Lemon Delicious in the Slow Cooker or Oven

Lemon Delicious is my absolute favourite dessert and tonight I successfully made it in the slow cooker for the first time. To those unfamiliar with it, this is a lemon self saucing pudding with a light sponge cake layer on top of a runny lemon custard, I like it with a generous serve of cream. It takes one hour to cook in the oven and the batter needs to be made shortly before cooking so the egg whites don't deflate, so this means it needs to be made just before you serve dinner which isn't exactly convenient. In the slow cooker it takes 2 hours on high or 3-4 hours on low meaning you can make it hours before your guests even arrive and you can eat it in summer without heating up the kitchen.

Whichever way you make it, you have to try this! The passionfruit version is also a good option.

Lemon Delicious
serves 4
Most recipes where you beat egg whites have you beat the butter and sugar first then the egg whites meaning you need to wash the bowl in between which drives me crazy. I have written this recipe so there is no washing in the middle - you beat the egg whites first and as long as you have everything measured and work quickly they won't deflate.

50g butter

grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, separated

3 tablespoons flour, sifted

1 C milk

Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Grease a small casserole dish that fits in your slow cooker or a roasting tin. Boil the kettle.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff, scrape into another bowl and set aside.

In the same bowl cream the butter with the lemon rind and sugar. When it is creamy and light, beat in the egg yolks. Stir in the sifted floured alternately with the milk.

Fold the whites into the mixture with the lemon juice, lightly yet thoroughly. Pour into the prepared dish. Place the dish in your slow cooker or roasting tin and pour boiling water half way up the sides.

Cook in the oven for 1 hour or in the slow cooker for 2 hours on high or 3-4 hours on low. It is cooked with the top sponge layer is cooked and there is a runny custard beneath. If you cook it too long the custard will set and the top layer will dry out; still edible but not as good.

Serve with cream or icecream or both!

Babi Kecap Pork in the SC - Slow Braised Malaysian Pork with Ginger, Chilli and Sweet Soy Sauce

We just had a lovely long weekend at home with my sister and her fiance staying. My sister introduced me to the Almost Bourdain blog which sadly finished recently. We found this recipe for Babi Kecap Pork which not only looked delicious but had the great advantage of using kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and tamarind water, both of which I have quite a bit of and don't use much, as well as pork shoulder which I had in the freezer.

I cooked it all day in the slow cooker and it was fantastic, we ate all of it between the 4 of us. There was no way the kids would have eaten it (they had two minute noodles which they were thrilled about:) but I will try it again without the chilli and I think they will enjoy the sweet salty sauce (and I will add chilli flakes to my serve!).

We followed it up with a delicous apple pie cooked by Amelia and Adam - I love guests who cook us delicious food (and are great company) - thanks for the pie, pancakes, caesar salad, hamburgers and guacamole!

Babi Kecap in the Slow Cooker - Slow Braised Pork with Ginger, Chilli and Sweet Soy Sauce
recipe adapted for the slow cooker from Almost Bourdain who adapted it from Rick Stein's Far East Odyssey
I used the last of the summer's chillis from my garden - one long red and two jalapenos chopped seeds and all - it was the perfect spiciness.
serves 6

2 tbsp vegetable oil
100 g shallots, thinly sliced
50 g garlic, crushed
25 g peeled ginger, finely grated
1.25 kg lean pork shoulder, in 3cm chunks
4 tbsp kecap manis
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp Tamarind water
1/2 tsp pepper
3-4 medium-hot chillies, seeded and chopped
4 red bird's eye chillies, left whole
500 ml asian chicken stock
Crisp fried shallots, to garnish

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and fry until they are soft and richly golden. Add the crushed garlic, ginger and 1/2 tsp salt and cook for 1 minute. Add to the slow cooker, or set aside.

Add the pork to the pan and fry for 2 minutes until lightly coloured. Put in the slow cooker. Add the kecap manis, dark soy sauce, tamarind water, pepper, chopped and whole chillies and stock (only enough to almost cover the meat). Cook in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours or on the stove leave to simmer, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then towards the end of cooking, until the pork is tender.

Lift the pork out of the sauce with a slotted spoon onto a plate. Boil the cooking liquid until it has reduced to a well-flavoured, slightly thicken, shiny, dark brown sauce. Season to taste with salt, return the pork to the pan and stir in. Spoon the pork onto a warmed serving plate, scatter with the crisp fried shallots and serve.

