Beth Hensperger - Not Your Mothers Slow Cooker Recipes for Two

THE HARVARD COMMON PRESS
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Copyright 2007 by Beth Hensperger
Cover photography copyright 2007 by Eskite Photography

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Printed on acid-free paper

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hensperger, Beth
Not your mother's slow cooker recipes for two / Beth Hensperger.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-55832-341-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN 1-55832-340-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Electric cookery, Slow. 2. Cookery for two. I. Title. II. Title: Recipes for two.
TX827.H392 2007
641.5'612dc222 2006016735

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Cover recipe: Fresh Corn Risotto, page 78. Back cover recipes: Spicy Chicken Cacciatore
with Fennel Seed and Balsamic Vinegar, page 107; Chipotle-Honey Pork Tenderloin with
Watermelon Salsa, page 152.

Book design by rlf design
Cover photography by Eskite Photography
Food styling by Andrea Lucich
Prop styling by Carol Hacker

ISBN: 978-1-55832-340-7 (hc) 10 9 8 7 6 5
ISBN: 978-1-55832-341-4 (pb) 20 19 18 17 16 15 14

Not Your Mother's is a registered trademark of The Harvard Common Press.

Thank you to Bruce Shaw,
founder and publisher of
The Harvard Common Press,
for his vision of the original book idea
and his full support throughout
the writing of my slow cooker cookbooks

With pleasure and joy, I acknowledge the following people who were so helpful with their contributions to this book: Lynn Alley, Martha Casselman, Jesse Cool, Mary Ellen Evans, Peggy Fallon, Joyce Goldstein, Lou Pappas, Nancyjo Riekse, Little Ricky Rodgers, Meg and Don Rohacek, and Judith Thomas.

Special thanks go to Bobbe and Bill Torgerson for their creativity, patience, and expert advice. Thank you to executive editor Valerie Cimino for her time and extraordinary energy in making this book the best it could be.

Thank you to Kathy Benson, director of marketing services at West Bend Housewares; Susan Jones, marketing director at Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Inc.; and Yvonne Olson, slow cooker product manager at Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Inc., for providing support on this project by contributing the baby slow cookers with interest and enthusiasm.

Warm, sincere thanks to everyone!

In the 1950s, my parents used to watch a TV show called the Loretta Young Theatre, starring, of course, the famous movie actress Loretta Young. One of the segments featured the star cooking different meals while daydreaming. Loretta prepared her meals with the saddest face, since she was alone, and cooked from an open book to the side of the small stove. The name of the cookbook was Cooking for One Can Be Fun. Of course, the gist of the story was that cooking for her was not fun.

Our society has come a long way since then. No longer is the large family the norm. There are many singles and couples, and they all want to feed themselves well. Statistics back this up, with at present one-third of American families containing two people. After the publication of Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook (The Harvard Common Press, 2005), I was deluged with requests for a collection of scaled-down slow cooker recipes designed for one or two people.

The larger-capacity slow cookers, which slow cooker recipes are most often geared for, are just too big for smaller-quantity cooking. Since there is a recommended volume for each cooker for optimum efficiency, using a smaller amount of food in the larger cooker means that the food does not cook as well as the machine is designed to do. The smaller cookers, with a 1- to 3-quart capacity, fill this need perfectly, and there are new varieties of these smaller cookers emerging, as attractive as they are utilitarian, so that you can now choose from a round or oval shape, multiple heat settings, and a variety of styles.

Even though I am cooking for myself, or myself and one other person, I want the food I eat to be imaginative, plentiful, and varied, based on easily obtainable seasonal ingredients. It is interesting to note that, according to research, most people who cook for themselves use and rotate, at most, only a dozen or so recipes. Although these recipes may vary in ingredients from time to time, they remain the core of most meals prepared. Thus, everyday meals can become so routine that any mealtime excitement is lost. The collection of recipes in this book is designed to expand and enhance your existing repertoire of dishes, and I hope that you will enjoy the new variety you will find in these pages.

I am a proponent of wholesome, fresh food, and the slow cooker fits into not only my food philosophy but my time schedule as well. I offer here a wide range of recipes focusing on meat, poultry, and beans in one-pot main-dish stews, braises, and soups. Some of the dishes are my adaptations of classic combinations, recipes that are permanently a part of the diet of most Americans, and others are my own invention or contemporary twists on traditional recipesrecipes that reflect the growing interest in light, healthy fare. They have the following taste and technique attributes in common: They are extremely practical, they are simple to assemble and prep, and they cook in the unrushed and unattended style we have come to expect from slow cooker cuisine. They take advantage of wholesome and healthful basic ingredients, a trademark of all my cookbooks.

Whether I am out of the house all day or working at home, cooking for myself or for a guest, the convenience offered by the slow cooker style of cooking is remarkable. The food from this humble, inexpensive countertop appliance turns out rich, savory, and satisfying. All the recipes in this book are as suitable for eating alone or in a duo on a busy weeknight as they are for a weekend dinner or a no-fuss holiday meal. There is often enough left over for a second meal, to be refrigerated or frozen and eaten another time. I want the cook, despite any time limitations or even a lag in interest for food preparation, to be relaxed and confident while the flavors develop in the pot, and then to be beautifully fed. Happy slow cooking!

What is slow cooker cooking? All foods are cooked by one of two heat methods: moist or dry. Dry-heat cooking methods include roasting, baking, broiling, grilling, toasting, pan-frying, and deep frying. This method uses appliances like microwaves, toasters, and conventional ovens. Moist-heat cooking includes stewing, braising, steaming, and poaching, and uses appliances such as microwaves, ovens, and stovetops.

The slow cooker, with its even, low heat in a covered pot, is the master of the moist-heat technique, most specifically braising, to cook food. Slow cookers single-handedly have brought braised food, although always a preferred method of family-style cooking, back into the realm of day-to-day cooking. Recipes that were once reserved for large-quantity cooking or for company only are now no more complex than braising a simple chicken breast or lamb chop. In short, because of the slow cooker, braising for two is now as easy as cooking for a crowd.

Moist-heat cooking involves cooking meat and other foods in a constantly moving environment of liquid or steam. It is used for foods that are not naturally tender, such as meat with a lot of connective tissue and plants with lots of fiber, such as beans. It is the most efficient way to transform tough meat into delectably tender morsels.