Tag: slowcooker
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Slow Cooker Coca Cola Chicken
I am happy to say that this dish lives up to the hype.
The soft drink’s caramel and sugar provide a depth of flavour and also gives that sought after stickiness.
Note:
- I use bone in chicken legs as they don’t dry out and the bones give a density to the sauce
- Prep is easy and then cooking time is 6 hours.

Simply
Put following ingredients into your slow cooker:
- ~1 kg bone in chicken legs or wings
- A handful of chopped spring onions
- 1 tsp of ginger, finely diced
- 3 Tbs soy sauce
- 1 can of coca cola
Cook on low for 6 hours, turning everything over gently, halfway through.

Serve
I like to serve the sticky chicken with lots of rice and some steamed veggies.

Enjoy,
PK
Here are more chicken dishes and slow cooking posts:
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PK’s Slow Cooker Corned Beef
Corned beef is the salted brisket (a cut from below the neck) or silverside (a cut from the hindquarter) of beef gently boiled in water, spices and herbs. In Australia, it is almost always the silverside that is sold as corned beef.
You’ll get a great result if you gently boil the meat for 3 – 4 hours in a sauce pan but I like to go for 8-10 hours in my slow-cooker. I’ll show you below how I save time and money by using home-made vegetable stock instead of adding fresh vegetables to the pot.
Here I am serving tender slices of corned beef with an Egyptian style cold salad:

Ingredients
- ~1.5kg Corned Beef (also called silverside in Australia)
- 1L vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 peppercorns
- 6 cloves
- A splash of white wine vinegar
- Water, enough to bring the liquid level up to cover the meat
Simply
Trim off any excess fat and silver-skin from the silverside:

Chuck all the ingredients above into your slow-cooker and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours:
Â
Serving
Corned beef pairs well with almost everything. I love eating it with salads or with steamed veggies or even drowned in a cheesy sauce along side potatoes.

You can’t go past a corned beef and cheese sandwich:
Enjoy,
PK
Here are some more slow-cooker dishes and more easy to make meals:Â
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PK’s Slow Cooker Lamb Chops
I love this lamb chop stew! Not only is it super tasty but it is so simple to make. You simply brown the chops and then walk away. 🙂
Steps
- Browning the chops
- Slow cooking (~5 hrs)
- Serving
Equipment
- 1 chefs knife
- 1 fry pan
- 1 slow cooker
Ingredients
- 8 lamb chops
- A slug of olive oil
- A good slug of tomato paste
- One 400g can of diced tomatoes
- Water (half fill the tomato can)
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- 1 brown onion, diced
- Mushrooms, a couple of handfuls
- Thyme and oregano, to taste
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Browning the chops
Brown the 8 chops (in batches) in some oil on medium heat.

Pop them and the rest of the ingredients into your slow cooker on low heat.

Give everything a gentle stir.

Slow cooking (~5 hrs)
Cover and cook for around 5 hours. The meat should be falling of the bone.

Serving
There are a myriad of serving options. It pairs great with potatoes and crusty bread.

This stew freezes well and I take it to work for the perfect lunch with pasta or rice.

Enjoy,
PK
Here are a few slow cooker and lamb posts I thought you might:Â
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Ham Hock And Cabbage Soup Slow Cooker
I love a ham hock soup and growing up, Pea And Ham Soup was a regular treat.
Did you know you can make a mean ham soup using cabbage instead of split peas? I have been making it this winter and wanted to share the recipe with you.Â
I have a pressure cooker variant but here I present the slow cooker version that you can start in the morning for dinner (6 to 8 hrs on low). Â

Steps
- Preparing the vegetables
- Slow cooking (~6hrs)
- Pulling the ham
- Serving
Equipment
- 1 chefs knife
- 1 vegetable peeler
- 1 slow cooker
Ingredients
- 1 ham hock
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- A handful of celery leaves, torn
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 medium cabbage, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Preparing the vegetables
This is always the fun bit for me. 🙂
Prepare the following ingredients and add them to the slowcooker:Â
- 1 brown onion
- 1 carrot
- 3 celery stalks
- A handful of celery leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 medium cabbage
- 2 garlic cloves
Add the 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock and pop the ham hock on top.

Slow cooking (~6hrs)
Put on the lid and then cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Pulling the ham
By now the meat should be falling off the bone. Pull the whole hock out in one go, if you can, to avoid losing any small bits of bone in the soup.
Pull and chop the ham and add it back to the soup. Mix everything gently then add pepper and salt to taste.

Serving
Serve piping hot with garnish of choice and perhaps some crusty bread.

