Dinner
This is an easy dish for when you don’t feel well. It requires a tiny bit of either pre-planning or work the day you cook it. I try to pre-plan for meals like this by keeping a few zip-lock bags of cooked basmati rice or barley in my freezer.
Into your crockpot, dump:
- Several pieces of chicken (you can even use still-frozen) - I used leg quarters today but any cut is good.
- browned lamb, beef, or pork is equally good
- 1 package frozen spinach
- 2 cans of diced tomatoes
- seasoning to taste - I lean toward cumin and curries with this dish
- spice it up if you like with peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc.
Leave it set in the crock on high 4 hours, or high 6 hours. Dump in the frozen rice or barley and let it cook another 30-40 minutes. (Or cook the rice/barley and add later)
The leftovers of this dish are wonderful heated up in a pan and mixed with cheese and rolled into a tortilla.
We’re so thrilled to have home-cooked food in us, it’s incredible!!
October 8th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Crockpots are fantastic
October 8th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Yeah I love my crockpot - wouldn’t be without it. I set it going in the morning, and it’s all done and gorgeous when I come home from work. I tend to use frozen spinach and tinned tomatoes in curries too, with maybe some creamed coconut.
I made chicken tom kha gai last week from the Wikipedia recipe, and it was just superb.
Yesterday I did a couple of lamb chump chops (found sitting sadly in the freezer) with celery, sweet potato, cabbage, peas, pineapple and courgettes, in a bottle of cider. Served with mashed potatoes.
The veg leftovers were mixed with extra mash and will be a browned cheese/onion/breadcrumb-topped baked Scottish dish called Rumbledethumps tonight (might add some diced cooked bacon), and the remaining liquid was frozen as a future soup or stock base as it was very rich and concentrated.
Last week I did a small beef brisket pot roast with a splash of red wine and mixed veg, and used the diced leftover meat in a beef, celery & pineapple satay with lime & coriander rice the next night. Now that was truly lovely.
I also did jacket potatoes with a mix of tuna, mayo, pineapple, celery and chopped raw onion. That would be great as a lunch to take to work - it was really tasty.
Next week I’m doing tofu chickpea cashew coconut rendang.
I’m all in favour of rolling things in tortillas - some shredded lamb or chicken, roasted pepper strips, roasted sweet potato chunks, onions, minty Greek yoghurt and shredded Cheddar is one of our favourites.
I’m using my crockpot a lot and planning my meals a couple of weeks in advance for minimal wastage. There are only two of us so a head of celery and an entire Savoy cabbage go a long way; I’m trying to eat seasonally and take advantage of what’s on offer. I love autumn because of all the root veg. We’re going more and more with an emphasis on veggie, although we’re still using up frozen meat. Any new meat is organic and just an accent in the meal, not the huge slabs we used to eat. I buy my fruit & veg on a Saturday in the street market where it’s a lot cheaper.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Ahh Jules do you make your own tortilla’s wraps?
October 9th, 2008 at 6:37 am
You just had to ruin it with the spinach…..
October 9th, 2008 at 7:07 am
I’d rather have callaloo, but it’s too expensive and I haven’t been able to find it fresh. (Wonder if I could grow it??)
Jules, you should write a cookbook!! I’m going to borrow some of your ideas. What’s a savoy cabbage?? I’ve never heard of them.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I’ve never tried making tortillas, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t give them a go. Not sure I have the right flat-based sheet for cooking them over heat, but I could have a go in a dry frying-pan.
Savoy cabbage is the really dark green bubbly-textured one, quite solid:
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/plants1/product/aww3090/1.html
I don’t like most cabbage but that one seems less bitter. When I was a kid, my Mum boiled greens until they were yellow and soggy.
