Honey Cake in the Slowcooker

I have to say that I never thought of doing any kind of baking in my slowcooker, but this honey cake recipe Steph posted on A Year of Slow Cooking intrigued me. I love honey cake.

Steph said that it is quite important to keep an eye on the cake as it bakes in the crock, as hers went from rising nicely to burning around the edges quite quickly. My issue was a little different. I am terrible at imperial-metric conversions, and somehow it never really hit home that the 4 quart slow cooker Steph was using was a little bit smaller than the 5L one I was using. The centre of my cake just didn't cook. I couldn't get the heat evenly through the batter, so the outsides were burning while the inside was still runny.

I ended up taking out the cooked/burned bits and making a mess of the whole thing. While I was trying to get the heat even, I overcooked the outsides making them a little dry. I loved the flavour though - I tasted some as I was trying to salvage it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to try this again. I loved the taste of the batter and may try cooking it in the oven, but I don't know if I'll go the slow-cooker route again.

See this post on A Year of Slow Cooking for the recipe.

Vietnamese Roasted Chicken in the Slowcooker

More May Cooking

When I made the roast chicken on the crown from Masterchef, I ended up with the hindquarters of chicken leftover which D doesn't like so I decided to make something that I liked with Thai flavours that D isn't a huge fan of.

Luckily, this was during my obsessive reading of A Year of Slow Cooking, and there are many suggestions for what you can do with chicken pieces on that blog. This particular recipe was a perfect choice because D doesn't like strong fish sauce/soy flavours and I do, so this recipe was made for me!

Just like so many other fantastic slow cooking recipes, this is a set and forget for a few hours dish. Mix the sauce ingredients together, pour them over the chicken and cook. Because I was only using a small amount of chicken and our slow cooker is quite large, I put the chicken into a smaller casserole dish which I then put into the slow cooker.

I loved the flavour of this chicken. I had it over rice and it was just amazing. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it came across very oily. I didn't add more oil than the recipe called for and all I can think that it could be is that I cooked the chicken skin on and removed it before eating. Maybe I need to take the skin off? I cooked this twice and had the same problem. Next time I'll try skinless pieces.

See this post on A Year of Slow Cooking for the recipe.

Italian Chicken Casserole

Hi, my name is Tessie. This is my house, this is my family. We're all real. And I really cooked this Italian Chicken Casserole... (or something like that)

Chances are, if you watched MasterChef Australia, you saw this ad more times than you care to think about. You may even have wondered why exactly Tessie was biting into a "real apple" just before serving dinner (yeah, I really didn't get that). Anyway, Tessie was making a real Italian Chicken Casserole using Campbells Real Stock. Campbells ever so kindly put the recipe on the MasterChef website and it actually looked pretty good. D gave it a thumbs up, so I set to giving it a try myself, except we used the slow cooker.

I love slow cooking. In this recipe, I threw all of the ingredients (minus the zucchini) into the slow cooker and turned it on low for just under four hours. We served it over rice and it was pretty good. We'll definately have it again.

Italian Chicken Casserole
adapted from Campbells Real Stock recipe

cooking spray
500g chicken tenderloans
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium potatoes, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
¼ cup plain flour
500ml pack Campbell’s Real Stock - Chicken
4 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp dried Italian herbs

(Although I did halve the amount of meat in the recipe, I didn't have the other ingredients. There was a lot of sauce left over)

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with cooking spray. Add other ingredients. Cook on low for 4 hours, starting to check at 3 1/2 hours.

Serve over rice.

More Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day

The first time I tried making the Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day I thought I knew better than the book and played around a bit. It was good, but could have been better. This time, I followed the recipe to the letter.

It was amazing. So easy, so fantastic. Beautiful, perfectly crusty bread. Light and chewy and perfect with Gympie Farm salted butter.

I have been getting some fairly substantial cracks in my loaves though. I'm not quite sure why. They don't hurt the finish loaf at all, they just make is a little trickier to cut.

If you love artisan bread, you have to go their website and try it yourself.

Greek Chicken with Horiatiki Salad

I have to say I'm not the greatest fan of Iain Hewitson. There are many reasons, some of which I've mentioned before, but I feel he is not what he used to be. Whenever I am home at 3:30 in the afternoon (which is not often), I still watch his show but it's rarely something I want to cook.

Except for this one. I'm really into Greek flavours at the moment and the combination just sounded wonderful. I was a little slow on the uptake but as soon as I twigged I ran to get a notebook, because Huey's recipes are almost impossible to find on the internet.

This salad was amazing. The flavours are awesome and everything is so fresh. I did bulk up the salad with a mesculin mix as my parsley didn't quite cut it. It's a definate keeper. It's finds like these that means that I can't give up on Huey entirely as sometimes he does surprise me.

