Slow cooker slam-dunk

If  could somehow put into words how the kitchen smells when the crockpot is bubbling away with this dish, then I would. But I'm not sure words will do it justice. However, you know me well enough by now, to know that I will try! Suffice to say, it is deliciously citrusy with an eastern spicy twist that you just can't put your finger on.

If I could put into words how this dish tastes, when served over a bed of creamy mashed potatoes(with some steamed cabbage mixed in), then I would.... Oh OK then: it is a succulent mix of delicate flavors worthy of a chilly winter's evening.

If I could describe how grateful I am to Sara Lewis for including this recipe in her book Slowcooker Easy, then..... For once, however, I think I'll just shut up, and let the recipe speak for itself (and the photo prove the point). Now there's a first ;-)

Pork with Orange and Star Anise
Serves 8

2 TBSP canola/sunflower oil
8 pork chops, trimmed and each cut into 2-3 pieces
2 onions, chopped
4 TBSP AP/plain flour
900 ml chicken stock
grated rind and juice of 2 oranges
6 TBSP plum sauce
4 TBSP soy sauce
7-8 whole star anise
salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add pieces of pork and cook over high heat until browned on both sides. Remove from skillet with slotted spoon and transfer to slow cooker pot.
2, Add onion to skillet and fry, stirring until lightly browned. Stir in flour, and then gradually mix in stock, orange rind and juice, plum sauce, soy sauce and star anise. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil, stirring.
3. Pour sauce over pork in slowcooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes (mixed with steamed cabbage, if you like).

Making a meal of it

I confess, I looked at the ingredients for this dish and I thought it didn't really sound like an entree, but rather a list of ingredients for nachos. Not that I don't love nachos (and I confess, I even like the ones you get in the movie theater with fake cheese poured over them.... mmmmm), but it wasn't exactly a main dish, at least from the ingredients. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, particularly since, if I told the kids that we were having nachos for dinner, I was pretty sure that the response would be positive. Surprised, but positive!

And in actual fact, this does turn out to be a substantial main dish in itself, and another one I'm adding to my growing veggie repertoire. It turns out you can make a meal of nachos :-) The recipe comes from the magazine Everyday with Rachel Ray, and you can throw it together almost as quickly as a bowl of nachos. I did add some tomato, as I thought it needed another color to make it look pretty! It needs nothing more than a nice salad to accompany it, and the warmth of the chiles (warmth, rather than heat, don't worry) is perfect for the darker, cooler evenings of fall.

Baked Green Chile Chilaquiles
Serves 5

2 TBSP olive oil
2 poblano chiles, seeded and cut into thin strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups mild green tomatillo salsa
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves), plus more for garnish
8 oz bag of corn tortilla chips
10 oz Monterey Jack, shredded (you could use mild cheddar instead)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado, sliced
2 green/spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 roma tomato, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet and cook the chiles over medium/high heat, until beginning to brown. Add garlic and cook for a further 20 seconds. Stir in the salsa and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro. Set aside.
3. Place half the chips in a 2 qt baking dish. Top with half of the salsa mixture, half the cheese and half the beans. Repeat the layers with remaining chips, salsa, cheese and beans.
4. Bake until casserole is hot and the cheese melts (18-20 minutes).
5. Garnish with avocado slices, green onions, tomato and remaining cilantro before serving the lime wedges.

Dessert? Why not!

Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that you have just treated yourself to an awesome salad entrée (perhaps this one). Well, in my book, that means you have earned yourself a dessert. And I have a great one for you. This recipe comes from one of those little free books you get when you re-subscribe to a magazine, in this case, Good Food magazine in the UK (so don't even think about telling me Brits can't cook). It's a cake, but one with a texture unlike most other cakes, and a combination of flavours more usually associated with a savory dish. It's rich, fragrant, fresh, and quite frankly delicious, and if you have an overgrown patch of rosemary in your garden like mine, then a great way to put it to good use.

Lemon Polenta Cake with Rosemary Syrup
Serves 8

6 oz polenta (cornmeal)
2 oz AP/plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 TBSP plain yoghurt
5 TBSP canola/sunflower oil
grated zest of 2 lemons, plus 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
2 whole eggs, plus 2 egg whites
14 oz white sugar (caster)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus extra to decorate
fresh berries and extra plain yoghurt to serve

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Sift polenta, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl (tip in any grains too large to go through sifter as well)
3. Combine yoghurt, oil, lemon zest and juice in a pitcher/jug. It will look curdled, but don't worry!
4. Beat eggs and egg whites with half of the sugar until creamy. Beat in the yoghurt mixture until smooth, then fold in the sifted dry ingredients.
5. Pour this batter into a 9"x5" loaf pan, which has been sprayed with oil spray.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
7. Put the remaining sugar in a pan with 7 fl oz (200 ml) of water and the rosemary sprigs. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Cool completely, and then strain.
8. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then poke holes in the top with a skewer and pour over half of the rosemary syrup.
9. Serve the cake sliced with fresh berries, natural/plain yoghurt and extra syrup.

