Slow Cooked Gammon In Coke

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Since I've had my Morphy Richards Slow Cooker (48701 'Sear & Stew') I have been far more happy to cook meat than I ever was before. The fact that it can be used on the stove to sear the meat, then transferred to the slow cooker, and even placed on the table as a serving dish means it's quick and convenient to use. My husband reports it is also one of the easiest things to wash up as well!

For a vegetarian, it means that cooking meat is easy: minimal handling is necessary, a few extra flavours are popped in and the meat-eating members of my family (all the men bizarrely) are over the moon with the results. I tend to buy quality joints from the reduced section in the supermarkets and then freeze them until needed, and I've picked up some real bargains. This gammon joint was less than £2.00!

Ingredients:

  • Gammon joint
  • Half a can of coke (about 150ml)
  • Mushrooms
  • Leeks
  • Salt and pepper
  • Stock cube
  • Cornflour
  • A knob of butter
  1. Place the inner pot on the hob and melt the butter. Add the leeks and mushrooms and sweat them for a few minutes until the leeks turn almost translucent. Stir in the stock cube.
  2. Cross the fatty side of the gammon and sprinkle on salt and pepper, this will help it to crisp up.
  3. Put the gammon into the pot on top of the mixture and sear each side for thirty seconds-a minute, turning once each side is done. This helps keep the 'juices' in the meat as it's cooking.
  4. Transfer the pot to the slow cooker and pour in the coke. Place the lid on top and leave to cook on medium for five-six hours or high for four hours.
  5. Once cooked, remove the gammon and set aside to rest for a few minutes while transferring the pot back to the hob. Add a teaspoon of for flour and stir in with a wooden or plastic spatula. This will thicken into a gravy to use with the gammon.
  6. Serve with the usual roast vegetables!

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Linking up to Mediocre Mum's Slow Cooker Sunday

Slow Cooker: Vegetable Stew and Dumplings

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I love Autumn because of the memory of Summer, the warming tone in the sunlight, the rustling leaves, the promise of Christmas without the cold and bleak days, and the onset of stews.

As a vegetarian, I'm quite limited in my stew range, but there's nothing to me that tastes better on a Sunday evening than soft, root vegetables in stock and herby dumplings.

Ingredients:

  • sweet potatoes
  • carrots
  • leeks
  • mushrooms
  • brocolli
  • swede
  • parnips
  • stock cubes
  • a knob of butter
  • 1tsp of ground nutmeg
  • 3ooml of hot water
  • 50g Atora suet (vegetarian)
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 2tbsp of dried onions
  • 1tbsp mixed herbs
  • 5tbsp of cold water

vegetarian stew and dumplings

  1. Melt the butter in the slow-cooker pot on the hob and add the finely chopped mushrooms and leeks to 'sweat'. Stir in the crumbled stock cube and nutmeg.
  2. Chop the root vegetables into large, square chunks and with the other vegetables to the pot, transfer to the slow-cooker. Pour in 100ml of the hot water and stir to combine the sauteed vegetable mix with the root vegetables and liquid.
  3. Cook on high for 2-3 hours, or medium for 4 hours.
  4. Mix up the Atora suet, self-raising flour, salt and pepper, dried onions and mixed herbs with enough of the cold water to form a pliable dough. Divide into balls.
  5. Add the remaining 200ml of hot water to the pot and stir thoroughly. Gently place the dumplings into the slow-cooker and press down carefully to cover with liquid. Cook for 30 minutes on high.
  6. Turn the slow cooker off and let it rest for five-ten minutes before serving.

vegetarian stew

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Linking up to Mediocre Mum's Slow Cooker Sunday

Slow-Cooker Sunday: Paxos Fish Stew

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I may be a vegetarian but I’m the only one in the house who is, and because I’m a good wife/mother and like to give a balanced diet, the ‘boys’ regularly have fish (it’s also easier for me to prepare and cook than meat).

We were invited to try out the September recipe for the Sunvil Supper Club, which was Paxos Fish Stew. I saw this as an easy recipe to prepare, and have adapted it slightly for use in our family and with a slow cooker.