Serve with rice and greens.

Pork and Capsicum Hotpot in the Slow Cooker

I have been trawling the internet looking for new slow cooker recipes to try now winter has well and truly hit! I printed off a whole lot. The first one I tried was this yummy recipe, Pork and Capsicum Hotpot from the great blog Cate Can Cook , So Can You!

The recipe recommends pork scotch fillet, I used pork shoulder which I diced into chunky pieces, it was tender and falling apart. Besides that I just followed the recipe with great success.

Next on the list is Chicken with Almonds...

Meatballs with Pancetta and Parmesan in the Slow Cooker or on the Stove

This is one of our favourite and most regular family meals. The meatball recipe comes from a Rick Stein recipe in Delicious 2008 - the pancetta and parmesan in the balls give them a great texture and taste. My good friend Georgia originally made this for us when my daughter Ava was born, and we have never made meatballs any other way since.

This is a work night dinner in our house. I make up a huge batch of meatballs and freeze them uncooked, then defrost them in the fridge the night before I need them. I lightly fry them up before work, or at lunch time (I only work up the road) and leave them to cook in the slow cooker. I usually cheat for the sauce and just use a jar of passata poured straight into the slow cooker. I want to try not frying them first, just cooking in the sauce, but am sure they won't be as good so have never tried it - maybe next week!

My addition to the recipe has been to include vegetables in the sauce - I try and sneak them in everywhere, as my kids don't eat salad and I don't want to make one after work anyway.

No photo for this one, we forgot and ate it all!

Meatballs with Parmesan and Pancetta in Tomato Sauce
serves 4

¼ C olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
100g sliced pancetta, finely choppd
750 g pork and veal or beef mince
½ lemon, zested
1C (80g) parmesan, grated
2/3 C (50g) fresh white breadcrumbs
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tbsp oregano, chopped
1 egg, beaten
Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
20g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
400g can chopped tomatoes
150g tomato passata
Cheat's Tomato Vegetable Sauce

zucchini, eggplant, sweet potato (or whatever you have), diced
1 jar tomato passata
To Serve
½ C basil, shredded
pasta or polenta
parmesan, grated

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a small frypan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook stirring for 5 minutes until softened but not coloured. Set aside to cool.

Place pancetta, mince, zest, parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, oregano and onion mixture in a large bowl. Use your hands to combine well. Add egg, ½ tsp salt and pepper to taste, mix through.

With damp hands, shape mixture into walnut sized balls. Chill for 30 minutes to firm up. At this point you can refridgerate for a day or two, or freeze for a couple of months.

Heat the remaining oil in a non-stick frypan. In batches, lightly brown the meatballs on all sides but don’t cook through. Set meatballs aside while you make the sauce. If cooking in a slow cooker, put the meatballs in the slow cooker now.

Tomato Sauce
In the same frypan, add the oil and butter and cook the onion and garlic, stirring, for 5 minutes. For the slow cooker, transfer the onions to the slow cooker and continue to cook in there. Add tomatoes, passata, salt and pepper, bring to the boil. Return the meatballs to the pan, then partially cover and simmer over medium-low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens and meatballs are cooked through. Or cook in the slow cooker on low for 2 – 4 hours, you can leave it all day but the meatballs will be tougher.
Cheat's Tomato and Vegetable Sauce
After removing the meatballs from the frypan, add a bit more oil and fry the diced zucchini and eggplant (sweet potato doesn't need it). Put vegetables in the slow cooker with the meatballs and pour the passata over. Cook in the slow cooker on low for 2 – 4 hours, you can leave it all day but the meatballs will be tougher.

Before you eat, gently take the meatballs out of the sauce and use a stick blender to puree the sauce so it is smooth with no vegetable lumps.

Serve on pasta or polenta with parmesan and basil, sprinkled over.

Chicken Korma - curry my children will eat!

I cooked Jamie Oliver's Chicken Korma tonight, from his Food Revolution book, amazingly it was a hit with the whole family - 2 and 4 year olds included! And it was on the table in 30 minutes from start to end.

I use a Patak's Korma Paste which is very mild and I skipped the chilli, although you could remove your kids portion at the end and add it then. It was still very flavoursome.

I added sweet potato, mushrooms and zucchini to the curry so I didn't have to do vegies on the side. The kids had frozen peas and corn added to theirs (their staple vegetables - I hope they contain every vitamin children need!).

Chicken Korma
This is the full Jamie Oliver recipe, paraphrased. To simplify, you could easily leave out the ginger, almonds, coconut... But I recommend trying the full version once, as the flavour and texture are great! Also add whatever vegies you have on hand, or serve steamed alongside.

800g chicken thigh fillets (or breasts, but I prefer thighs), chopped
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 green chilli (optional), finely chopped
4cm ginger, grated
small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked and stems finely chopped
400g tin chick peas, drained
vegetable oil
20g butter
1/2 c. Korma curry paste (Patak's is good)
400ml can of coconut milk
small handful of sliced/flaked almonds
2 tbsp desicatted coconut
To Serverice
natural yogurt
lemon

Heat a frypan or casserole pan on a high heat and add a lug of oil. Fry the chicken till just golden. Set aside. If using breast, skip this stage.

Add the onions, chilli, ginger, and cilantro stalks with the butter. Cook for around 5 minutes. Add the curry paste and fry for 2 more minutes until aromatic. Add coconut milk, half your sliced almonds, the drained chick peas, coconut, the chicken and half a tin of water.

Simmer, covered, for 15-30 minutes with the lid on. If too dry add more water. If too runny, remove the lid and boil to thicken.

To serve
Serve with rice. add a few spoonfuls of natural yogurt dolloped on top, and sprinkle over the rest of the sliced almonds. finish by scattering over the coriander leaves, and serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Slow Cooker Variation
You could easily follow the recipe up till after the korma paste is fried, then throw the lot in a slow cooker for a couple of hours, not too long though as is doesn't need much cooking.

Pulled pork on bread rolls

I made the pulled pork from this post, back in September again. I did it exactly the same with great results.

Actually that is not true, I was getting it ready the night before and my Mum rang half way through. So of course I multi-tasked.... I was sprinkling paprika all over the meat when I smelt something funny and realised I had the curry powder tin in my hand - OOPS! For the record, curry powder washes off meat quite easily. I cut the skin off the meat, sprinkled with the spices, put in a freezer bag, poured a bit of sauce over to marinate and left in the fridge overnight, with the rest of the sauce in a jug. The next morning all I had to do was pour it all in the slow cooker and turn on.

This time I served it American style on fresh bread rolls with avocado, mayo, tomato and lettuce. The meat from the sauce soaked into the bread - yum! And I remembered to take a photo. The kids thought this was very funny and made me take a photo of their dinner too but I won't share those ones with you, not a pretty site, my 2 year old loves the meat!

Chinese Poached Chicken in the Slow Cooker

I spent all Saturday sewing tutus, as you do! So I wanted a quick dinner for when the rest of the family came back after leaving me alone for the afternoon. So the chook  in the freezer got turned in to chinese poached chicken from this Womens Day Slow Cooker Monday article and originally from the book "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipe Book". I followed the recipe but added more liquid as I have a large 6.5L slow cooker and was only cooking a small chicken. I put it on at lunch time on high to get it going then low, it was probably on for 3-4 hours. The recipe states it needs 7 hours on low - this is a long time and hers is falling apart after that long, so I would do less.

I served it on noodles - 2 minute noodles with frozen peas and corn for the kids and stir-fried egg noodles with vegetables for us. Ava asked for more and more chicken - I love an appreciative eater.

The flavour was delicious! The dark meat was juicy and succulent, and the breast only slightly dry which I would expect cooking it this way, but much improved with lots of the broth poured over. I strained the broth off and froze it to repeat or use in soup.

Two days later the leftovers got used up in rice paper rolls, my 4 year olds favourite.

Slow Cooker Chinese Poached Chicken

1 chicken, trimmed of extra fat
4 spring onions
handful coriander
2 smashed and peeled garlic cloves
5 peeled and smashed slices of ginger
3 whole star anise
Sauce (double for a large slow cooker)
1/4 C shaosing cooking wine
1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C chicken stock or water

Put the flavourings in the bottom of the slow cooker and some inside the chicken. Place the chicken breast up in the slow cooker. Pour over the sauce ingredients. Cook on low for 4-6 hours until the breast is just cooked. If the breast isn't cooking quick enough turn the chicken over for half an hour of so.