This soup freezes well and I take it to work for the perfect snack or lunch.
Enjoy,
PK
Here are a few soup posts and I thought you might like to see a few pork posts too.Â
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PK’s Slow Cooked Beef Bourguignon
Beef Bourguignon is a very yummy and very ‘French’ slow cooked beef dish that sounds hard to make. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially if you grew up calling it Beef Burgundy. The hardest part of this recipe is waiting the 4 hours to get to eat it. 🙂 🙂
The French sure know how to take basic peasant farm yard ingredients, the chewier cuts of meat and turn them into a meal fit for royalty.

 You will be:
- Preparing everything
- Boiling the wine
- Rendering the bacon
- Browning the meat
- Softening the vegetables
- Cooking low and slow
- Serving
You will need:
- Ingredients:
- 1kg (2.2lb) beef chuck steak (a bit more or less is fine too), cubed
- 6 slices short cut bacon, cut into strips
- 2 cups red wine (plus a splash for glazing the casserole dish)
- 1 cup stock (any will do but I used beef)
- AÂ Bouquet Garni
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
- A handful of dried mushrooms (or 2 of fresh)
- 2 brown onions, peeled and sliced
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 6 baby carrots, scrubbed clean but left whole
- 3 Tbsp duck fat
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Â Equipment:
- 2 chef’s knives (or 1 if you wash it after the meat)
- 2 chopping boards
- 1 large casserole dish or equivalent
- 1 slow cooker
- 1 slotted spoon
Preparing everything
I like to bring everything together before I start cooking. Not only does it look and smell amazing but it leads to stress free cooking.

I used a handful of rough chopped dried mixed forest mushrooms (Bolets, Pleurotes and Champignons noirs). I am sorry mushroom haters (I used to be one so I understand) but the mushrooms are integral to the dish.

I had already premade my Bouquet Garni bag with my go to mix of bay leaves, thyme, savoury and parsley.

Boiling the wine
- Pop the casserole dish on the hob and slowly bring the 2 cups of red wine to the boil, keep it there for a few minutes.
- Turn your slow cooker on to low and transfer the wine to it when safe to do so.
- Also add the 1 cup of stock and the bouquet garni bag to the slow cooker.
- Wipe the casserole dish clean.

Rendering the bacon
- On medium heat, add the 3 Tbsp duck fat to the casserole dish along with the 2 garlic cloves.
- Add bacon strips to the fat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
- We are trying to get the bacon fat to render down and release its flavour into the duck fat, not trying to crisp it up, so adjust the heat accordingly,

Browning the beef
- Season the 1kg of cubed beef with salt and pepper.
- In batches, brown the meat in the fat and transfer to the slow cooker (using the slotted spoon) as you go.

Softening the vegetables
- Now add the 2 brown onions, 3 celery stalks and 6 baby carrots to the casserole dish.
- Cook them on low heat, occasionally and very gently moving them around, until they have softened somewhat.
- Add them and the handful of dried mushrooms to the slow cooker.
- Deglaze the casserole dish with a splash of red wine and then add that to the slow cooker too.


Cooking low and slow
Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, turning everything over occasionally.
Serving
The options are endless but I served it with some boiled peeled potatoes and garnished with parsley. Perhaps the most interesting serving idea I have seen on the internet was on a bed of flat pasta.

Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s Slow Cooked Rabbit Soup
This one is just for Dad because my kids are big into Peter Rabbit at the moment. 🙂 Rabbit soup is just as easy to make as chicken soup, especially if you use a slow cooker.
Note: Rabbit is a lean meat that makes for a very light healthy soup.
Simply
- Cut up your rabbit like so.
- Chop up your vegetables, I used onion, celery, carrot, green beans and coriander roots.
- Add some bay leaves, a sprig of thyme and a hearty slash of dry white wine.
- Throw everything into your slow cooker (medium heat) with 4 cups rabbit stock (any stock will do actually) and 4 cups water.
- Add some duck fat if you like as it helps keep the meat moist.
- Wait for 4 – 6 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Pull the meat off the bones (turn the latter into bone meal for a great soil improver), returning it to the slow cooker.
Serving
It just needs a bowl, some cracked pepper and crusty bread drowned in butter. 🙂

Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s Bouquet Garni
One of the perks of having a kitchen garden is that you always have fresh herbs and spices at your finger tips. This is great if you want to make a fresh homemade bouquet garni.
A bouquet garni is a bundle of herbs that were traditionally woven together (I tend to use little cloth bags for convenience however). They are used to flavour soups, stews, stocks, casseroles etc etc without having to fish the herbs out one by one at cooking’s end.
There are millions of combinations but I tend to use bay leaves, thyme, savoury and parsley the most.


