Tuesday 26th of March 2013

A favourite recipe tonight, or a riff on it at least, adapting it for the slow-cooker... This is based on Mary Berry's 'Chardonnay Chicken with Artichoke Hearts' from Cook Now, Eat Later, but is very much my lazy-arse 'distracted' version.  Somehow all my regular 'book recipes' suffer this fate eventually, with the exception of those written by my kitchen God, the sainted Mr Simon Hopkinson (or Si-Ho, as he is very affectionately know at Distracted Towers).  I simply do not muck about with his recipes; he wrote them that way for a reason and I love every single one of them just the way it is, whether for late-night, drool-inducing bedtime reading or for spattering with butter, flecks of chopped herbs and roasting juices while I cook yet-another much loved favourite.

200g slow-cooked onions or 1 can EAZY fried onions
250g small chestnut mushrooms
8 chicken thighs, bones left in but skin pulled off
2 x 280g jars of chargrilled artichoke hearts in oil
200ml dry white wine 
1 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp crème fraîche

Put the onions and the mushrooms in the bottom of the slow-cooker pot.  Add the chicken thighs in as close to a single layer as you can manage, then add the drained artichoke hearts (I recommend saving the oil to use in salad dressings).  Whisk the wine, cornflour and crème fraîche together, adding a twist or three of pepper, then pour this into the pot.  Cook on LOW all day.

I served this with couscous and a big green salad, but a bowl of rice or some crusty bread, along with a green vegetable of some sort, would be an equally good option.

Cath xx

Monday 25th of March 2013

Well, what a hectic (and BLOOMING FREEZING COLD) few days we've had at Distracted Towers.  The weekend consisted, mainly, of trying to keep the children occupied indoors when the weather was so dismal, which usually, for me at least, means roping them into some kitchen activities.  We cooked a huge batch of my slow-cooked onions.  We did them, this time, with red onions, as I especially love their sweet flavour, combined with stickiness when cooked this way.  A large portion of the onions went into the base of an ovenproof dish and was topped with chicken thighs with some soft goat's cheese pushed under the skin.  This was roasted for 45 mins at 180ºc and served with a basket of baguette chunks and some salad leaves for a surprisingly warming and really very satisfying meal.

Of course, we needed something sweet as well, and that came (as it so often does) in the form of my Fabulous Chocolate Brownies.  I had prepared some Jam Ice-Cream (strawberry as usual, but with a hint of amaretto for a change) with this weekend in mind, but what with the weather and all, serving ice-cream would just feel downright silly!

Tonight is, of course, a Monday so, armed with a batch of My Big Fat Chilli con Carne from the slow-cooker, I laid on a mini Tex-Mex fiesta with taco shells (bought-in!), grated cheddar, salad leaves, sliced avocado and soured cream.  Plates all clean, and out of the door on time...  Result!

Cath xx

Tuesday 19th of March 2013

I tried out another new meal idea in the slow-cooker tonight.  I've seen the idea of a crock-pot lasagne on Pinterest, not to mention on various other websites and blogs I dip in and out of.  I rather fancied the idea.  So, I got to concocting my own version.

All in all, I considered tonight to be a successful first attempt; the flavours were good, if a little under-seasoned.  What let the dish down, rather, was the rather 'solid' texture.  Not dry, exactly, but I prefer my lasagne to be rather sloppier; oozing across your plate and into the salad.  I also must confess that wiping juicy sauces up with my garlic bread (shop-bought, tonight, for speed) is, to my mind, one of the very greatest pleasures of a pasta supper.

So it's back to the drawing board, not for an entirely new sheet of (metaphorical) paper, but perhaps a little fine-tuning and redrawing of lines.  I'll keep you posted...

Cath xx

Monday 18th of March 2013

Another slow-cooker meal tonight and, feeling a little stuck in a recipe rut, I've decided to try out a couple of new ideas this week.  Tonight's meal, luckily, turned out well; a layered concoction of chicken, ham and cheese topped with a crust made using shop-bought stuffing.  I used one with lemon and garlic, but choose whichever you fancy, natch...

295g can condensed cream of chicken soup
125ml milk
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped
5 thickish slices of ham, cut up roughly
200g Gruyère,thinly sliced
130g pack stuffing mix (and see above)
30g butter, melted

Mix together the condensed soup and the milk.  I think I might try using white wine instead of milk the next time I cook this.  Smooth a thin layer of this mixture into the bottom of your slow-cooker pot, then add the chicken, in as much of a single layer as you can manage.  Next, a similar layer of ham, and finally a layer of cheese.  Pour over the remaining 'sauce' and smooth the top.  Scatter the dry stuffing mix over the surface, then drizzle with the melted butter to help it crisp up a little (as always, you can 'fridge it all night at this point).  Cook on LOW all day.