Rice Paper Rolls
I haven't given proportions here as you can make it up as you go along. The ingredients below are what I put in it for the kids. For us I also add coriander, capsicum, spring onions and I add it in sticks rather than chopped up.

cooked chicken meat, finely chopped
cucumber, cut into small pieces
carrot, grated
rice vermicelli noodles, cooked
any other vegetables, herbs etc, depending
hoisin sauce
rice paper wrappers

Combine chicken, cucumber, carrot, noodles and hoisin sauce to taste.
Soak wrappers in warm but not boiling water. Wrap filling in wrapper. Only do this shortly before you want to eat them.
Cover with a wet paper towel until ready to eat. Do no refridgerate or they will go hard.

Fantastic Chinese Pork/Beef in the SC

Another fantastic recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking, she calls it asian shredded pork/beef, I would describe it as chinese flavoured. I chopped it up rather that shredding it, the meat is deliciously flavoured and falling apart with a great sauce.

One pork shoulder from the supermaket makes heaps, more than enough to serve us for two nights. The first night we had it on rice with lots of the yummy sauce, served with crispy noodle and cabbage salad. Two nights later I chopped it up and put it through stir fry noodles.

Chinese Slow-Cooked Pork
2 kg boneless pork shoulder or beef roast

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
4 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons Chinese 5-spice powder
6 cloves garlic, minced (or 2 teaspoons garlic powder )

Trim any visible fat from the meat, I used a rolled pork shoulder, so I unrolled it, cut off the skin (a bit of a pain) and cut it into a three pieces.

Sprinkle the dried spices directly onto the meat and put it in the slow cooker. Pour over the ketchup, honey and garlic (if using fresh). Pour in the soy and hoisin sauces. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours, or until meat is falling apart.

Remove from the slow cooker and chop up or shred. If the sauce is really runny you may like to boil it down on the stove while you chop the meat.

Satay Chicken in the SC

Another of my new slow cooker recipes we are enjoying. This recipe can easily be halved, or cook this amount and freeze half. I tend to add sweet potato and carrot and then serve steamed green vegetables on the side. You could easily cook this dish on the stove or in the oven, it wouldnt take long, but the joy of the slow cooker is you can put it on at lunchtime while the kids are eating, or sleeping and then be free in the afternoon when they are driving you crazy!

Satay Chicken in Slow Cooker
1 kg chicken thigh or breast fillets, cut into chunks

2 brown onions cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 heaped tbsp peanut butter
5 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
3/4 cup coconut milk or cream
Vegetables - sweet potato, carrot, beans, broccoli, whatever you like
2 tbsp corn flour

Heat a frypan over medium heat, fry onion with a little oil until soft, quickly add the garlic then scrape it all into the slow cooker. Fry the chicken very quickly, just to lightly brown not to cook through! Add to the slow cooker.

If you are in a hurry, skip the frying step and just throw it all in the slow cooker.

Mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce and the coconut milk until smooth, and pour over the chicken. Stir all the ingredients together in the slow cooker, making sure everything is evenly covered. Place the lid on the cooker and cook for 2-3 hours on high or 4-5 hours on low.

After about 1 hour add the hard vegetables - sweet potato, carrot etc. With only 30 minutes to go add the
rest of the vegetables - beans, broccoli...

If the sauce is runny, mix the cornflour with a little water to make a paste then stir through the sauce and leave for a few minutes to thicken.

Serve on rice

From Slow Cooker by Sally Wise

Pulled Pork in the slow cooker with burritos

While searching the web lately for slow cooker recipe I kept reading about pulled pork. Then my sister-in-law who just spent 2 years in the States was also talking about, so I decided to give it a go. The Americans often serve it with bbq sauce on hamburger buns but I went for a slightly more authentic mexican experience. Most of the recipes are based on ketchup or bbq sauce except for the most authentic of mexican ones which just had too many ingredients I couldnt get. So I just went with it, what I did is based around this Good Housekeeping recipe, but adapted some what.

The results were yum. The ketchup flavour wasn't overpowering but the sauce was delicious. Shredding the meat with forks did make for a great texture but took a while, actually my husband did it and he says it was a palaver. Next time I will just chop it up with a big knife if I am in a hurry.

You could do the same thing on the stove or in the oven; you want long slow cooking at a low temperature.

To bulk out the meal, I also made the Taco Soup that I have blogged about previously from the Year of Slow Cooking blog. Except of course my slow cooker was already in use, so I did it on the stove and it only took 30 minutes and thickened up nicely. This went really well but is quite strong so did drown out the delicious pork flavour a bit.