Oh I’ve just realised what callaloo is - Indian spinach. We had so much of it growing wild on our allotment; it’s a real problem over here. Didn’t like it - we knew it as pigweed, part of the amaranth family. I’m sure it’d grow well with your climate.
http://embeadke0.tripod.com/callaloo.index.html
You might like Swiss chard - the leaves are just like spinach, and the brightly-coloured stems are mildly like celery, hold their shape and go well in a white or cheese sauce. Look out for a really pretty variety called Bright Lights:
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/plants1/product/aww3272/1.html
We just chucked a handful of seed round in a circle, and eventually had to turf it out of the garden because it took over. It grows big and outwards, like rhubarb; the stems can be 4 feet in length. It was indestructible really.
A lot of my cooking starts by frying onions, garlic and mushrooms, then deciding what I’m doing. I might go Chinese, or add a tin of tomatoes, and it might be a curry, or a pasta sauce. I just make it up as I go along. It’s usually edible and very occasionally inspired. If it’s really good, I record it in a Word document.
We love to drizzle veg like onions, mushrooms, beetroot, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, aubergine etc with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, roast in the oven, then add cubed feta cheese or grilled halloumi cheese.
I’m going to very carefully experiment with beans and pulses - my digestive system can be exceedingly strange.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Another hint for an easy crockpot accompaniment when you can’t be bothered to peel and cook potatoes:
http://www.yourcounty.co.uk/recipes/dumplings.html
I make them up in a matter of minutes from cupboard staples (sometimes I cheat and buy a dry mix packet, or add extra herbs - oregano, thyme, sage), and plop them into the stew for the last 20-30 minutes. I always use veg suet instead of beef suet. Yummy, filling and warming, and the cost is literally pennies.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Kathi,
You should be able to grow callaloo in NC. It grows well over here [UK] with our cooler wetter summers.
Carribean shops may stock tins of callaloo until you can raise the plants next year.
Have a look for a good seed supplier in your state.
Savoy cabbages are able to withstand frosts and cold weather. They have ridged crinkled leaves similar to some kales and they are very versitile. You can use the leaves to wrap around meat or veg to steam, you can stuff the heads with mince and they can be steamed, boiled, stir fried.
When Jules comes over I boil a finely sliced head for 10 minutes max, drain and toss with a little butter/good marg and a freshly grated nutmug.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Thompson & Morgan have a US site as well:
http://www.tmseeds.com/index.html
or Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds:
http://rareseeds.com/seeds/
I dare you to try the Five Color Silver Beet (the Bright Lights I was talking about):
http://rareseeds.com/seeds/Swiss-Chard
You have such great land there (although you’d need to keep on top of the watering) - what a thriving and productive kitchen garden you could have right next to the house. I’m pretty envious, you know … I’d have block after block of corn right in front of your house swaying in the breeze, and a melon patch, and a squash patch, and a bean patch, and loads of tomatoes, and peppers, and carrots …. Let me loose and you won’t have any lawn left at all. You could be absolutely self-sufficient with fruit and veg. And I’d keep chickens in the old dogrun for all the fresh organic eggs. In fact, I think I’d better move on over there and organise you
At least that old wood stump is gone … hope this link works:
October 11th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Today’s crockpot soup is potatoes, courgettes, a bit of cabbage, apples, celery, a tin of tomatoes and fresh dill, in some lamb stock. Love fresh dill. Might chuck in some red lentils a bit later to thicken it up a bit before I blend it.
Because I’m getting fresh veg every Saturday (and building up a great rapport with the Arab stallholders in the process), I’m going to do ‘everything soup’ with what’s left over from the previous week for Saturday lunches and freezing.
I’m also looking at bulk-buying veg when it’s in season and at its cheapest, and freezing it. That way I get plenty of choice throughout the year, as well as growing my own where I can.
Planning swede, leek, cream and nutmeg soup next week. Nearly bought some kohlrabi but I know I wouldn’t be using it this week - it’s lovely roasted in chunks though, so will get some next week. Keeping my eyes open for celeriac and Jerusalem artichokes because I’ve never had them. Won’t have karella again though - utterly utterly vile. But I do want to try some of the stranger things on offer round here.
