Crockpot Dinners Recipe

Posted on 30th of January, 2011 by Lévana

I am often asked if I intend to write a crockpot cookbook. No I don’t – it’s not necessary: there’s no end of crockpot recipe books – but I do intend to point out what a wonderful utensil the it is: The crockpot requires very little liquid and intensifies flavors, yielding a succulent finished dish. The Crockpot is easy to clean and needs no maintenance whatsoever. The flavors are sealed in so perfectly that you need no preliminary steps. Set aside just ten minutes in the morning to plug in your crockpot and set it on low (300ºF), throw in whatever you like, cover, and go about your business as usual. A delicious and fragrant dinner for a whole crowd will be ready when you are. Buy yourself a good vegetable brush and skip the whole peeling step. The following is only an example of the many combinations you can throw in, and it can be doubled very easily.

I prefer Crockpots with a real temperature dial, as opposed to the low-tech and very approximate Low or High settings.

Ingredients:
2 dozens small new potatoes, scrubbed
8 very thin long carrots (not baby carrots! They may be cute and crunchy, but they are tasteless), scrubbed
6 ribs celery
3 small red onions, peeled and halved
1 head garlic, point cut off to expose the cloves, cloves separated
1 pound mushrooms, the smaller the better
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes, or 1 pint grape tomatoes
3 pounds chicken, turkey, cubed tofu, cubed tempeh, beef chunks. Choose one.
1 cup dry red wine
1/3 cup olive oil
Spices of your choice: thyme, bay leaves, turmeric, paprika, etc. Choose 2
Salt and pepper to taste.

Here are just some examples of other wonderful dishes to make in a crockpot:

• Cholent and all variations
• Beef Bourguignon
• Beer-Braised Mushroom Tempeh Stew
• Loads of soups and stews prepared with root and other slow-cooking vegetables (chili, mushroom barley soup, lentil soup etc….)

Filed under: Crockpot recipes