100 Great Ways to Use Slow Cookers and Hot Pots

By Simon and Alison Holst

Beef and Beer Casserole with Parsley Dumplings

It may come as no (some) surprise but I do often use a multifunction cooker.  The purchase was not planned and at the time I wondered whether I would use it. 

It is used at least once or twice a week.  Often the recipe is one I have used before on the stove/oven/microwave but adapted for use.

Yet, I did buy some specific cookbooks (thank you Lifeline) for this device.

As my cookbook collection continues to grow it seemed a good opportunity to test this one.

I like dumplings, as long as they are not too dry, too wet or too heavy.  I like beef casserole as long as the sauce is tasty and the preparation is not too involved.

As usual I did not follow the method as specified.  The onions, garlic and bacon were cooked in the multi-function cooker first and then the rest of the ingredients were added.  The meat used was topside or skirt steak.  The bacon was purchased from the local Farmers Market. 

Harper was kind enough to donate a can of German beer for the casserole.  (Would this be a matter for regret?)

After waiting the requisite time, I tasted the casserole.  It was not bad but the brown sugar was required.

Mixing the dumplings was the usual fun of sticky hands, some of the dough taking up residence on my apron, the bench top, but fortunately not in anyone’s hair.  Why the dumpling dough is more contrary than scone dough, I do not know nor comprehend. 

As can be seen from the pictures, the dumpling dough completely concealed the casserole below it.  After waiting the half hour required it was time to eat.

The dumplings were bland and felt heavy and a little dry, despite the sauce of the casserole.  which was not very tasty, too thick and not fun to eat. Harper regretted the beer sacrifice.  The meal was edible but it saddened me to use good ingredients to eat a meal I did not really enjoy.

In the spirit of fairness, I have attempted another meal from this cookbook which will be featured soon.  Everyone deserves a second chance, unless they are a corrupt politician, mass murderer, etc.  Hrmmmm.

Note: My other disappointment was the cook book did not suggest using either the slow cooker/crock pot as an attractive hat, or a vase for a large bunch of flowers etc.  (Yes, I am being silly, but it is my blog (as attempting to gain others input usually involves thumbscrews or hypnotism) and being silly is more fun than eating this casserole was.

I would also like to thank those who have subscribed to this blog (or bolg as I mistyped.) Apologies for the lag between updates.

Rice Pudding from “Traditional Puddings” by Unknown

Yes, I know, choosing rice pudding to review a cook book is different. It is something from my childhood and memories of it can be good, bad or indifferent.

Rice Pudding is something I avoided since I left home. My father loved rice pudding but as he was a diabetic the sweetener used always made the pudding taste slightly bitter.

Rice pudding is considered old fashioned unless it is revised to include fruit, jelly, jam, meringue or avocado (for all I know). But why should be fashionable? My main interest is if it tastes good.

Harper loves rice pudding. So, as I needed to review another cookbook, this one was chosen and I deferred to Harper’s wishes (for a change).

Melting butter has become quick and easy due to microwave ovens. Measuring the sugar and rice as very simple as was warming the milk, though of course it had to be watched so it did not boil but simple enough and then stirring it to dissolve the sugar and mix with the rice was again very easy.

The most difficult part was grating half of the whole nutmeg. Next time I would grate it over a plate to make sure the distribution was a little more even.

After putting it in the oven, I confess I was distracted by something or other and was only reminded to check the pudding due to the timer chiming.

Harper was in the kitchen, awaiting the removal of the pudding and immediately claimed a serve, unadorned by any additional items and insisted I have a taste.

Unfortunatley I did not photograph the final product but it did look something like this, whithout the artistic effect of the used nutmeg grater.

I tried it and reversed my opinion of rice pudding. This recipe was good and Harper ate it happily and requested the book be retained while hinting heavily that it should be made regularly.

As the book contains a lovely and possibly simple version of a golden syrup pudding, Tate au Citron etc, I am willing to bestow it a place on the bookshelf. (By now it should be apparent, I have a sweet tooth.)

Traditional Pudding be glad that you are not expelled and do not need to attend remedial classes.

Random Recipes: Japanese Favourites by Angela Nahas (Number 2): Beef and Asparagus Skewers and Grilled Leeks with Miso and Sesame

Apologies, this cook book has been reviewed previously but due to brain fog or very bad planning (or both) it accidentally was reviewed again.  To make up for this there is a bonus recipe for Butter Rice included.

This book was purchased the first time Lindsay and I went to Japan which is a number of years ago.  Eating in Japan was a challenge due to allergies to fish and seafood (and seaweed), pork and other ingredients commonly used in Japanese food but I did fall in love with the egg sandwiches found in most 7 11, Lawson and Family Marts.