Off to plant fruit bushes and sow peas now.
October 12th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Jules, I’m told that to make tortillas at home, you really need a tortilla press. I suppose you could just roll them out. We just buy flour tortillas at Aldi, and heat them in a cast-iron pan.
Question: What’s a courgette? And karella?
I think you’ll like the Jerusalem Artichokes.
I LOVE swiss chard - one of my favorite greens - they’re not as easy to find here in the land of Collards and Turnip Greens.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Courgette = zucchini. Karella is a bitter gourd/bitter melon, knobbly long thin green thing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon
I fried mine in slices and made a spicy sugar mix as recommended as part of an Indian meal, and it went straight in the bin after one taste. Just horrible.
I tend to buy vacuum-packed tortillas, sprinkle them with water and nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds. But they’re not authentic, in the same way that supermarket naan bread isn’t a patch on the stuff you get fresh in Indian restaurants. You can’t save any leftovers, and we can’t eat 8 in one go - they crumble if frozen and are impossible to roll.
The tomato & dill soup was fab with buttered bread, and I froze two portions for work lunches. Better than the caraway seed & balsamic vinegar flavour I did last week, which I didn’t much like.
The garden is now planned and seeds ordered as economically as possible - I intend to save seed if poss this year. I’ve sown peas and garlic, and some pretty bulbs in tubs - tulips, crocuses and freesias; next weekend I’ll do more peas under environmental fleece, and start violas, forget-me-nots and sweet peas for overwintering so I get an early start next year. It’s all organised on a spreadsheet, because I am the List Queen
I prefer the traditional cottage garden look, except I won’t grow lilies - they’re poisonous to cats and smell like vomit to me.
We need to clear out our scary shed at the bottom of the garden, which is chockful of weird chemicals left over from the previous owners. It’s so bizarre in there we’ve left it alone for 8 years, but I now want to use it to overwinter seedlings because we don’t have space for a proper greenhouse. In front of it, we have half a ton of builder’s rubble from when Mike completely dug over the garden a couple of years back. Haven’t a clue how to get all that through the house and disposed of.
Will you grow anything next year?
October 12th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I absolutely adore zucchini cooked in just about any fashion. Yellow squash, too. When it’s in season I’ll thinly slice both and panfry with onions, peppers, and fresh tomatoes with a dash of basil and oregano. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
The bitter melon things… ugh. Don’t think I’ll try that!!
You must be buying corn tortillas? They won’t roll for me either. I don’t buy them often. I get flour tort’s, after a few secs in the frypan they fold/roll nicely. I haven’t tried them in the nuke.
We plan a garden every year and then every year we never get around to it!! We got so discouraged 2 years ago when all our squashes and melons were eaten by evilbugs. They’re some sort of vine-sucking monster. There’s only two ways to kill them - powerful pesticides, or sitting and plucking them off one by one and killing them, every day…
I want to plant more roses - I love them and they make me happy
I’ve also FINALLY got a rosemary and lavender growing well - I’ve taken a bunch of cuttings and I’m trying to get them to root.
We broke down and bought a tiller - so I can turn all the flower beds and the garden to the side of the house. I had wanted to do all of that this month, and mix in a bunch of compost, and then cover it over with mulch of some sort — I don’t think either of us could even lift the tiller (it goes on the weed-eater. Odd contraption, but works great!) Poor Ken just carried the litter box out - what’s that, 5lbs tops? He’s now collapsed in his chair in the living room because it hurt him so much.
IF we get tilled, I want tomatoes and zucchinis, peas, carrots, onions, potatoes, lettuces and cabbages.
I also want to plant more fruit trees. Apples and pears, at least.
Someday I want Ken to make me a greenhouse so we can grow citrus and possibly coffee….
October 12th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Oh yes Kathi - I would love to look into growing coffee beans too