The last gasp of summer

This morning, I walked the dog in a thick, cold, drizzly fog; this afternoon, the sun is shining and the temperature gauge has risen more than 20 degrees. Fall is decidedly strange that way. Since the weather has yet to adopt a more wintery hue for at least part of the day, I thought I would post one last salady entrée recipe. I know some of you live in colder climes, but this one is well worth a try - just crank the heating up, put on a sweater and pour a glass of something fortified to warm you up.

Asian Chicken Salad
From Simply Organic by Jesse Ziff Cool
Serves 4-6 as an entrée

1 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
6 TBSP soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp hot Chinese mustard
4 TBSP minced fresh ginger
4 green/spring onions, thinly sliced
3 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4" strips (about 1.8lbs)
2 cups bean sprouts
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
6 cups finely shredded savoy cabbage (about 1 head)
2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large measuring jug/pitcher, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce, oil, mustard, ginger and green onions. Pour half of this dressing into a large bowl.
3. Add chicken to the bowl and toss to coat with the dressing. Set aside to marinate for at least 10 minutes, and up to 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss together the sprouts, cabbage and red bell pepper. Toss with the remaining dressing (may not need all of it, so don't pour it all in in one go!). Set aside for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, take the chicken and put it on a baking tray, coated with oil spray. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until cooked through and no longer pink. Cool slightly.
6. Top the cabbage mixture with the chicken and sprinkle with sesame seeds to serve.

It's all about winning

If you are a parent, then you will, like me, have come to realize that you are no longer in control of your own life. The kids are. Victories are few and far between, so must be savoured and appreciated, in the vain hope that the glow they impart might last just long enough until the next time. Well, last night, there was a moment at the dinner table, when I felt like I just might be winning, temporarily, and only at a stretch, but winning a small victory, nonetheless.

If you are a frequent reader here, you will have gathered that my children are in a phase when they refuse to eat sandwiches in their packed lunch, which as you can imagine is a cause of pain and suffering for the woman who packs those lunches, namely me. Put it this way, it is October, and I am emotionally 'done' with the year of packed lunches already. I am also constantly struck by how ridiculous it is NOT to like sandwiches. They love bread, they love cheese, they love ham. But a cheese and ham sandwich? Forgetaboutit.

Well, last night, this is the dinner we gathered around:

No, it isn't a sandwich! It is a dish called a Croque Monsieur Casserole, the recipe for which came from a Rachel Ray magazine. What is a Croque Monsieur? Well, it's a French ham and cheese sandwich. Let me repeat that: it's a ham and cheese sandwich. OK, so our dinner was technically a casserole based on a ham and cheese sandwich. A casserole which was greeted not by 'The Y-word', which is usually thrown at a sandwich (rhymes with duck, and is forbidden in this house, along with at least one other word that rhymes with duck), but 'The D-word' (rhymes with propitious, and maybe this will be). Ha! This round of the sandwich wars was won by me. The war rages on, and I'm losing, but at least this battle is mine :-)

Whether you like sandwiches or not, with or without ham and cheese, this recipe is a definite keeper (even now that they know it is based on a sandwich). My only tweak was that I added more egg and milk, as it all looked a bit too dry when I assembled it. I'm glad I did, as it was perfectly moist as prepared below. It also went fabulously well with a simple green salad dressed with a sharp tasting vinaigrette, to cut through the oozy, creamy, cheesy goodness of the casserole. I have therefore also included a recipe for lemon vinaigrette below, for those who are feeling brave and want to try and replicate this victory at home!

Croque Monsieur Casserole
Serves 5

1 day-old baguette cut into 1/2" slices
2 TBSP butter melted
2 TBSP Dijon mustard
9 oz gruyere, shredded/grated
8 oz thinly sliced ham
6 large eggs
1 3/4 cups whole milk
freshly ground black pepper
1. Take half of the bread slices and chop them into 1/2" cubes. Toss cubes with melted butter in a large bowl.
2. Spread mustard over remaining bread slices, and arrange them, slightly overlapping, in a 2-qt baking dish. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese over the top.
3. Fold ham slices in half and arrange in an even layer over the cheese. Top with half of the remaining cheese.
4. Sprinkle bread cubes evenly over the top, and then top with remaining cheese.
5. Whisk eggs with milk and season with black pepper to taste. Pour carefully over casserole and lightly press down on bread so that it begins to soak up liquid.
6. Set casserole aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
7. Bake casserole in oven until puffed up and golden, about 30 minutes.
8. Leave to cool slightly for 5 minutes before serving.

