Shi - Slow cooker family favorites: classic meals youll want to share

Copyright 2016 by Maggie Shi
Photographs copyright 2016 by Jonathan Meter Additional photographs:
Pages 77, 78: bhofack2/iStockphoto.com All rights reserved For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, The Countryman Press, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110 For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact W. W. Norton Special Sales at specialsales@wwnorton.com or 800-233-4830 Book design by Nina LoSchiavo The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Names: Shi, Maggie, author. Title: Slow Cooker Family Favorites : Classic Meals You'll Want to Share / Maggie Shi. Description: Woodstock, VT : Countryman Press, a division of W. W.

Norton & Company, Independent Publishers Since 1923, [2016] | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016013902 | ISBN 9781581573459 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Electric cooking, Slow. | LCGFT: Cookbooks. Classification: LCC TX827 .S5324 2016 | DDC 641.5/884dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016013902 ISBN 978-1-58157-557-6 (e-book) The Countryman Press www.countrymanpress.com A division of W. W. 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110 www.wwnorton.com To Mom and Dad.

Ive always loved hosting gatherings and parties. 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110 www.wwnorton.com To Mom and Dad. Ive always loved hosting gatherings and parties.

When I graduated from college and moved into my own apartment in New York City, one of my very first acts as a real grownup was to throw a housewarming party. (Sure, I might have forgotten to have ice on hand for the drinks, but who really cared?) My annual holiday party quickly became famous for its crispy bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with hunks of Parmesan and slow-simmered mulled wine. My friends always have a blast customizing their own drinks at the do-it-yourself Bloody Mary bar I set up for my casual buffet-style Sunday brunches. Every month, a group of women gathers over wine and snacks in my apartment to discuss the latest book weve read (or havent read, in some cases). Inviting people into my home is fun for me; I love to turn any event (for example, a vacation to Paris) into an excuse to host a gathering (French cheese and macarons smuggled back in my carry-on, along with sausages, baguettes, kirs, and Lillet). For me, spending time with friends and family in my home always involves spoiling them with good food and drinks.

The slow cooker, however, didnt figure into my life until much later. When I first moved to New York, I resisted getting a slow cooker. While everyone seemed to love this applianceJust set it and forget it!and I was eager to play around with it, I couldnt justify yet another object cluttering up the limited countertop space in my typically tiny New York kitchen. But while working for Real Simple magazines website, I helped research and write a roundup of slow cooker models. Somehow, I managed to acquire not one, but three. My early experiments with the slow cooker were pretty typicalstews and soups.

The very first results, however, were not too promising. While I loved the concepta little prep, toss everything into the cooker, carry on with your life for a few hours, then return to a delicious-smelling home and an even more mouthwateringly good one-pot mealwhen I finally dug into those first couple dishes, they didnt taste as their aromas promised. The results were always more watery than expected, the flavors muddled. While they smelled amazing, they tasted mediocre. I quickly learned that slow cooking takes a bit of finesse. You may need to add an extra ingredient or two to amp up the flavor, or have a heavier hand with the salt and seasonings.

Adding fresh herbs or some kind of acid at the end is often essential to livening up the dish. And letting the results sit for a little while before serving often works wonders to absorb excess moisture or thicken liquids. (You can find more tips in the Slow Cooker Tips and Tricks section, .) Once youve got it figured out, the slow cooker is indeed a wondrous thing. I admit, I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to cooking; I will sometimes buy spaghetti sauce in a jar or prepared pesto instead of making my own from scratch. Lets face itmost of us just dont have that kind of time. Cooking in a slow cooker is meant to make life easier, more convenient, or to save you timeor all three.

Therefore, Ive tried to keep the recipes in this book as simple as possible. Ilike you, probablyhate to add extra steps to any recipe. That said, there are a few dishes in this book that do require some pre- or post-cooking, such as browning meat or reducing a sauce. Ive tried to keep those to a minimum and only include such steps when I think it makes a big difference in the outcome. While Im not one of those everything from scratch people, I do try to keep my intake of overly processed and packaged foods to a minimum. Ive tried to keep everything as fresh as possible in this book, but again, there are exceptions.

Some slow cooker recipes just work better when using condensed cheese soup or instant rice (ingredients I would ordinarily shun). And again, in the interest of making life easier, Im not going to require you to make your own Buffalo sauce or green chili enchilada sauce from scratch. The slow cooker should be a convenience, not a nuisance. When buying pre-packaged ingredients, I do always try to buy the highest quality I can afford, with a minimum of additives and no artificial colors or flavors. (Whole Foods and I became best friends while I was writing this book.) If youve bought this book, its likely you already own a slow cooker. But most people I know use theirs solely for chilis, stews, and soups.

Once youve tried some of the recipes in this book and expanded your horizons (Cheesecake! Hot chocolate! Dinner rolls!), youll be amazed at just how versatile this appliance can be.

In this book, youll find main dishes and sides, of course, but also lots of other festive food you might not initially think of making in a slow cooker, including dips, desserts, and drinks. You might ask, Why would anyone make spinach dip or chocolate cake or warm punch in the slow cooker, when it could just as easily be made on the stovetop or in the oven? For one thing, using the slow cooker frees up space in your kitchen. At Thanksgiving, for example, you can easily cook mashed potatoes in your slow cooker, which makes another burner on your stove available. Need to bake two things in the oven at once, but at different temperatures? Try baking one in the slow cooker instead. (Stuffing, rolls, and cakes can all be made in the slow cooker.) Another bonus: The slow cooker will keep your food warm for hours.

You dont need to worry about reheating the buttered carrots or wonder if the meatballs are getting cold. Warm dips and drinks, of course, are ideal for slow cooker entertaining. Hosting a gathering or family dinner on a weeknight becomes a lot easier, too. No time to pull together an entire meal after work? You can put all your ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning, let it cook all day, then come home and serve your family and guests a warm pot of Smoky Beef Chili () for dessert. Mainly, though, using the slow cooker for all kinds of meals and celebrations is just a lot of fun. Theres not one person who isnt impressed when I tell them that the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake () theyre sipping on was concocted in a slow cooker.

Using the slow cooker in unexpected ways is a great way to get the conversation going! This book contains recipes perfect for all kinds of gatherings, whether its a holiday like Christmas or St. Patricks Day, a birthday or cocktail party, or just the first time the family has been able to sit down together for dinner in a week. Some of the most important parts of a meal or celebration are for everyone to be able to relax, eat, drink, and spend time togetherand with the low-effort, make-ahead slow cooker, even the host can sit back and enjoy the moment.

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