Elaine - slow cooker

[Guest guest]

Oh goodie Elaine – this is a great investment! And my favourite subject, food and the construction of it.

My favourite dish in the whole world – osso bucco:

Brown your meat in a fry pan, then set aside. In the slow cooker, but a chopped up onion, small carrot, crushed garlic, lemon zest and then place the meat on top. Cover with a tin of chopped tomatoes, some red wine and a glug (yes that's a technical term!) of olive oil. Cooking times, well if I am putting it on for the day, then low (1) for 10-12 hours or 2 for 5-6 hours. Serve with some spetzle or rissoni.... drooling.

Basically any cheap cut of meat, some red wine, bacon bits, tinned tomatoes, stock cube, onions, carrot and maybe a top up of water and you have the makings of a great and tasty meal. You cannot go wrong! I do find that meat on the bone gives better flavour, so lamb shanks, leg of lamb, osso bucco etc are ideal.

I also cooked a leg of lamb the other week. I covered the leg in olive oil, put it in the cooker and then smothered the top of the lamb with minced garlic completely – sounds like a lot but trust me! – then about a cup of red wine in the bottom, some lemon zest and a few sprigs of rosemary – 6 hours later it wasn't lamb to die for it was lamb to KILL for! I was falling off the bone as I was lifting it out of the cooker. It hardly needed chewing it was so lush.

Nx