Lemon Vinaigrette

2 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 TBSP white wine vinegar
1-2 tsp wholegrain mustard
5 TBSP olive oil
salt and pepper

Whisk all ingredients together. Serve tossed with a simple green salad.

Feeling chilly?

This post is dedicated to a dear friend of mine. Let's call her Heather. Last week sometime, she posted on Facebook that she needed to "move somewhere where it's sunny and warm". A few days later she lamented that "This dreary, gray, cold weather has me down", and then the clincher was today's post, accompanied by a photo of the heater she had on her desk, which complained that she was "still freezing". Ever eager to help, I have obviously offered her a bed here in sunny California so that she can escape the frozen wastelands of Illinois. However, if the truth be told, the weather is becoming decidedly fall-ish here too, so she might be better off checking Hotwire for fares to Hawaii.

The upside of fall's arrival for me is, of course, food-related. There is nothing more comforting on an evening that seems not just chilly, but prematurely dark, than a steaming hot plateful of something that has been simmering in the slow-cooker all day. So Heather, that is why this post is dedicated to you my dear. At least you will have something tasty and warm to look forward after you turn off that heater at work, and drive home :-)

The recipe comes from a book I recently bought called Simply Organic, by Jesse Ziff Cool. For those of you who are local, she is the one who owns the Flea Street Café in Menlo Park. The book was recommended to me (thanks Janel!) because although I would love to cook more seasonally, I don't always feel like I know how - what is in season when? And for convenience purposes, much of my shopping is done in a supermarket, where you can get most things year round, whether that is appropriate or not. This book, unlike most, is written by season, so for example, the recipe below comes from the section on 'Indian Summer'. Great idea, and some lovely looking recipes.

I served the dish with a side of soft polenta and some roasted delicata squash, which I have put recipes for below, as they went together beautifully. I have the October issue of Cooking Light to thank for the squash recipe.

Enjoy, and stay warm :-)

Harvest Pot Roast
Serves 8

1 large onion, cut into thick slices
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
12 oz mushrooms, quartered or thickly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup ketchup
2 TBSP Dijon mustard
2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 chuck roast, about 3lbs, trimmed of visible fat
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1. Combine onion, carrots, mushroom, garlic and tomatoes in the slow cooker.
2. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Top the vegetables with half of this sauce.
3. Place the roast over the vegetables, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread remaining sauce over the beef.
4. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours, or until the meat is very tender.
5. Let meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing, and serve drizzled with sauce and vegetables from slow cooker.


Soft Polenta
Serves 8

3 cups water
3 3/4 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups coarse polenta/cornmeal
3 TBSP fresh grated parmesan

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring water, milk and salt to a boil.
2. Gradually stir in polenta in a steady stream.
3. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture is smooth and blended, and bubbles like lava (about 5 minutes)
4. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking, stirring frequently, while the mixture bubbles and thickens, and the grains become tender and creamy. This should take 20-30 minutes.
5. Stir in parmesan and serve.

Roasted Delicata Squash with Red Onions
Serves 6

1 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1 TBSP chopped fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried thyme
1 TBSP honey
2 tsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 12 oz delicate squash, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut into 1/2" slices (no need to peel!)
1 large red onion, cut into wedges
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp ground black pepper, divided
cooking spray
3 TBSP chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add squash and onion and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle in 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper.
3. Arrange vegetable mixture in a single layer on a baking sheet, coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until squash is tender, turning once halfway through.
5. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper and parsley before serving.

Why, thank you!

Thank you all for checking into my blog! This blog is something which is very dear to my heart. After all, I love cooking, and I love writing. What a combo!

And to express my gratitude for those of you who enjoy reading the blog, and trying out the recipes, I did some 'tidying up' yesterday, which I wanted to make you all aware of. Why? Because it will hopefully make this blog a bit easier to navigate, particularly if you're trying to find recipes from some time ago.

If you scroll down the right hand side, you will see a link to a page called RECIPE INDEX. On the page there, you will find a list of all the recipes I have posted (and I add to it each time, so it is up to date). They are divided into sections by main ingredient (e.g. beef entrees/vegetarian entrees etc), 'status' in the meal (e.g. sides/salads) as well as cooking method (e.g. slow cooker recipes/grilling recipes). And each recipe in the list shows when it was posted and the title of the post. The title itself is a link, which, if you click on it, will take you directly to the post in question.

Enjoy!

Kimberley