Lots to cook? Fuggedaboutit

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/12/2016 (3567 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If only there was a way to put the holiday season in to a slow cooker. If I could just do the initial prep — you know, the lists — and then drop the decorating and shopping and wrapping in to some kind of magical machine that would take care of it until it was ready to enjoy.

Now there’s your Christmas miracle.

Until that day comes, I will just have to settle for help with the food courtesy of my “magical” slow cookers and a good cookbook. If you told me I could keep only one kind of cookbook, it would be the type that has a holiday theme like Thanksgiving or Christmas. For my money, these give you the biggest b ang for your cookbook buck. They cover every kind of recipe from appetizers to desserts and they provide you with super convenient recipes or recipes that are beautifully formal. But what all those recipes have in common is that they have to be celebration-worthy — they look good and taste really good — which is a plus no matter when you serve them.

To that canon we add Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Slow Cooker Feasts: 650 Easy Holiday Recipes by Phyllis Good (Good Books/ Skyhorse Publishing Co. $26). Good is a New York Times bestselling author out of Lancaster, Pa. This one can get you from Thanksgiving through New Year’s with relative ease. There are 650 recipes for crying out loud.

With the exception of a whole roast turkey (you could do a turkey breast), you can cook an entire Christmas dinner in slow cookers. Well — I could — I’m up to five of them including one that is specifically for warming cinnamon and clove-scented potpourri (a good way to use up stale or cheap spices, just add some thinly sliced citrus peels and keep the water topped up).

As an aside, my latest slow-cooker addition is a casserole cooker (which looks like an electric lasagna pan) to which I must give an enthusiastic two-spatulas up (although the cord is a little too short). The advantage of this cooker is that because it is a flat rectangle, you don’t have to stack food. That means pork chops and potatoes and brussels sprouts can all be done side-by-side in about an hour-and-a-half on the high setting, with a little attention. If I’m cooking something that is a little saucier alongside something I want to keep drier, I divide the casserole cooker into sections with a little tin foil to separate foods.

It also means that lasagna comes out in slices like a regular lasagna and not a lasagna stew out of a pot.

If you want to add another slow cooker or two to your kitchen, Good recommends the following sizes: one 6-7 quart (turkey breasts, roasts, large soup or stew); one or two 4-5 quart (vegetables, brunches, desserts); one or two 1.5 – 3 quart (dips, breakfast fruit, dessert toppings etc.).

Slow cookers work best when they are about two-thirds full. This allows for some room for food to bubble up a bit. The two-thirds full rule also ensures there is enough food in the cooker to help prevent overcooking. To test if yours is working up to par, Good says to fill it with 2 quarts of water, cover it and turn it to low for 8 hours. Using a thermometer, lift the lid and quickly take the temperature (heat escapes quickly as soon as you lift the lid). If it is 85 C (185 F), you are on the money. If it is higher, watch your food for overcooking. If it is lower, food can’t get hot enough, quickly enough, to be safe — time for a new slow cooker. (Having said that, slow cookers are good investments and usually last for years.)

Generally speaking, though, once you’ve confirmed the temperature is accurate, the best way to get to know your slow cooker is to just use it. I find the easiest thing to start with is a fairly simple soup. It’s pretty hard to mess it up and you can check it frequently to keep track. If you wreck it, it won’t cost you much. Once you’ve got that in hand, simple potatoes or a vegetable side dish is good, then try a stew.

Other recent publications by Good include: Fix-It and Forget-It Baking with Your Slow Cooker: 150 Slow Cooker Recipes for Breads, Pizza, Cakes, Tarts, Crisps, Bars, Pies, Cupcakes and More and Fix-It and Forget-It Slow Cooker Champion Recipes: 450 of our Very Best Recipes. Her format uses contributor recipes that have been collected and tested. The sheer number of recipes is impressive in these books and there is bound to something you will like.

