soup mix

A load of manky old veg – spuds, a soft pepper, a wrinkly courgette and some soft carrots. Oh, and some very sad celery. Only the leek was pristine and fresh. Diced small by hand (because I felt like it – often I don’t), hurled in the slow cooker with some barley, seasoning, water and…

lamb massaman

We’re trying to clear out the freezer in the shed, so we can replace it with another, smaller one.  And there was a shoulder of lamb, so I thought I’d give this a go. for the massaman sauce: 4 dried chillis, soaked in boiling water for about  20 minutes 1 tsp each cumin seeds, coriander…

the risotto that wasn't

using up: smoked trout, a bulb of  fennel We like risotto; sometimes I make it in the oven, and sometimes I stand over the pot, ladling in stock.  Whatever, I know my 5oz of rice to 1 pint of liquid works. Today, I thought I’d try the slow cooker.  I did a bit of Googling,…

red cabbage and apple

We’re big fans of red cabbage – it goes so well with stews, and sausages, and cold meat, and roast goose, and and and.

I normally make it in a Le Creuset pot, and cook it in a very low oven, but I thought I’d give it a whirl in the slow cooker, and it was great!

vegetable and flageolet bean soup

About five carrots, two sticks of celery, and a leek, chopped up small.  About a mugful of flageolet beans, soaked in boiling water and left for about six hours.  The remains of last week’s soup – about half a pint of tomato and lentil. All hurled in the slow cooker, topped up with cold water,…

moroccan meatballs with sweet pepper sauce

As I said in the spag bol post, I had about a pound of mince left over. In fact, when we weighed it, it was 1lb 7oz!

Pete set to making the meatballs; he ground cumin, coriander, allspice, fennel seeds and cinnamon, finely chopped a shallot and some garlic, and mashed it all together. It made 18 walnut-sized meatballs. He left out salt, but we realised before it was too late …

spag bol

Pretty much everyone (apart from vegetarians, I guess) loves spag bol, and most people have their own tried and tested recipes. We had a load of mince in the freezer, and a slow cooker needing to be experimented with, so what could be better? …

I haz slow cooker!

Bought on eBay for almost exactly the sum I sold some Russell & Bromley loafers! Been thinking about one for a while, and thought it was worth a go.

I shall be posting recipes for it (if they work!). At the moment, we are testing it with some Indian dhal thus: