This is a crowd-pleaser, and not just for cinco de mayo! I made it for my sisters birthday this past week-end and it was a big hit. The margarita’s helped….
Ingredients
1 pork shoulder – 5-6 lbs
1 onion, peeled
1 orange, washed, and quartered
1 lime, washed, halved
1 tblsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1 tsp peppercorns
3 cups water
Preparation Instructions
Place all ingredients in a slow cooked on high, or in a dutch oven, covered, at 325. Cook 4-5 hours, or until meat is tender and falls apart.
Pull meat apart with a fork, and add 1/2 cup cooking liquid and salt to taste.
Serve with corn or flour tortillas, and your fave toppings- guacamole, grated cheese, fresh salsa, coriander, sour cream and cholula hot sauce.
Black bean, corn and coriander salad makes a great side dish.
I’ve seen variations of this recipe in several people’s book, and have always been skeptical. If you’re up for something new, then like me, be ready to have your world rocked: Norene Gilletz’s recipe from Gourmania.com will make you a believer.
Ingredients
3 onions, sliced
4 1/2 to 5 lb. beef brisket, well-trimmed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. paprika
1/4 cup apricot jam
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup diet cola (use regular cola if you can’t find diet)
Preparation Instructions
1. Spray a large roasting pan with non-stick spray. Place onions in pan; place brisket on top of onions. Rub meat on all sides with garlic, seasonings, jam and lemon juice. Pour cola over and around brisket. Marinate for an hour at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Cook covered. Allow 45 minutes per lb. as the cooking time, until meat is fork tender. Uncover meat for the last hour and baste it occasionally. Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate overnight, if possible. Discard hardened fat which congeals on the surface. Slice brisket thinly across the grain, trimming away any fat. Reheat slices in the defatted pan juices.
Yield: 12 servings. Reheats and/or freezes well.
The recipe comes from Healthy Helpings by Norene Gilletz (formerly published as MealLeaniYumm!)
This is one of those recipes that I often make, but never with an actual recipe! It’s a no-fail favorite with friends and family!
Ingredients
8 oz (1 package) sliced mushrooms- cremini works best!
50g pancetta- diced
10 pearl onions
1 tsp butter
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 tbsp butter
9 chicken thighs
1/4 cup flour
1 bottle red wine
Preparation Instructions
Melt 1 tsp butter in a heavy bottom pan. Brown mushrooms, pancetta and pearl onions. Remove from heat. Dredge chicken in flour. Brown in additional butter. Add fresh thyme. Return mushrooms, pancetta and onion to the pan. Add wine. Turn heat down and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken is cooked through and soft.
Although it’s not the traditional way to serve it, I love serving Coq-au-vin on cheesy egg noodles. I find Gruyere or Emmenthal cheese has the best flavor to accompany the sauce, but swiss cheese works just as well!
There’s definitely something decadent about shrimp – maybe it has to do with peeling the shells before popping them into one’s mouth and having to use your fingers as part of the eating experience. This recipe is so intensely flavored that it just seemed a natural choice for part 2 of our valentine’s day menu.
Ingredients
3 heads of garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 chorizo sausage, thinly sliced
1 lb large shrimp, frozen, uncooked, with or without peel, thawed
2 tblsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 chopped flat leaf parsley
dash of tabasco
salt and pepper
Preparation Instructions
Heat oil in large frying pan. Add garlic and cook about 1minute, being careful not to burn it. Add chorizo sausage. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add shrimp and cooked until almost cooked- about 4-5 minutes. Add white wine, and continue cooking until the shrimp are cooked through. Add tabasco, salt and pepper and parsley.
Serve on top of creamy polenta for an especially decadent meal, or simply with baguette (and cold cutter) to soak the sauce.
There is a soup from the Provence, in the south of France, that is made by boiling garlic in chicken stock, and then serving the mashed garlic on a toast floating in the soup. It’s a traditional winter soup that I loved as a kid. I’ve adapted this to the North American chicken soup we all love, and thrown it all in the slow cooked for simplicity. I’m happy to report my kids love it too!
Ingredients
1 whole chicken, breasts removed (I save them for another dish- they just don’t add much in the slow cooker)
2 small turnips, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2″ cubes
1 large potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 small onion, peeled
1/2 head of garlic, cloves removed but not peeled
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, or 1 tsp ground
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp dill
2 whole cloves
(you can add 2 pieces of celery if you like- I actually don’t like the taste of celery!)
salt
8 slices of toasted baguette, or artisanal crackers
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Preparation Instructions
Place the chicken into a slow cooker. Add turnips, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, herbs and spices and 6 cups of cold water. Cook 6 hours on high. Let cool.
Take out the peppercorns, coriander and cloves from the soup. Remove the chicken, and pull the meat off of the carcass, the return the meat to the soup. Mash the garlic cloves, (you can just slip them out of the their skins and squash them with a spoon) and return to soup. Season with salt.
To serve, heat soup, and ladle into bowls. with meat and vegetables. Top each bowl with one slice of baguette, toasted with 2 tsp of parmesan cheese over top, or crackers, and cheese sprinkled on top.
Note: I add a squeeze of Sriracha to the soup too! But I like strong flavors!
My french grandmother made the very best “couscous” in the world. She would work for days preparing everything, slowly steaming the semolina before rubbing it with butter between her fingers. I’m not sure she would approve of my slow cooker adaptation of her recipe! But why spent 10 hours doing something when you can get it done in 30 minutes with equally delicious results?!
Ingredients
1 chicken, cut up into pieces, or two breasts, two legs, bone in
2 lamb shoulder chops
2 tblsp olive oil
1 leek, whites only, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, peeled cut into large chunks
2 turnips, peeled and cut into quarters
2 zucchini, cut into large chunks
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 small can of chick peas
1 tblsp and 2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cloves
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation Instructions
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. Brown chicken and lamb and then place in slow cooker.
In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the leeks, garlic, carrots and turnips. Fry for about five minutes. Add spices, continue to cook while stirring 5 minutes.
Add broth, stir, and pour contents into slow cooker.
Set slow cooker on high for 4 hours. After 2 hours, open slow cooker and add zucchini and chick peas.
Serve on a bed of cousous (I prepare it by placing it in a shallow bowl and pouring hot water over top, letting it sit then fluffing it with a fork. A dash of with “Harrissa” spice (if you can find it, otherwise chili powder would work) on top is delicious!
I added red wine and black olives to this stew-like pasta sauce to crank up the fullness of the flavor, but my kids loved it too!
Ingredients
2 large beef or veal shanks
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup red wine
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, or 1/2 tsp dried
32 oz or 1 quart of canned crushed tomates (I used the home-made sauce I made this summer in this video!)
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation Instructions
Roughly chop the onion and garlic. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Brown the onion and garlic, about 3-5 minutes, until translucent. Add the shanks and brown on both sides (about 3 minutes a side). Add red wine and cook 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and seasoning. Transfer to slow cooker. Cook on high heat for 6 hours. Remove the shanks and shred the meat. Return to sauce.
(I ended up refrigerating the sauce for a couple of days, and it only got more delicious!).
Our friend and cookbook author Norene Gilletz of Gourmania.com has contributed this recipe that is perfect for the upcoming Jewish High Holidays, or any festive meal where you need to feed a crowd. In Sept 2008, this recipe was featured on Martha Stewart Living radio when Norene was interviewed by Mario Bosquez. It’s from her book Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap books).
It’s easy to put together, can be assembled ahead of time and doubled should your guest list keep growing the way mine tends to!
Ingredients
2 whole chickens (3 lb/1.4 kg each), cut into pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning (or a mixture of basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary)
6 to 8 cloves garlic (about 2 to 3 Tbsp minced)
3/4 to 1 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup pitted black olives
1/2 cup dry-packed, sun-dried tomatoes, halved or coarsely chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
2 bay leaves
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Preparation Instructions
1. Rinse the chickens well and pat dry with paper towels. Trim the excess fat. Place the chickens in a large roasting pan sprayed with cooking spray. Season the chickens inside, outside, and under the skin with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Add the apricots, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes to the pan. (The dried apricots and sun-dried tomatoes will plump up during marinating and cooking.)
2. In a measuring cup, combine the balsamic vinegar, honey, and olive oil. Drizzle evenly over the chicken mixture; mix well so that the chicken is thoroughly coated. Pour the wine around the chicken and add the bay leaves. Cover the pan and refrigerate for several hours or for as long as 2 days.
3. When the chicken is marinated, remove from the refrigerator, uncover, and bake in a 350°F oven for 11/4 to 11/2 hours, basting often. When done, the skin will be golden and the juices will run clear when pierced with a fork. Remove the bay leaves and discard.
4. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken mixture to a serving platter. Drizzle with some of the pan juices and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley. Place the remaining pan juices in a gravy bowl, skim off the fat, and serve alongside the chicken.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings. Keeps for up to 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator; reheats well. Freezes well for up to 4 months.
Find and even healthier variation on her site, www.gourmania.com. Thanks Norene!!
1 lb (2 1/3 c.) dry navy beans or dry great northern beans
1/4 lb salt pork, cut up
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
1/2 c. molasses
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Preparation instructions
Rinse beans. In a heavy 3-qt saucepan combine beans and 8 c. cold water. Soak overnight…(or bring to boiling; simmer 2 minutes, remove from heat; Cover; soak 1 hr). Add 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to boiling. Cover; reduce heat and simmer in water used for soaking in until beans are tender.
Drain beans, reserving liquid. In a 2 1/2 qt bean pot or casserole combine the beans, salt, pork, and onion. Stir in 1 c. of the reserved bean liquid, molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper. Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hrs or to desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Add additional reserved bean liquid if necessary.
1 (5-6 lb) stewing chicken or 2 (3 lb) broiler-fryer chickens
Water
4 stalks celery with leaves, cut up
Preparation instructions
In a large Dutch Oven combine one 5-6 lb stewing chicken, cut up, or two 3 lb broiler-fryer chickens, cut up, and enough water to cover (about 6 c.) Add celery, carrot, onion, salt and pepper. Cover; bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours for stewing chicken or about 1 hour for broiler-fryer chickens, or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken; strain broth. Let chicken and broth cool.
When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat, discarding skin and bones. Store chicken and broth separately in tightly covered containers in the refrigerator. Lift fat from broth when chilled. (Broth and chicken may be frozen separately.)