Also, because these recipes are contributed by home cooks, they tend to use ingredients you will have on hand and require few simple steps. (There’s not much use in using a slow cooker as a time saver if you have to spend a ton of time on prep.)

These three recipes have been excerpted from Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Slow Cooker Feasts edited by Phyllis Good. Copyright © 2016. Used with permission of Good Books, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing. You could use them as the basis for your own Christmas, or New Year’s dinner.

I’ve added a couple of notes to these recipes in brackets.

Spicy Beef Roast

Karen Ceneviva, Seymour, Conn.

(For this recipe it was easier to spread the garlic on to the roast after grating it with a microplane rather than mincing it. Also, measure the dry mustard into a small bowl first, then mix in the balsamic vinegar to dissolve any lumps, then add the rest of the liquid ingredients.)

Makes 8-10 servings

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

Cooking Time: 4-10 hours

Ideal slow-cooker size: 4- to 5-qt.

15-30 ml (1-2 tbsp) cracked black peppercorns

2 cloves garlic, minced

1.5 kg (3 lbs) round tip roast, or brisket, trimmed of fat

45 ml (3 tbsp) balsamic vinegar

60 ml (1/4 cup) reduced-sodium soy sauce

30 ml (2 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce

10 ml (2 tsp) dry mustard

Rub cracked pepper and garlic onto roast. Put roast in slow cooker.

Make several shallow slits in top of meat.

In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Spoon over meat.

Cover. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours, just until meat is tender but not dry.

Note from contributor: Once when I had made this roast for friends, my son said — in front of all the guests — “Mom, you always cook so well and you have a smile while you’re doing it.” That’s the kind of comment you don’t forget. And this roast is that good!

Christmas Carrots

Lindsey Spencer, Marrow, Ohio

(To save time peeling and cutting, use a bag of baby carrots and just cut them in half lengthwise. I find it easier to mix this in a bowl first, and then add it to the slow cooker.)

Makes 8 servings

Preparation time: 10-15 minutes

Cooking time: 3 hours

Ideal slow-cooker size: 3-qt.

1 kg (2 lbs) carrots

60 ml (half a stick or 4 tbsp) butter, melted

125 ml (1/2 cup) brown sugar

8 oz. can crushed pineapple, undrained

125 ml (1/2 cup) shredded coconut

Peel carrots and cut into strips 1 cm (1/2 in) wide and 5 cm (2 in) long.

For extra flavour, brown carrots in skillet in butter before placing in slow cooker. Or skip doing that and place carrots and butter straight into slow cooker.

Add all other ingredients to slow cooker. Mix together gently but well.

Cover. Cook on low for 3 hours.

Add coconut as garnish to carrots when serving.

Creamy Red Potatoes

Kayla Snyder, North East, Pa.

(For these potatoes, you could use baby potatoes and just cut them in half. Be sure to get the cream cheese to room temperature ahead of time.)

Makes 8 servings

Prep. Time: 20-30 minutes

Cooking Time: 3½ hours

Ideal slow cooker size: 3-qt.

45 ml (3 tbsp) butter

45 ml (3 tbsp) flour

250 ml (1 cup) milk

2 ml (1/2 tsp) garlic powder

3 ml (3/4 tsp) salt

15 ml (1 tbsp) dried onion flakes

5 ml (1 tsp) parsley flakes

2 x 85 g (2 x 3-oz) pkgs. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 kg (2 lbs) red potatoes

Make a white sauce in a saucepan by melting butter, stirring in flour, and adding milk. Whisk and stir until smooth and thickened.

Add seasonings. Beat in cream cheese until smooth.

Cut up unpeeled potatoes into 2.5-5 cm (1-2 in) cubes.

Layer potatoes and sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 3½ hours, or until potatoes are as soft as you like them.

Tips:

— 2.5 kg (5 lbs) of potatoes fills up a 3-quart slow-cooker nicely.

— Mix up the sauce ahead of time and refrigerate it. Then when you’re ready, cut up the potatoes, and put them and the sauce in your slow cooker.