Ingredients:

  • 30ml olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, peeled and diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped or pressed
  • 4 lengths of celery (we left these out as none of us like them)
  • 4 large tomatoes, skin removed (I have to use tinned because The Boy has an intolerance to raw tomatoes, I believe it’s something in the heating process which destroys the enzymes which cause the reaction)
  • 1tbsp paprika
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 300g potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 100ml red wine (left out as a child was eating it)
  • 200ml vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Small bunch of chopped parsley
  • 2 fillets of white fish (traditionally grey mullet or sea bream)
  • Prawns, clams or other sea-food may also be added (not added)

  1. In a heavy saucepan heat the olive oil gently before adding the onion, garlic and chopped celery. Saute these until they have softened.
  2. Once soft, add the chopped skinless tomatoes, paprika, bay leaves and the chopped potatoes. Combine with the onion mixture and pour the vegetable stock and wine into the pan. Ensure that all the potatoes are covered by the liquid, adding a little extra water if necessary. Allow to cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Remove the bay leaves, taste the stew and season. (I did this step in the slow cooker, using half the amount of liquid and cooking it on high for an hour).
  3. Chop the fish fillets into 2 inch sections and add to the stew. Turn the heat down to low (or medium on the slow cooker) and allow the fish to cook until it is opaque all the way through beginning to flake for around eight minutes (approximately three-quarters of an hour in the slow cooker. If adding other seafood, add it at the same time as the fish to ensure it is cooked thoroughly).
  4. Serve with crusty bread and a fresh salad.

Paxos is part of the Greek coastline and is home to a number of different fish and seaafoods.

Both The Boy and Mr. TBaM really like this stew. It's not something that I'd normally cook for them, but both are big fans of fish and really enjoyed it. We enjoy trying out recipes from different countries and cultures, but tend to get stuck in a rut. The Sunvil Supper Club features a recipe each month on its website to celebrate a dish that is linked to a particular destination. I look forward to seeing the recipe for October

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I was sent a voucher to purchase the items to make this recipe.

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Slow Cooker Sunday: Fruit Medley

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As Mediocre Mum is still enjoying the balmy weather in Canada, it falls on me to host #SCSunday again after the sterling job from Plus2Point4 last week.

Fruit Medley

What do you do when you have a ton of fruit that you bought last week when you started your diet, and haven't managed to eat it all? Especially peaches which are beginning to look decidely dodgy? Peel them and bung them in the slow cooker for two hours on low!

Added to the peaches were cherries and a bramley apple to counter the sweetness. I then might have sprinkled on some cinnamon and glugged in a slosh of Disaranno. Because I felt like it.

I was going to serve it with fat-free vanilla yoghurt which would have made it über-diet food, but quite frankly I craved ice-cream after 9 days on this diet, so I had a small amount of Cornish dairy ice-cream instead!

If you've got a Slow Cooker recipe to share, then please add it to the linky below. It doesn't have to have been done in a slow cooker, as long as it was cooked slowly.

TheBoyandMe's Slow-Cooker Sunday



Slow-Cooker Sunday: Rainbow Vegetables & Goat's Cheese Wrap

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While the marvellous Mediocre Mum is off in the pursuit of lasting sunshine on the other side of the pond, Aly from Plus2Point4 and I will be taking care of her popular linky so she can enjoy the Canadian weather while we dodge the rain showers.

Recently Mediocre Mum put out an appeal for Summer recipes, and it's with that in mind that I'm using this recipe which was inspired by something that The Crazy Kitchen posted.

Rainbow Vegetables & Goat's Cheese Wrap

slow cooker vegetables

Ingredients:

  • peppers, carrots, leeks, mushrooms, courgettes
  • mango chutney
  • stock cube
  • soft tortilla wraps
  • hard goat's cheese
  • caramelised onion chutney (optional)
  1. I sweated down chopped mushrooms and stipped leeks in a knob of butter in the slow-cooker first, before adding pepper, courgette and carrot strips. To this I put two tablespoons of water, a stock cube and my old faithful of two tablespoons of mango chutney. Stir and cook on high for two-three hours.
  2. Drain off the liquid and put a good spoonful onto the middle of each wrap in a rectangular shape.
  3. Place a layer of goat's cheese on top, then a smearing of caramelised onion chutney on the top again.
  4. Fold up the wrap, use cocktail sticks to hold it in place and place in the over for ten minutes to crisp it up, maintain its shape and allow the cheese to melt in.
  5. Serve with ranch salad and onion rings.

Please join in below with your slow-cooker recipes: either savoury and sweet.

TheBoyandMe's Slow-Cooker Sunday

Slow Cooked Sticky Sausage Stew (Vegetarian)

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I made a sausage stew the other week in the slow cooker and it went quite well, but I think adding the yoghurt/cream was a mistake. It's not the type of thing to make creamy, it needs to be rich and dark to really work.

Sticky Sausage Stew

slow cooked sausage

Ingredients:

  • handful of mushrooms
  • half a leek
  • knob of butter
  • carrots, sugar snaps, and green beans (or any other vegetables lying around)
  • half a butternut squash
  • 6 meat-free sausages (I used Quorn but Cauldron Lincolnshire would work well too)
  • 200ml of hot water
  • 2 tablespoons of mango chutney
  • 2 tablespoons of gravy browning
  1. Sweat the chopped mushrooms and leek down in the knob of butter. Transfer to the slow-cooker (I have a swizzy slow-cooker that allows the pot to be used on the hob directly).
  2. Add the chopped vegetables and the water, stir in and leave for two hours on high.
  3. After two hours add the mango chutney, stir and cover for another hour on high.
  4. Add the sausages chopped into half or thirds and leave for another hour on medium.
  5. Stir in the gravy granules twenty minutes before serving.
  6. Serve with crusty bread and proper butter.