Greek Chicken with Horiatiki Salad
adapted from Huey's Cooking Adventures

3/4 cup olive oil
30ml lemon juice
30ml red wine vinegar
oregano
garlic
salt and pepper

chicken breasts

tomatoes
red onion
parsley
greek feta

Mix the first six ingredients together. Using some of the dressing, marinate the chicken for perhaps half an hour - not too long because of the lemon juice.

Cook the chicken over a grill, basting with more dressing as you turn it.

Cut up the rest of the salad and toss in a bowl with remaining dressing. Serve with chicken.

Minced Beef Fried Rice

More May Cooking

I have no idea what inspired me to try this recipe. I remember undertaking a detailed Google search and looking at many many recipes before bookmarking this one posted by hzrt8w on the the eGullet forums.

Whatever made me go off in search of a recipe like this one, it was a very happy time. It seems so simple, spiced minced beef, eggs, rice, spring onions and lettuce. These simple ingredients made the most wonderful tasting fried rice. I really can't explain how yummy this was. And I have to say, cooking with lettuce was quite interesting. It was also not like what I expected fried rice to be. The soy flavour was lovely and subtle and everything was heightened by the shaohsing wine and sesame oil.

See the post linked above for the recipe.

French Onion Soup in the slow cooker

More May Cooking

This is another recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking.

D loves French Onion Soup. I've made it before on the stovetop thanks to a recipe from SBS Food Safari, but this way is much much easier. All you need to do is melt some butter in your slow cooker, add your onions and stir them around and then add the rest of your ingredients and leave it go for 6-8 hours.


It was amazing. Rich and full-bodied and oniony. D isn't a fan of the cheese toasts so we just had normal bread. We both loved it. It was so easy that I'll be making it this way every time D wants french onion soup from now on.

See this post on A Year of Slow Cooking for the recipe.

Seafood Pho

More May Cooking

While I was sick with my sinus and throat infection (the first one), I spent a lot of time eating soups. Soup from a can was fun for a while (there are some really lovely ones out there) but one day I had a real hankering for some Thai Tom Kha Gai, or hot and sour soup.

I don't know what happened though. Somehow my Tom Kha Gai didn't eventuate and it turned into a Tom Yum soup but along the way everything went a bit scrambled and it ended up being a Tom Yum / pho mishmash. It was tasty though.

I used chicken stock and pho aromatics and then mixed in some chilli paste in soya bean oil (Nam Prik Pao) and then added some marinara mix seafood I had in the freezer. I served it over some rice noodles and added some chinese cabbage and baby spinach leaves.

It was tasty, but needed more chilli to help clear my sinuses!

My last attempt at Tom Kha Gai was much more successful.

Slow Cooker Risotto

More May Cooking

I've been having a wonderful time exploring the wonders of slowcooking reading Stephanie's blog A Year of Slowcooking. As I've said, D and I love our slowcooker, but thanks to Stephanie's blog we have really broadened our horizons. One of our experiments is this slowcooker risotto.

I love risotto and I have a fantastic recipe which I love, but I've been terribly lazy lately and all I've been making are risotti in the oven so I can avoid any stovetop hovering. Risotto in the slowcooker sounded pretty good.

I added some chopped Italian sausage to our mix and used finely diced onion in place of onion flakes. I started checking my rice at about 1 3/4 hours, but it needed about 2 1/4 to be cooked nicely. We stirred through a tiny bit of butter and some parmesan cheese to finish it off.

The consistency was really impressive. It was just like a creamy risotto cooked in the oven, but not quite as awesome as if it was cooked on the stove. I loved the addition of Italian sausage, but D wasn't really sold. It was very enjoyable and we'll make it again.

See this post on A Year of Slow Cooking for the recipe.

Like this post? Check out my recipe for oven-baked risotto.

French Twist

D earned some serious boyfriend points last night by bringing me home these get well soon goodies. He bought me an apple crumble pastry and a chocolate eclair from French Twist. They were very yummy.

Spice Crusted Lamb Cutlets and Pasta Salad with Tahini Dressing

More May cooking

D is not a big fan of lamb. He doesn't like the taste of it so he doesn't like to eat it. I love lamb and he knows it, so a few times when he was buying meat for dinner he has generously offered to buy some lamb. I have always said no because I don't want him to miss out on a nice dinner because he doesn't like what I make. We have gone around in this circle a few times (because he's lovely and wants me to be able to eat lamb). We came to a compromise where I made him choose a recipe so he could choose the flavours and something that may mask a bit of the lamb taste.

The lamb recipe came about in a roundabout way. I had bookmarked the pasta salad with Tahini dressing to make for lunch and saw that the spice crusted lamb cutlets were to be served with the pasta salad. D liked the look of the flavours, so we decided to have Spice Crusted Lamb Cutlets and Pasta Salad with Tahini Dressing for dinner.