One thing which attracted me to the book was it provides an explanation about commonly used ingredients for example burdock with which I was not familiar.  However it does label umeboshi as pickled apricots when in fact they are usually pickled plums and an acquired taste.

For this Random Recipe, it was decided to choose two recipes so the book could immediately know its fate, rather than be on tenterhooks of whether it retained a place on the book shelf or not.  (No discussion on whether books have feelings will be entertained.  You can have your own beliefs and I can have mine.)

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To accompany the two recipes chosen, Butter Rice was chosen as the ingredients were available and it takes little time to prepare.  A quick recipe of the butter rice is included.  (Thank you Midnight Diner.)

Beef and Asparagus Skewers and Grilled Leeks with Miso and Sesame were chosen as the recipes are simple and looked appealing.  Vegetable stock was substituted for the dashi stock.

In the usual tradition of Clean the Plate the recipes were not completely followed: first the dashi stock substitution and the beef and asparagus where not placed on skewers.  The asparagus was very thin, due to the season and Oyster Blade steak was purchased from a local Korean Supermarket.

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After brushing the rolls with the sesame oil and soy sauce, the steak was wrapped around the asparagus and placed under the grill.  Due to their size they took little time to cook.

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The leeks were grilled at the same time but took a little longer because of their size.  The preparation of the Miso and sesame sauce to accompany the leeks was also simple.

Butter Rice Recipe

30-50 grams butter

1 cup cooked rice

¼ cup frozen peas

¼ cup frozen corn

1-2 cloves garlic

Splash of mirin

Shallot/spring onion if desired

Soy sauce to taste (and if desired)

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Method

Melt butter in frypan.

Add peas and corn.  Cook until no longer frozen.  (If shallots/spring onion is used add them at the same time.)

Add garlic and rice and mix thoroughly. 

When heated through add a splash of mirin and mix thoroughly before serving.

The Eating

Usually with butter rice I place the soy sauce on the table rather than add it while cooking so each person can make their own adjustment.

The leeks were pleasantly charred on the outside and the sauce was tasty and judged to be a good mixture of flavours and textures.

It was felt that the asparagus should be larger if prepared in future but the mixed flavour of the beef, asparagus, sesame and soy sauce was very good and the simple tastes were very pleasing when combined.  I decided that in future sandwich steak should be used as the local butcher makes one without fat or gristle which needs to be removed as was the case here.

Harper happily ate as much as possible but leftovers remained, which tasted pleasant when later consumed.

Verdict

“Whose Cuisine reigns supreme?”  (Iron Chef Japan)

The book will remain, not only because it provides pleasant memories but it also contains other recipes including Stuffed Cabbage Rolls and Chicken Braised in Sweet Soy which sound interesting.

Japanese Favourites while you may not reign supreme, because the other cookbooks will become jealous and no infighting is permitted on the bookshelves in my kitchen, you have earned you place. 

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Further apologies. Currently I am not well acquainted with the latest iteration of WordPress and find the constant changes to picture files, blocks etc confusing. With furt

Random Recipe: Apple Pie From “Whirlpool Cookbook for Microwave Oven with Grill and Crisp” (Author Unknown)

Apologies for the many delays in updating the blog. As may be noticed it is a little more difficult at present to provide reviews of restaurants (thank you COVID 19, not) for while we have eaten some takeaways, most of them have been from restaurants we have reviewed previously e.g. Blackfire, Sammy’s, et al. which impressed us when we ate there.

I have to admit to a certain amount of laziness in testing recipes, but there is also the added fun of trying to obtain ingredients. Recently I almost did a random recipe on a mushroom lasagne but as every mushroom used was a substitute, as were a number of other ingredients, it did not seem fair. (It was a very good lasagne but was very labour intensive.)

This recipe is the opposite of labour intensive. There were apples in the fruit bowl which were nearly past their best and not wanting to waste food while Harper was hinting often that Apple Pie is a favourite), the challenge was to find a recipe which did not mean a visit to the supermarket.

(Please, not the supermarket! I’ve recently changed where I shop for food to a place which is much quieter than the larger supermarkets, but it does not always stock the things required. But it is an independent supermarket which is preferable to the big chains.)

The Recipe

Enough waffling and onto the recipe. Basically there are 3 steps:

1. Make the pastry and let it rest before rolling it out and lining the ‘Crisp” dish.

2. Peel and cut the apples and arrange them on the pastry before sprinkling with sugar and cinnamon.

3. Cook in the microwave.

Once I made pastry very often but not often recently. (However, we recently purchased a pie maker, so who can tell?) Sometimes it seems it is made weekly but there has been quite a gap of late (because flour is not always available).

