Steak & Guinness in the slow cooker?

lbt_2

Hi Olliebeak, the handblender sounds like a good idea ... not that my gravy is EVER lumpy you understand :eek:

Hi Chameleon

Do you mean all dishes taste the same as each other, or all the food in the pot tastes the same? I made a sausage casserole the other day (inspired by someone on an older thread who had made sausage and onion gravy) and you could tell the difference between the different foods in the pot. Different dishes I have cooked taste different, but you mentioned mush, and personally I quite like a bit of mush as it makes a really thick sauce.

Hi torianut

I brown some things - I would brown mince because I add flour afterwards to make a thick sauce, but a friend of mine never, ever browns anything including mince and she makes wonderful food. It is good to put hot stock in but you don't have to. I have prepared the entire crockpot the night before (it was chicken casserole) and kept in the fridge. In the morning I put the whole thing straight on to cook, but you would need to allow a bit longer for it to cook as it has to heat everything up. I would probably have put it on high for an hour then turned it down.

GardenMillie, I have a couple of favourite soup recipes which are great if you like a nice thick soup. I have Porcini Mushroom and Winter Vegetable - both Mary Berry recipes and very easy to cook. Let me know which sounds best and post the recipe. We all love them both, and the mushroom can also be used to make mushroom risotto and I use the vegetable one as a pasta sauce sometimes for the children.

Gingerchick, I am off to find the recipe for you now ...

Pink, thanks for the links.

I have a couple of books coming from the library, so I'll share in any useful info I find out.

lbt_2

Jamie Oliver's Good Old Steak and Guinness Pie

Serves 6

680g/1 1/2lb stewing beef, diced
salt & pepper
2 heaped tablespoons flour
olive oil
1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
1 large carrot peeled and roughly chopped (I used three)
2 parsnips peeled and roughly chopped
4 sticks of celery washed and roughly chopped
1 handful of fresh mixed herbs (rosemary, thyme bay) I used dried bay
1 pint Guinness
2 tins tomatoes (I used one and a half)
500 pack of puff pastry
1 egg beaten

Put carrots, celery, parsnips and herbs straight into the slow cooker.
Season beef with salt and pepper and toss in flour, and fry until it is brown
Add onions and fry for one more minute
Add Guinness and tomatoes and bring to the boil
Put it all in the slow cooker on top of the vegetables and cook until the meat is really tender (I cooked it for 8 hours on low)

If you want to make the pie, you just put the cooked filling in a dish and top with puff pastry, brush with egg and cook for 45 minutes on 190

jo1972

I once cooked a stew (on the hob) with guinness and it tasted absolutely foul, tasted exactly the same as the stew I cooked the week before with dark chocolate in it eurrghh!!

What am I doing wrong?

lbt_2

Hmm, not sure, but because I did it in the slow cooker it really tasted of beef. Perhaps because it had longer for the flavours to work together??

susiesue_2

stew I cooked the week before with dark chocolate

jo1972

susiesue wrote: »

:rotfl:

It's meant to be nice!!

http://www.lecreuset.co.uk/RecipeDetail.aspx?RecipeID=34

lbt_2

I have rice pudding in today. Seems to easy to turn out nice!!!

celyn90

I was doing lentil casserole earlier in the week, I put the whole thing in the crockpot and went to work. When I got back, half of it was missing and my OH was sitting on the sofa complaining it was a bit crunchy. Yes. That would be true as it was supoosed to be dinner for the following day and I hadn't actually cooked it yet. :wall: Ah well. They were green lentils too, so you thought he would have clicked they were still raw.

lil_me

Dumplings in SC are yummy, I cooked them for about an hour on medium yesterday, yum yum!

lbt_2

Hi celyn, how funny ... that has really tickled me

Hi lil_me, thanks for that, I am going to have a go. I am assuming they come out soft? Not with a crust or anything? Do you cover them completely with liquid or is it okay for part of the dumpling to be uncovered?

Well, my rice pudding isn't quite how I thought it would be! It looks more like bits of rice floating in milk so I have turned it up to high and taken the lid off so that it might thicken up. Have never made rice pudding before so I am not sure what it is supposed to look like! I have only used the tinned stuff before.