What a Crock!

I think I’m getting old because I was really excited to get my new crock pot.  Since I’m not a fan of the word “crock” except for in the negative sense, I’m now going to refer to this beautiful, simple cooking vessel  as the slow cooker.  The slow cooker cooks the food at a low temp for a long period of time.  So far, I’ve found the keys to success are fatty pieces of meat and a fair amount of liquid so the dish doesn’t dry out. 

To become the slow cooking expert I now am, I purchased a mag to study up on recipes.  I decided on Better Homes and Gardens Essential Slower Cooker.  I thought since BGH is as old school as the slow cooker, it would be a good choice to show me the way.  It’s mostly filled with stews, chillis, aps and bbq dishes.  Pretty standard stuff for the pot, but wow – you can also make fondues, desserts and beverages.  Yes, I’m talking about mulled wine and hot apple cider! Who knew?

For my first foray I not surprisingly went with a pork dish called Asian-style barbecue ribs.  Seemed simple enough…and it was! You basically just dump a bunch of stuff in the pot and set it and forget it! (Thanks Ron Popeil for that one!) I was a little worried because it called for a lot of sweet things like plum jelly, molasses, ginger and brown sugar, so I added a few spoonfuls of sriracha to spice it up.  I mixed that up with green onions and topped it on the ribs and seven hours later the meat was falling off the bones.  It was delish!  I served it up with some brown rice with green onions and sautéed sesame spinach. 

 

 

Asian pork ribs with spinach and rice

 

For the next adventure I decided to make…well pork.  It just seemed super suited for slow cooking.  This time I went with chops.  The recipe was pork chops and bacon because there’s  nothing that tops pork better than pork.  The key here was a very thick bone in chop.  I dumped the cooked bacon, bay leaves, soy sauce, onions, cider vinegar and some other stuff in.  The dish turned out great.  Again, the pork just fell off the bone and was infused with an intense flavor – restaurant quality!!  I served it up with the spinach again (sans sesame) and some scalloped potatoes. (Props to Debbie who helped with this one!)

 

 

 

chops

spuds

The third adventure was…wait for it…pork.  Just kidding! It was chicken.  A whole chicken that is, and the easiest recipe yet!  Here’s what you do:  get a whole chicken (mine was a 4.5 pounder) and stuff it with herbs and garlic.  Chop onions, carrots, celery (mirepoix) and dump it around the bird.  I also added some chicken broth and white wine.  Then set it and forget it! Seven hours later I had a nicely roasted chicken – it was very juicy, but I will admit, a bit bland.  Next time I would omit the carrots and cel and add a ton more garlic and herbs.  The best part was I had a ton of chicken for meals during the week, which was the idea.  Today for lunch:  curried chicken salad.  Tonight for dinner:  tortilla soup. Tomorrow:  chicken quesadillas.  

chicken

 

tortilla soup

 The slow cooker may not be a very glamorous cooking tool, but it’s easy, fun and produces delicious food.  My advice is to get one with a timer (mine doesn’t have one)  Go get one!