Things you didn’t know you could cook in your slow cooker

Yep, you heard that proper! By wrapping potatoes individually in foil, you possibly can pop them within the sluggish cooker and are available residence to scrumptious jacket potatoes for a straightforward dinner or after-school snack.

Cooking technique

1. Wash and dry the potatoes with their skins on, then pierce them with a skewer.
2. Coat with somewhat olive oil and season with salt, then wrap every potato individually in foil and place instantly into the sluggish cooker bowl.
3. Prepare dinner on the excessive setting for five–6 hours, or 8 hours on low, with the lid on.
4. On the finish of the cooking time, pierce by way of the foil with a skewer and elevate the potato. It ought to slide out slowly when cooked.
5. Serve with butter or bitter cream, and prime together with your selection of toppings, equivalent to bacon and cheese, chilli con carne, bolognese and so forth.

Oil infused with herbs can add some lovely further flavour to salad dressings, or drizzled over dishes to actually make the flavours shine. A bottle of infused oil may make a beautiful present.

A sluggish cooker is the proper equipment for making infused oils as a result of it stays at a relentless low temperature, so the oil will not get too scorching.

A sluggish cooker is the proper equipment for making infused oils as a result of it stays at a relentless low temperature

Pop some dried herbs into jars, fill with oil and put the lids again on. Put the jars into the bowl of your sluggish cooker and add sufficient water to cowl the jars about two-thirds of the way in which up. Put the lid in your sluggish cooker and prepare dinner on low for 3–4 hours.

Strive combos equivalent to chilli and fennel seed, lemon and thyme, rosemary and garlic – or create your personal.

July may be over however that does not imply you possibly can’t proceed celebrating Christmas in July all through August. A pot of mulled wine (additionally identified by its German title Glühwein, actually ‘glow wine’) wafting its scrumptious Christmas-y scent all by way of the home can remodel a daily Sunday evening right into a celebration.

Sure, you may make it on the range, however your sluggish cooker can care for it whilst you attend to different issues.

“You possibly can plug the sluggish cooker in wherever you are entertaining and have heat mulled wine available, so company can serve themselves,” Fiona says.

“Plus, it retains a constant temperature and takes care of itself till you have to prime up with one other bottle of wine.”

Internet hosting an alfresco winter get-together? Assist your company keep heat with sluggish cooker scorching chocolate. You possibly can put together this earlier than your company arrive so that you’re free to mingle.

For grownup gatherings, you possibly can combine issues up with some liqueur (suppose hazelnut, espresso or Irish cream), spirits equivalent to rum or bourbon, or spices together with nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, or perhaps a little chilli to liven issues up.

And remember the marshmallows!

Here is our sluggish cooker scorching chocolate recipe:

Substances

• 180g darkish chocolate, very finely chopped or chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream, optionally available (add an additional 1 cup of milk if not utilizing cream)
• 6 cups milk (could be full-cream dairy or plant based mostly)
• Marshmallows, optionally available.

Cooking technique

1. Utilizing the low setting, put all elements besides marshmallows into the sluggish cooker and stir to mix.
2. Place the lid on and prepare dinner till every part is melted, stirring often, for roughly two hours.
3. As soon as the chocolate has melted and the recent chocolate is heated, swap the sluggish cooker to the nice and cozy setting.
4. Add the marshmallows simply earlier than serving.

Assume making cocktails for events is an excessive amount of laborious work and mess? This sluggish cooker cocktail will change your thoughts!

It is really easy to make – simply throw all of the elements in just a few hours earlier than the social gathering and let the sluggish cooker do its factor.

Substances

• 1 litre apple juice
• 1.5 cups cranberry juice
• 1/2 litre spiced rum
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 apples, sliced in skinny rounds
• 3 star anise.

Cooking technique

1. Place all elements into the sluggish cooker and stir to mix.
2. Flip sluggish cooker on low and prepare dinner for 3–4 hours.
3. As soon as warmed by way of, swap the sluggish cooker to the nice and cozy setting.
4. Ladle into mugs to serve.

Cooking inventory in a sluggish cooker frees up your cooktop house and allows you to prepare dinner the inventory on a managed setting.

“It is a smart way to make use of up any greens which can be wanting somewhat the more severe for put on or any leftover roast hen bones or beef bones from a roast,” Fiona says.

“In the event you’re ranging from scratch, roast off any meat and bones within the oven. This can give the inventory a stronger depth of flavour.

“Remember the fact that any sturdy flavours equivalent to garlic, ginger and chilli can overpower the flavour of the inventory, so use solely bland-type flavours until you have got a selected use for the stronger flavours.”

Cooking technique

• Place bones, greens, salt and pepper into the sluggish cooker bowl and fill with water to the maximal capability.
• Prepare dinner on low setting for not more than 12 hours.
• Pressure and discard any bones or greens.
• Fill plastic containers and freeze for later use.
• As soon as frozen, the fats will rise to the highest. Earlier than use, scrape off any solidified fats and discard.

“Cooking porridge in a sluggish cooker could be difficult, because the oats can keep on with the bowl,” Fiona says.

“It is best to prepare dinner the oats on a low setting, however this can take a very long time to prepare dinner, so it is best to start out cooking the evening earlier than.

“It’s going to additionally want stirring a few instances throughout the cooking course of – stirring is what helps to offer porridge that beautiful creamy texture. You may additionally discover {that a} crust varieties across the fringe of the bowl.”

Here is the way to make sluggish cooker porridge oats:

Substances

• 3 cups oats (steel-cut or rolled oats, soaked in water for just a few hours)
• Pink salt
• Half a litre milk (full-cream or low-fat dairy, or plant based mostly)
• 1 litre boiling water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Maple syrup or honey.

Cooking technique

1. Grease the sluggish cooker bowl completely with butter or oil (this can assist cease the porridge sticking to the bowl).
2. Mix the oats, salt, milk and water within the sluggish cooker bowl.
3. Prepare dinner on low for 8 hours, in a single day. Stir just a few instances throughout the evening if doable.
4. Earlier than serving, stir in butter and maple syrup or honey. Add further scorching milk or water to get the consistency you need.
5. Serve with accompaniments equivalent to baked fruits, berries, stewed prunes or banana slices.