Wise - Ultimate Slow Cooker

CONTENTS

The ABC Wave device is a trademark of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is used under licence by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia.

First published in Australia in 2017 by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited ABN 36 009 913 517 harpercollins.com.au Copyright Sally Wise 2017 The right of Sally Wise to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000. This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. HarperCollinsPublishers Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, United Kingdom 2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA 978 0 7333 3803 8 (paperback) 978 1 4607 0798 2 (eBook) National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Wise, Sally. Ultimate slow cooker: over 100 new and delicious recipes from the queen of slow cooking / Sally Wise. Includes index.

Electric cooking, Slow. Casserole cooking. Cover design by Lisa White, HarperCollins Design Studio Internals design by Hazel Lam, HarperCollins Design Studio Cover and internal photography by Chris Crerar Styling by Charlotte Bell Dedicated to my family, and to all those who love the time-honoured art of slow cooking I would especially like to thank my wonderful publishers, ABC Books. They have allowed me to live and breathe my lifes dream to have a reason to cook and experiment with food and write recipes each day. No lifestyle could suit me better. Special thanks must go to my lovely publisher, Katie Stackhouse, and also to publicist Matthew Howard.

I would also like to thank Pauline OCarolan and Brendon Redmond. Thanks to Lachlan McLaine for his diligent final editing of this, my new slow cooker book. I am sincerely appreciative of the ongoing support and encouragement of Chris Wisbey, ABC radio presenter and compere of the fun-filled Jams and Preserves talkback show in Tasmania. I am very thankful to Chris Crerar, photographer extraordinaire, who always goes the proverbial extra mile to obtain the best results. Similarly Charlotte Bell who did such an amazing job with the food styling for this book. And of course to my daughter Stephanie Wood, faithful and talented assistant for all her hard work during the photo shoot.

And my family, of course thank you for the never-ending discussions about food, all of them play their part and as always provide invaluable input. And finally to my husband Robert, for his patience with my lifelong devotion to cooking. Special thanks also for his tenacity when faced with the never-ending piles of washing up that the experimentation with recipes for this book necessitated. Its no secret that I love slow cookers and slow cooking in general. Ive gathered quite a collection eighteen slow cookers now grace the shelves in my laundry. They stand there at the ready, in every shape and size, for the slow cooking classes we conduct here in the cooking school.

With winter coming on and delectable wintry produce at my fingertips, the time seemed right for some new and exciting recipes. It was high time to put the cookers through their paces once more. Of course this is not to discount the value of slow cookers in summer. I use mine almost as much as during the warmer months. Lighter summery meals can be prepared, without the need to turn on the oven that inevitably adds to the heat. Several recipes in this book are ideal for just these situations.

I think the appeal of the slow cooker is multifaceted. There are the well-documented benefits of being able to make the best of economical cuts of meat, made delicious through hours of long, slow braising or roasting. Then theres the convenience of having most, if not all, of your meal preparation done early in the day. All the mess is tidied away and all you need to do is wait for dinner to cook, or lunch for that matter, or even tomorrows breakfast. I like the fact that so many exciting flavours can be coaxed from the depths of the cooking pot from curries to braises, roasts and incredibly delicious desserts. And so with all these thoughts rattling around in my head, I set to work.

Before long the house was full of the aroma of slow cookers on the simmer all those mouth-watering combinations that make slow-cooked food so delightful. Two days each week were set aside and dedicated to the task. The timeline was short; so 14 dishes were trialled per session. I was hoping for eight to be successful every time, hopefully more on a good day. And so the weeks passed by most pleasantly. There were a couple of challenges washing up primarily.

I am not known for tidiness in my preparation, and, predictably, ingredients trailed from the kitchen to the laundry (my overflow slow cooker central station). My husband, Robert, generally came to the rescue and helped with cleaning up, along with the very handy dishwasher. The evening dinner sessions on those days were fine and fun affairs, where 14 cookers were brought to the table, lined up with the experimental dishes. I will admit it was a bit daunting for the taste-testers. Actually, this presented another of the challenges finding willing tasters. Not many people like to brave it out to sample unknown slow-cooked dishes in the middle of winter here in the Derwent Valley in Tasmania, where overnight temperatures frequently plummet to below freezing.

Its vastly preferable to stay inside by the warmth of your own fireplace. Our children helped out with advice and suggestions. Phone calls, chats around the fire, and their taste-tests have all helped immensely in bringing this book together. Others, like our friend of decades, David, faithfully came twice each week, and other acquaintances and neighbours played their part. It was all good fun (until the washing of the cookers after the meal, of course). Mind you, this is where slow cookers come into their own I poured a cupful of boiling water into each still-warm cooker, put the lid on and left them overnight.

No power was needed, and next morning it was a simple thing to wash them. From my perspective anyway, as Robert mostly saw to this while I typed up the recipes for the dishes that were successfully made the previous day. Eventually, the book came together. The recipes are all new, all my own and all well and truly tested. It was a delight to prepare and it has increased my respect for slow cookers immensely. I have specified the size of the cooker to use for each recipe.

However, should you choose to make a larger or smaller amount, quantities can be adjusted accordingly (see information, in ). I really hope you enjoy these new dishes. Some are simply one step, others may have an extra small step at the end in these cases, it is certainly worth the few minutes it takes to lift the dish to another level. Many accompaniments have been provided to complement the flavours of particular dishes these can be mixed and matched to different recipes however you please. Finally, all I can advise is to enjoy your slow cooker and make the most of what it can do. Be bold with flavour combinations and go beyond traditional boundaries you will be amazed at what can be achieved.

Next page