sausages go further among more people. Inspired by traditional Italian dishes, I strip the skins off the high-meat-content sausages and crumble them into a rich tomatoey sauce, which slow cooks down to become something simply stunning. It works well on pasta or makes the Lasagne
here
even more amazing. This is a brilliant way to perk up your sausages…

SERVES 4 WITH LEFTOVERS FOR A SNEAKY BAKED POTATO LUNCH

450g premium sausages or sausage meat

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes

100ml red wine (optional)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons tomato purée

chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, to serve

salt and pepper

I like to use an Italian-style sausage for this or a rich, garlicky Toulouse-style one, which suit the style of the dish much better than a British banger. These Continental sausages are often on offer in the supermarkets and have a coarser ground meat that works well here.

If you are using sausages, put a nick in each skin and rip it back, pushing the meat out of the casing. Put the sausages into a hot frying pan on the hob and seal on each side on a medium heat for 2–3 minutes in total. If you are using sausage meat, simply put handfuls of it into the pan and do the same.

Put the sealed sausage meat into the slow-cooker crock and then, using the same pan, lightly toast the fennel seeds in the remaining fat from the sausages. After about 60–90 seconds they will smell very aromatic. Remove from the heat immediately and add to the slow-cooker crock.

Add the chopped garlic, salt and pepper and the sugar. Pour the tomatoes, red wine and 1 tablespoon of the vinegar over it all and add the tomato purée. If it all looks too thick, add 200ml water.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the ragu on low for 10–12 hours. The longer the better for this one. You want the tomatoes to reduce down and become almost jammy and thick.

When you are ready to serve, add the remaining tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and stir through. Scatter with chopped parsley if you are using over pasta or a baked potato.

I adore meatballs and these are based on a perfect version my friend Carolyne once made me for my birthday. Not only do I love eating meatballs, I find the act of making them incredibly relaxing. There’s something very satisfying about getting your hands in there, mixing everything through, and then rolling and shaping them so that you end up with a plump plateful in front of you, ready to be devoured.

Two little tips will make your meatballs perfect every time. Firstly, make sure your meat is well chilled before shaping or you’ll repeat the meat slush puppie I made the time I skipped this step. Secondly, use breadcrumbs to keep the texture light and make your meat go further. They also hold the shape better when the meatballs are cooked. You may become slightly obsessed with making them like I am, but luckily they freeze well…

SERVES 2–4

1 teaspoon oil

10g butter

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 slices of bread or 80g breadcrumbs (not golden)

75ml milk

500g pork mince, chilled

1 large egg

50g Parmesan, grated (optional)

½ lemon, zested (if waxed, give it a vigorous scrub under the hot tap first) or ¼ Preserved Lemon, chopped (see
here
)

75g black olives, pitted and chopped

200–250ml hot chicken stock

1 lemon, juiced

salt and pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a small pan and sweat the chopped onion in it for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly (or if you have a batch of the Caramelised Onions from
here
, use these instead to skip this step).

Remove the crusts from the bread and then soak the bread in the milk for about 10 minutes. This works best with stale bread. If using breadcrumbs, soak them too. Make sure you don’t use ‘golden’ breadcrumbs, which are very oily. Either use packaged white ones or make your own from stale bread and freeze until needed.

Squeeze out any excess moisture from the bread and place it into a large bowl together with the chilled minced pork, the softened onion, the egg, Parmesan, lemon zest, chopped olives and salt and pepper. Mix well to combine everything, but don’t overmix.

Wet your hands slightly and then pinch off small portions of the meat mix and roll into balls about the size of an unshelled walnut. Put each one on a plate as you go. If the meat gets sticky, pop it back in the fridge for 5 minutes and then start rolling again.

Chill the meatballs for at least 30 minutes before cooking. I usually drop them into the slow cooker straight from the fridge, half cover with chicken stock and cook them on low for 6–7 hours.

Drizzle the lemon juice over the meatballs before serving to lift them from ‘good’ to Carolyne’s ‘queen of the meatballs’ territory. Serve them with flatbreads or pasta.

People do tend to snigger about sauerkraut in the UK, associating it with jokes about the Germans. I can only assume they have never actually eaten sauerkraut because it’s not to be joked about. It’s to be devoured with indecent haste, in fact. It’s tangy and salty and crunchy and utterly moreish and it loves being slow cooked.

You can buy large jars of it for next to nothing in the Polish section of any large supermarket these days and it’s great value. Try it on top of hot dogs and the Caramelised Onions
here
as well as smothering it on these pork chops to tenderise the meat and add masses of flavour to the dish.

Not only is this a one-pot meal, it’s practically a one-line recipe in its simplicity.

SERVES 4

2 onions, sliced

1 parsnip, cut into chunks

1 cooking apple, cored and cut into chunks

150ml water

4 spare rib chops

200g sauerkraut

salt and pepper

Layer the onion, parsnip and apple on the base of the slow-cooker crock and add the water. Season the pork chops, bearing in mind sauerkraut is quite salty, and place them on top of the fruit and vegetables.

Cover the chops with the sauerkraut, making sure the meat is completely covered, and then put the lid on the slow cooker. Cook it all on low for 8–9 hours.

The onion and apple and parsnip will make a sweetly delicious almost-gravy and the pork will be the most tender chops you have ever tasted. I serve the meal just as it is and it’s best on a cold winter night.