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Linking this up to Mediocre Mum's Slow Cooker Sunday and to Plus2Point4's Viva Veg

Slow Cooker Sunday: Fruit Cobbler (Dessert)

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Now I know I've already posted one Slow Cooker Sunday recipe today, and I also know that I've also posted this recipe several months ago, but this is the first time I've tried doing the fruit (in fact any dessert) in the slow cooker. Plus it's my blog and I want to post it again, so there you go. I've used the slow cooker for the first part of the recipe as I have no idea if the cobbler bit would cook in it, another time I'll test that out.

Fruit Cobbler

Ingredients:
Serves 4-6

  • 800g of mixed fruit, I went for apples, plums, pears and nectarines
  • 160g caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 300g self raising flour, sifted
  • 85g unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 150g Rachel’s Low Fat Natural Bio Live Yogurt

Method:

  1. In the slow cooker take the fruit, 100g of the caster sugar and add the water, cook until the fruit softens. Tip: leave the fruit to cool before adding the cobbler pieces this will stop some of the fruit bubbling out over the dish.
  2. To make the cobbler, add the sifted flour, butter, baking powder and the remainder of the sugar (60g) and using a food processor or mixer whiz together for a few seconds on pulse speed until fine crumbs form.
  3. Add the milk and yogurt and whiz again until a soft dough forms . You can either spoon the mixture in scattered clumps over the fruit or add a little more flour and roll out the dough using a cutter. Leave some gaps for the cobble effect.
  4. Bake the cobbler for 30-35 minutes until the topping is golden and the fruit is visibly bubbling beneath.
  5. Serve with vanilla ice-cream, custard or clotted cream.

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Pop yourself over to Slow Cooker Sunday on Mediocre Mum to see other entries

Slow Cooker Sunday: Spring Sausage Stew (Vegetarian)

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I am not an expert at slow cookers, but I'm getting there. About six months ago, the enthusiasm of The Moiderer (who is a big fan of them) made me go and buy one; a good brand that was reduced to clear. I tried a vegetable stew in it. After seven hours of cooking on high, I had to transfer everything over to a saucepan and blast it for 30 minutes as the vegetables were still basically raw. I returned the slow cooker to the store, brandishing raw carrots and threatening the manager with it if I didn't have my money back. Luckily, he relented in the face of root vegetables and I gave up on them, declaring slow cookers stupid.

That was until I was recently sent on to review. My husband and mum, both had been subjected to the non-slow-cooked vegetable stew, wondered if I was off my trolley but I gave it a go as it was for review. I am a convert! This is mainly due to the fact that I now have a slow cooker which actually cooks the food, it's kind of a plus point. The first thing I cooked in it was gammon (bah!) for my dad and husband, it was a true success. Since then I've also cooked chicken, beef and risotto in it, not at the same time I hasten to add. I adore it and am very enthusiastic about it.

The rather fabulous Mediocre Mum is a bit of an expert when it comes to slow cookers, and she has a plethora of recipes on her blog which I am in awe at. She has realised that there is a bit of a fanbase for them and is therefore starting up a weekly linky for slow cooker recipes which I am joining in with, as eagerly as possible.

Spring Sausage Stew

This recipe has come about because I also take part in Meal Planning Monday and last week everyone seemed to have sausage stew on their planner. I thought I'd give it a go this week, I don't like to miss out on things!

  • six mushrooms
  • one leek
  • one courgette
  • three carrots
  • four vegetarian sausages
  • a big chunk of butter
  • stock cube
  • 200g of Rachel's Organic Greek-Style Natural yoghurt (obviously there are other brands available but I'm trialling this for cooking with)
  • two tablespoons of parmesan cheese
  1. Chop the leek, courgette and mushrooms and place them with the butter and stock cube in the slow cooker pot directly on the gas (our slow cooker allows this, some don't). Sweat them down 'til the leek is translucent.
  2. Chop the carrots and sausages into chunks, add to the pot with 30ml of water and transfer the pot to the slow cooker base. Cook for two hours on high (or three on medium).
  3. Spoon in 200 g of natural yoghurt and two tablespoons of parmesan cheese, and leave to cook through for another thirty minutes on medium.
  4. Serve with herby potatoes (I bought a pack of these from Aldi the other day; 99p and three minutes in the microwave = perfect!)

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I'm linking this up to Slow Cooker Sunday at Mediocre Mum and to the recipe bank at The Moiderer

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