When you have finished cooking the dish, simply remove the bag and chuck it in your compost or worm farm.
You can buy premade dried bouquet garni sachets but I encourage you to try making one using fresh herbs. You will never look back. 🙂
Dietary Info: Great for vegetarians, vegans and is gluten free.
Enjoy,
PK
P.S. I get my bags on ebay.
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OUR SLOWCOOKER RECIPES
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PK’s NoRecipe Rump Pot Roast
This is another easy peasy slow cooker meal that turned a lovely side rump (eye) cut into a tender braised roast beef. It tasted and smelled amazing and the kids came back for seconds 🙂
Steps:
I simply browned the rump roast (~600g) in a fry pan before adding to the slow cooker that was on high. I then brought a bunch of vegetables (potatoes, carrots, brown onion, basil, celery sticks, a coriander root) and a good slug of Worcestershire sauce to the boil in 500mls of home-made beef stock until the potatoes had started to soften somewhat.
I added the vegetables and stock to the slow cooker and let it cook for about 4hrs on medium or until the meat is starting to break apart but still moist.
I always try to let the liquid reduce for gravy without letting anything burn. I check every now and then and add water if required.





Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s Chicken And Pasta Soup
Simply take a chicken frame or two (hopefully from the whole chicken you just deboned) and place in your slow cooker. Now add water until the frames are covered. Sometimes I also throw in a chicken leg or two (on the bone).
Chop up a brown onion, several celery sticks and several carrots (I leave them pretty chunky) and add them to the slow cooker. Add salt and pepper to taste and a bay leaf.
Let it cook overnight on low, if you have time, to really get a tasty broth going. By this stage the meat is falling off the bone. I pull the bones out at this point to make Bone Meal (a great source of slow release nitrogen) for my garden.
Serving
Just before serving I add 2 cups of pre-cooked pasta and a bit more water if needed.
This soup freezes well so I keep several portions aside for the ultimate in thrifty work lunches 🙂

Enjoy,
PK
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Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Osso Buco Slow Cooker
Considering how much I love lamb shanks I am surprised it took me this long to cook Osso Buco for the first time. I always use Hugh’s recipe for the shanks (River Cottage’s Citrus Braised Lamb Shanks) so it is a no surprise I am using his Osso Buco Alla Milanese.
You will be using thick slices of beef or veal shins with the shin bone still present. Look at the beautiful rich colour.

The result was tender beef that was falling off the bone and a lovely sauce that was hearty but less fatty than you would get cooking with lamb.
Note: Pop this on early in the day because it might take 6 hours or more on your slow cooker’s medium setting.
You will be:
- Preparing everything
- Sealing the beef shins
- Sweating the vegetables
- Slow cooking everything
- Serving
You will need:
- Ingredients:
- 4 – 6 slices of beef shin with the bone still in the middle (about 1.3kg)
- enough plain white flour to coat the shins
- table salt and cracked black peppercorns to taste
- 50g salted butter
- A couple of slugs olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, diced
- 2 celery sticks and their leaves, chopped
- 2 brown onions, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- A handful of snow peas, whole
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 cups stock (I have used homemade Slow Cooker Chicken Stock and Italian Beef Stock: Brodo Di Manzo but use anything you have to hand)
- A handful of chopped mushrooms (optional)
- Â Equipment:
- 1 long sharp knife
- 1 chopping board
- 1 frypan
- 1 slow cooker
Preparing everything
- While you let the beef shins come to room temperature prepare the:
- 2 garlic cloves, diced
- 2 celery sticks chopped
- 2 brown onions, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- a handful of snow peas, whole
- Dry the beef shin slices with paper towel, season with salt and pepper and then dust them in the flour.


Sealing the beef shins
- Turn your slow cooker on to high, add a slug of olive oil and cover.
- Melt the 50g of salted butter in a frypan and then add a good slug of olive oil.
- Brown both sides of the shins (if they start to curl on you during cooking, clip the outer ring of connective tissue with kitchen shears).
- Add them to the slow cooker.


Sweating the vegetables
- Add the 2 cups white wine and the 2 cups of stock to the same frypan and bring to a gentle boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and then add the vegetables.
- Cook until they soften and then add everything to the slow cooker.

Slow cooking everything
Turn the slow cooker down to medium or low and cover. Mine took 6 hours before the beef was ready.
Serving
Serve on a bed of basmati rice with extra vegetables and some of Hugh’s gremolata.

Enjoy,
PK
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