Pulled Pork
1  onion, chopped into large pieces
1/2 C ketchup
1/3 C cider vinegar
1/4 C packed brown sugar
2 tbsp sweet paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1.8 kg boneless pork shoulder blade roast, rind removed, cut into 4 pieces
To serve
Burritos
Sour cream, avocado
Lettuce
Jalapenos (from a jar), chopped

1.Add sauce ingredients to slow cooker: onion, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, paprika, cumin, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper until combined. Add pork to sauce mixture and turn to coat well with sauce.
2.Cover slow cooker with lid and cook pork mixture on low setting for 8 to 10 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours, or some combination depending what time you get dinner on, or until pork is very tender.
3.With tongs, transfer pork to large bowl. Turn setting on slow cooker to high; cover and heat sauce to boiling to thicken and reduce slightly. Or if your slow cooker is like mine and this would take forever; pour the sauce into a saucepan and simmer to reduce. I removed the onion by straining the sauce as I poured it, but this may not bother you.
4.While sauce boils, with 2 forks, pull pork into shreds, this is a somewhat painful process. Return shredded pork to slow cooker with the sauce and toss to combine. Cover slow cooker and heat through on high setting if necessary.
5.Serve on burritos with accompaniments.

Slow Cooker Pizza

Today I am making Slow Cooker Pizza from the blog A Year of Slow Cooking, not exactly a pizza but as close as you are going to get in a SC. It is a bolognaise style sauce in the bottom covered with a pourable batter mix made with eggs and cheese topped with salami and olives. It really does smell like pizza while it cooks, must be the tomato sauce, salami and olives that does it. The recipe is even gluten free made with a gf baking mix, but I just used ordinary flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

I made the pizza for the first time last week. It tasted great, but I got it on a bit late and so the dough wasnt quite cooked through after 3 hours (in my large 6.5l SC), so I scooped most of it into a casserole dish and finished it in the oven.

The second time I made it I put it on early enough and it cooked through and was greatly enjoyed by 6 adults. My friend asked for the recipe and cooked in the next week so that is a good sign.

Here is what I did differently:

• I didnt use her spaghetti seasoning recipe - just seasoned with salt and pepper.
• I used plain flour and added 1 tsp baking powder
• I used chopped salami instead of pepperoni

Loving my slow cooker and Taco Soup

I recently got my first slow cooker and am loving it and trying to use it as much as possible. It really helps with the crazy predinner hour and even more on work days when little Ava walks in the door at 5pm, points to her chair and says "dinner".

I have found a great blog for recipes called A Year of Slow Cooking. Steph, the writer, really did cook with the slow cooker everyday for a year. I think most of the recipes are gluten-free too. Although of course you can substitute normal flour.

Two nights ago I made her Taco Soup, I suppose it is like a version of chilli con carne. I made mine without mince, as we had leftover roast chicken which I added when serving. My soup didnt turn out very soup like, but that was fine.  It was a tasty mix of tinned tomatoes, corn, beans and taco seasoning. Chris, who doesn't like beans, actually quite enjoyed it!

Here is the recipe adapted for ingredients available in Australia. I didnt put mince in mine as I had left over roast chicken that I chopped and sprinkled over when serving.

Australian Slow Cooker Taco Soup

1 can kidney beans
1 can mexe beans by Old El Paso (the recipe calls for pinto beans, these are chilli pinto beans) or cannelini beans or black beans if you dont want the spice
1 can corn
1 large + 1 small can diced tomatoes
1 packet taco seasoning (the original recipe used 1/2 packet but this wasnt enough)
500g beef mince (optional - I didnt use it)
To serve: grated cheese,sour cream, avocado, jalapeno chillies from the jar (especially good if you have made this mild for the kids)
Crisp tortillas or corn chips

Brown meat if you are going to use it. Drain fat and add to slow cooker.
Sprinkle taco seasoning packet on top of meat.
Drain and rinse the kidney beans and add.
Add the entire contents of the mexe beans, corn and tomato cans.
Stir.
Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5. I think the longer you cook soup, the better, so if you have the time, opt for cooking on low.
Stir well, and serve with a handful of grated cheese, a dollop of sour cream, avocado, jalapeno (for the adults). I crisped tortillas in the oven and broke them up over the soup, but you could have them soft or use corn chips.
Enjoy!