A Couple of Slow Cooker Recipes to inspire you

In case you are now bursting with enthusiasm to enter the Morphy Richards £4 Slow Cooker Challenge (that I just blogged about here) but you are seriously lacking in inspiration, here are a few tasty recipes, courtesy of Morphy Richards, to get your creative juices flowing. I would never have thought of cooking cheesecake in a slow cooker !

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Lemon Chicken – Slow Cooker Recipe

Whole chicken breasts are gently simmered with garlic and lemon wedges and finished with pak choi, sugar snap peas and minted crème fraîche. They’re delicious served with a couscous salad.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 3&1/4–4&1/4 hours

Cooking temperature: high

Slow cooker size: standard round or oval

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 550 g (1 lb 2 oz) in total

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tablespoons plain flour

450 ml (3/4 pint) chicken stock

1/2 lemon (cut in half lengthways), cut into 4 wedges

2 pak choi, thickly sliced

125 g (4 oz) sugar snap peas, halved lengthways

4 tablespoons crème fraîche

2 tablespoons chopped mint and parsley mixed

salt and pepper

couscous salad, to serve

Method

•Preheat the slow cooker if necessary – see manufacturer’s instructions. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken breasts and fry over a high heat until browned on both sides. Remove from the pan and transfer to a plate. Add the onion to the pan and fry, stirring, for 5 minutes or until lightly browned

•Stir in the garlic and flour, then mix in the stock and lemon wedges. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil

•Put the chicken breasts in the slow cooker pot, pour the hot stock mixture over them and press the chicken below the surface of the liquid. Cover and cook on high for 3–4 hours

•Add the pak choi and sugar snap peas and cook on high for 15 minutes or until just tender. Lift out the chicken, slice the pieces and arrange them on plates. Stir the crème fraîche and herbs into the sauce, then spoon it and the vegetables over the chicken. Serve with couscous mixed with finely chopped tomato, red onion and red pepper

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Salmon Chowder with Lime & Chilli Butter – Slow Cooker Recipe

This chunky soup is served topped with a tangy lime and chilli butter. Cod, haddock or a mixture of plain and smoked fish can be used instead of salmon if preferred.

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 3 hours 10 minutes–3 hours 40 minutes

Cooking temperature: low

Slow cooker size: standard

Ingredients

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 potatoes, about 300 g (10 oz), finely diced

1 fennel bulb

750 ml (1¼ pints) fish stock

300 ml (½ pint) milk

300 g (10 oz) salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 2 pieces

150 ml (¼ pint) single cream

small bunch of parsley or chives, roughly chopped

salt and pepper

crusty bread, to serve

Lime and chilli butter

½ –1 large mild red chilli, halved, deseeded and finely chopped

75 g (3 oz) butter, at room temperature

grated rind and juice of 1 lime

pepper

Method

•Preheat the slow cooker if necessary – see manufacturer’s instructions. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and fry, stirring, for 5 minutes until softened but not browned.Add the potatoes and cook for 3 minutes.

•Meanwhile, cut the green feathery tops off the fennel and reserve. Cut the vegetable in half, cut away the core then finely chop. Add the chopped fennel, stock and salt and pepper to the frying pan and bring to the boil.

•Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker pot. Cover with the lid and cook on low for 2½ –3 hours until the potato is tender. Meanwhile, make the lime and chilli butter: beat the chopped chilli into the butter with the lime rind and a little pepper. Gradually mix in the lime juice then chill well.

•Stir the milk into the chowder then add the salmon pieces. Replace the lid and cook for 30 minutes until the salmon flakes easily when pressed with a knife. Lift it out with a slotted spoon, put on a plate and flake into chunky pieces using a knife and fork, carefully removing any bones. Return the salmon to the soup with the cream, green fennel tops and herbs. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Cook for 10 minutes more.

•Ladle the chowder into individual bowls and top with spoonfuls of the lime and chilli butter.

Cooks Tip

Always wash your hands well after handling chillies as they can make your eyes sting if you touch them without thinking.

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Baked Vanilla Cheesecake – Slow Cooker Recipe

We’ve got a right treat for you this afternoon on ‘Home of the House Proud’, a slow cooker recipe for a delightful Baked Vanilla Cheesecake – we bet you didn’t know that you could use your slow cooker to make cheesecake?

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 45 minutes, plus overnight chilling

Cooking time: 3 hours

Cooking temperature: high

Slow cooker size: large or extra large

Ingredients

Base

50 g (2 oz) butter, at room temperature

50 g (2 oz) caster sugar

50 g (2 oz) self-raising flour

1 egg

Cheesecake

300 g (10 oz) full-fat cream cheese

200 ml (7 fl oz) full-fat crème fraîche

50 g (2 oz) caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Icing sugar, to decorate

Mixed berry fruits, to serve

Method

•Preheat the slow cooker if necessary – see manufacturer’s instructions. Line the base and sides of an 18 cm (7 inch) diameter, deep round cake tin with non-stick baking paper – do not use a loose-bottomed tin. Put all the ingredients for the base in a mixing bowl or food processor and beat together until smooth. Spoon into the prepared cake tin, smooth with a knife then cover the top of the tin loosely with foil.

•Stand the cake tin on an upturned individual tart tin, saucer or biscuit cutter in the slow cooker pot. Pour boiling water into the pot to come halfway up the sides of the cake tin then add the lid and cook on high for 1 hour.

•Meanwhile, make the cheesecake: put the cream cheese, crème fraîche and sugar in a bowl. Gradually mix in the eggs until smooth then stir in the vanilla essence.

•Carefully lift the cake tin out of the slow cooker pot using oven gloves. Carefully remove the foil – the sponge layer should be dry and can be pressed with a fingertip. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the tin on top of the cooked sponge, cover again loosely with foil and return to the slow cooker pot. Replace the lid and cook on high for 2 hours until the cheesecake can be touched lightly with fingertips.

•Switch off the slow cooker, remove the foil and leave the cheesecake to cool, still in the hot water. Don’t be alarmed to see that the cheesecake will sink on cooling – this is normal. When the water is barely warm, lift out the tin out, transfer to the refrigerator and chill overnight to achieve the characteristic baked cheesecake texture.

•Carefully remove the cheesecake from the cake tin, peel off the lining paper and place on a serving plate. Dust liberally with icing sugar and serve with mixed berry fruits.

Cooks Tip

1.Before you begin, check that the cake tin you intend to use fits comfortably into your slow cooker pot. Do not use a loose-bottomed cake tin or the water will seep into the cheesecake during cooking – if the seal on the cake tin is not watertight, stand it in a large dish or sandwich tin.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Morphy Richards £4 Slow Cooker Challenge

Crock-Pot Sauté Slow Cooker

Crock Pot Recipe : Traditional Christmas Pudding

Recipes to use with your Crock-Pot Slow Cooker