I loved it. I loved the flavours of both the lamb and the pasta salad. I did fiddle with the flavours on the tahini dressing (after reading some of the comments) by adding some of the spices from the spice crusted lamb. I can't remember how much of either, but I added some ground coriander and ground cumin to taste. I love cumin.

I loved the creaminess of the pasta salad, when you add avocado to an already creamy salad it becomes just divine. The lamb was flavourful and tender and the marinade/crust on the lamb was awesome.

D didn't really feel it. He said that the flavours were okay but he just doesn't like lamb. Oh well, we tried. Maybe I can adapt this recipe to beef or chicken.

Pasta Salad with Tahini Dressing
from Australian Good Taste as posted on taste.com.au

16 (about 700g) lamb cutlets, excess fat trimmed
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
3 tsp honey
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Place the lamb cutlets in a large glass or ceramic dish. Combine the garlic, lemon juice, honey, ginger, cumin, ground coriander and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Pour the marinade over the lamb and rub to evenly coat. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 2 hours to develop the flavours.

Preheat a barbecue grill or chargrill on high. Reduce heat to medium. Add the lamb and cook for 2 minutes each side for medium-rare or until cooked to your liking.

Transfer lamb cutlets to a serving platter. Cover with foil and set aside for 5 minutes to rest.

Serve spice-crusted lamb cutlets with the pasta salad.


Pasta Salad with Tahini Dressing
from Australian Good Taste as posted on taste.com.au

1 x 200g ctn reduced-fat natural yoghurt
2 tbs water
1 tbs tahini
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
250g penne pasta
2 Lebanese cucumbers, halved lengthways, thinly sliced diagonally
1 x 250g punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large avocado, halved, stone removed, peeled, thinly sliced crossways
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Combine the yoghurt, water, tahini and lemon juice in a small bowl. Taste and season with pepper.

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water following packet directions or until al dente. Drain. Refresh under cold running water. Drain well. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the cucumber, tomato, avocado, onion and yoghurt mixture, and gently toss to combine. Divide the pasta salad among serving bowls and serve with spice-crusted lamb cutlets.

Chocolate Fondue

Once I had made my marshmallows I had to make a little fondue to dip them in. After all, my marshmallow making was inspired by this fondue post on A Year of Slow Cooking. I didn't use my slowcooker for this, I didn't want to wait. I threw some chocolate, cream and vanilla in a small saucepan and heated it slowly to melt and then poured it into my little fondue pot (with a little tealight to keep the chocolate warm) and served it with some apple slices, strawberries and marshmallows.

There is no way that good quality couverture chocolate, cream and vanilla can be bad. No way at all. I have to say, my favourite combination with the chocolate fondue were the apple slices though. My marshmallows were slightly too large to facilitate easy dipping. Must note that for next time.

See this post on A Year of Slow Cooking for the recipe.

Marshmallows

I'm catching up on some posts that should have been posted long ago. As I said in my last post, not too long ago I came down with a sinus and throat infection which was in late May. At the time of writing (in July) I've managed to come down with another sinus infection and I'm sick at home.

D has left me each morning with the admonishment that I'm not to do too much baking. The first few days I was too light-headed and dizzy to do too much in the kitchen but I'm feeling a little better today (Thursday) and I'm hoping to go back to work tomorrow. I think one of the signs that I'm feeling better is that today I did some baking.

I have been reading through Stephanie O'Dea's wonderful blog A Year of Slow Cooking. She has a wonderful tradition of Friday Fondue Fun Days. I was reading through her wonderful recount of dipping a variety of things in chocolate and I had a real hankering to do the same. One of things she was dipping were marshmallows.


Unfortunately, I didn't have any marshmallows in the house. I am not that much a fan of them to be honest, I find them tooth-achingly sweet and its just too sweet for me. My childhood sweet tooth just isn't what it used to be. Then I remembered reading a post on Smitten Kitchen where Deb made her own marshmallows with a recipe that she was very happy with. I've never worked much with gelatine and it was the lack of gelatine that stopped me making them earlier, but on a quick trip to the supermarket for the necessities (bread, tissues and nurofen) I stopped by the baking aisle for gelatine.


Today I was ready for a challenge. It was surprising easy. It was a little sticky, but I knew from Deb's post not to expect to get all the batter out and to dissolve everything in hot water to clean it. They looked awesome when it was all whipped up, they looked cool when they went into the fridge, they were a little fiddly when I pulled them out, cut them up and rolled them in icing sugar but they were amazing once they were done. I didn't find them nearly as sweet as the commercial marshmallows, but they still had that awesome fluffy texture. They were very nice in my fondue (post to come).

See this post on Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.