The Preparation

Despite leaving the butter out of the refrigerator for a few hours, it was hardly soft. In some ways it almost seemed it hadn’t softened at all. This can be explained by the recent cold weather (as it will soon be Winter in Australia), which made rubbing the butter through the flour a little time consuming.

The quantity of water mentioned in the recipe was too little so another half a teaspoon was added in order that the pastry did not crumble when it came time to roll it. Then another half a teaspoon and so on until the pastry became malleable.

Unfortunately the recipe did not mention that the pastry should be covered while it rest because it is known to dry out which again makes it difficult to roll. Reusable beeswax material was used to cover it while it was in the refridgerator.

Rolling the pastry is always a good way to work out any residual anxiety/anger etc. but to not be too enthusiastic in ridding yourself of these emotions as it may have an adverse effect on the pastry. It is best not to think of politics or world events while doing so.

 

Peeling and cutting the apples, it was time to reflect how often the microwave is used for cooking. At one time it was used regularly until someone complained.

Arranging the apples was fun and soon the sugar and cinnamon decorated the top and it was placed in the microwave.

 

The Cooking

After cooking for 10 minutes the apple was still a little under cooked. The pastry remained pale and the pie was returned for another 6 minutes. After this the apple seemed cooked.

The Eating

It looked okay, the pale pastry was somewhat off-putting, but it was crisp and did not crumble. The filling looked appealing.

While it was not the best apple pie I’ve ever eaten, it was quite nice.

Harper yummed the pie down. Lindsay abstained as sweet things do not tempt Lindsay.

The Verdict

The cookbook will be kept as it does have recipes specifically for the microwave. There may be further recipes attempted in the future depending on availability of ingredients, time and inclination.

 

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog.  I hope you and those you care about are safe and well.

Random Recipes: Stuffed Zucchini (Hobakseon) From “Korean Home Cooking” by Soon Young Chung.

Korean food can be very good, if you like octopus, kimchi, seafood or potato chips with sweet cheese. Unfortunately I am not fond of any of the previously mentioned food but do enjoy some recipes from Korea e.g. Bibimbap.

This cookbook has been on the shelf for some time and in the immediate queue of 5 cookbooks which are due for the Random Recipe test.

The people tasting this meal, Lindsay and Harper were not averse to the idea of this recipe (which is good as Lindsay did not show any interest in one of the previous choices. In that instance Lindsay was correct.)

Random Recipes: Marinated chicken with red pepper (capsicum) From “Chopsticks on Tour” by Pamela Chen Moore.

This is the second dish taken from the cookbook last reviewed. For those people who have been experiencing stress or distress from the suspense, hopefully this will bring some closure.

Random Recipes: Egg and Tomato Stir Fry from “Chopsticks on Tour” by Pamela Chen Moore

There will be two recipes reviewed from this very small cookbook. There are only 12 recipes and is a recent addition to the cookbook library as I had the good luck to watch Pamela Chen Moore cook some of these recipes.

Malaysian Hot Noodles with Tofu (Mie Goreng) From “Great Vegetarian Dishes” by Kurma dasa

Warning: The format of this review will be slightly different because I want to change the style.

This book is written by a chef of the Hare Krishna movement.  He had a television show in Australian a number of years ago which is why this book ended up in my cookbook library.  At the time I had aspirations of becoming a vegetarian and this book did not really help with that aspiration.

The use of asafoetida is very evident in the recipes and I recall keeping the powder in a glass jar as the smell is very pungent.  In my opinion the taste did not compare with the use of garlic, onion etc. which are not used by the Hare Krishna movement.

I used the book on a number of occasions and can remember all too well the attempt to create Polenta (Italian Fried Corn Bread).  Briefly the process took over an hour and the result was disappointing.

This is a long preamble but it seemed wise to give some background on this book as it was given one final chance to remain on the cookbook shelf.

(Impatient people who cannot stand the intolerable suspense of the fate of the cookbook may skip to the final decision, if they so wish.)

Random Recipe: Curried Vegetable Pie from “Perfect Pies and Pastries” by Robyn Martin

It is Winter in Australia because we are located in the Southern Hemisphere. While some countries in the Northern Hemisphere are suffering extreme heat, in the ACT it is cold. (It may shock some people to be told that parts of Australia can indeed be cold and that snow falls in some areas.)

When it is cold, warming food: pies, stews, cake, casseroles etc, become a focus. For one of us, as you may know, cake is always a focus. There is nothing wrong with cake (until it becomes an obsession).