I served this with (yet) another batch of the herb butter-tossed potatoes that I mentioned last Wednesday and a bowl of peas.  Delicious...

Cath xx

Tuesday 12th of March 2013

We had another really good meal from the slow cooker tonight.  I'm particularly proud of this one, because it ticks lots of boxes for me; it's done in the slow-cooker, it uses mainly storecupboard ingredients and it is a meat-free meal, thus providing both variety and economy.  You can use a bought curry paste with no problems (and I do on occasion), but I really like   Jamie Oliver's recipes for homemade curry pastes, which I find can be frozen very successfully 'for a rainy day', as it were.  I tend to use the tikka masala variety, though I do reduce the amount of chilli by half and eliminate the coriander leaves.  The former, for the sake of the children's taste buds, the latter because of my personal aversion to coriander leaves.  Love the seeds, but I find myself nauseated by the leaves.  Apart from chips and tinned baked beans, it is my only real food aversion.  My Dad would certainly mention andouillette at this point, but since I was tricked into eating some (on a mere technicality, I might add) as a child I, still shuddering, will never, ever touch it again.  Anyway, moving swiftly on...

Chickpea & Spinach Coconut Curry

I like to serve this with my Relaxed Raita and a basket of warmed chapatis, all the better to scoop up the curry and transfer it, slurpily, to waiting mouths...

250g slow-cooked onions or 1 can EAZY fried onions
150g curry paste (and see above)
2 x 420g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 400ml can coconut milk (use 'light' if you prefer)
1 160g bag baby spinach leaves, washed

Now, this really is the easy bit.  Put the onions in the slow-cooker pot and mix with the curry paste.  Add the chickpeas, stirring well to coat them in the oniony, spicy, oily juices.  Tip in the coconut milk and mix well.  Refrigerate overnight at this point, if you like.  Cook on LOW all day.  Ten minutes or so before you want to eat, fold the spinach leaves through the curry in the pot, then replace the lid until time to serve.

Cath xx

Tuesday 5th of March 2013

Tuesday is,  as I mentioned yesterday,  my other, regular, slow-cooker night.  Tonight we ate another of our favourites,  which is so easy to throw together that, to be honest, it barely even qualifies as a recipe.  It is so useful, however, that I really must share it with you...

I vary the meat I use (to date, I've used chunked-up chicken thighs, strips of braising steak and pork steaks), but tonight we had pork.  Whatever meat I use, the dish always remains known as Hawaiian BBQ *whatever*.  

All you need to do is pop some prepared onions in your slow-cooker pot (and see yesterday's post for further adumbration of this), along with the contents of a bottle of Reggae Reggae sauce (or whichever brand you prefer, but I can only vouch for the success of this particular one) and the contents of a can of pineapple chunks in juice.  Cook on LOW all day, then stir through a tablespoonful of cornflour mixed with two tablespoons of water.  Sprinkle with some chopped parsley or, if you've got some handy,  fresh thyme is really lovely here.  Don't make a shopping trip out of it though...

I have been known to serve this dish with rice but, more often than not (and in the interests of speedy suppers) I serve it with a bowl of couscous.

Cath xx

Monday 4th of March 2013

Mondays and Tuesdays present a small problem for me each week. School is in Aberystwyth, Beavers and Cubs are in Aberystwyth and we live 10 miles outside Aberystwyth.  How to get the children home, get a (good!) meal inside them and get the relevant child back to town for their activity? Answer? The slow-cooker!

On Sunday and Monday evenings my 'homework' is to get a meal prepped and ready in the slow-cooker pot and to pop it in the 'fridge, ready to be transferred to the cooker just before we leave the house on Monday and Tuesday mornings.  It can then putter away quite happily until we get home after school, when all that is left for me to do is knock together a quick side dish, if necessary, and set the table for supper.  I have, by now, quite a collection of slow-cooker favourites but, being me I do often try out something new (and regularly give thanks for the wondrous creation called Pinterest).

Probably the best-received of all the meals that emerge from my slow-cooker is my big fat chilli con carne and that is what I served up for tonight's supper.  The ingredients remain the same as in the 'proper' recipe, and are all piled into the slow-cooker pot together, but I do leave out the half-can of water (which is unnecessary in the slow-cooker) and replace the raw sliced onion with some of my slow-cooked onions from the freezer (or, even more easily with a can of EAZY fried onions from the supermarket; another wonderful thing well worth having in the cupboard).  I never feel that onion cooks properly in a slow-cooker and this is the one allowance I make towards cooking things before they go into the sainted machine.

Tonight I served the chilli with rice, soured cream and some grated cheddar; all that we wanted for a basic, no-frills chilli supper.  Then, once again, it was a whirl of neckerchiefs and woggles before dashing out of the door, heading for the scout hut...

Cath xx