A Quick Guide to Slow Cooking

This week I was talking to a friend who told me she had just got a slow cooker. She was asking me what my favourite recipes were that I cooked in it. So I thought I would share two of my favourites here. We were given our slow cooker as a wedding present 7 years ago and I have probably used it at least once a week for those seven years. I will even take it on holiday if we are self catering. It is great to be able to put something like a stew or curry in it in the morning, go out for the day (or the morning) and come back to the delicious aroma of something warm and filling. It means that tea can be on the table within 15 minutes once the vegetables are done. 

Slow cooking means you can cook cheap cuts of meat such as braising or stewing steak. These meats which can be quite tough end up being tender and full of flavour. I also use it for chicken and turkey but these obviously need less cooking time.  I do have a slow cooker cookbook but have found that a lot of my favourite recipes have been dishes that are adapted from ones that are originally cooked on the hob or slow cooked in the oven (these two recipes below are). The main thing to remember if you do this is to reduce the amount of stock or water in the original recipe by half in the slow cooker.This is because the juice in meats and vegetables are retained more in slow cooking. It is a good idea to brown the meat first as this seals the juices in the meat and makes it more tender. It also caramelises the meat and improves the flavour of the finished dish. 

Beef and Apricot Stew.
Serves 4

1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
500g of lean stewing steak or braising steak cut into chunks
1 onion peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
100g of dried apricots chopped
50g of sundried tomatoes
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
250ml of stock
1 tablespoon of tomato puree


Heat the vegetable oil in a medium frying pan and brown the meat in two batches. Remove and place in the slow cooker
Add the onion  and garlic to the pan and cook for a few minutes until softened. 
Place into the slow cooker along with the apricots, sundried tomatoes, stock and tomato puree
Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 5-6 hours

Turkey Stew
Serves 4

1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
500g of turkey steak cut into chunks
1 onion peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon of garam masala
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper deseeded and chopped
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
250ml of chicken stock

Heat the oil in a medium frying pan, add the turkey and cook until browned
Add to the slow cooker
Add a little more oil to the pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until softened 
Add the garlic and garam masala and cook for a furthur minute
Add to the slow cooker along with the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, pepper and stock
Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 3-4 hours