Roasting Garlic in the Slow Cooker

When was my last post? Back in March, longer if you count the last time I posted about a recipe. Well, I think it’s time I to get back to blogging. I no longer have an excuse not to….my cataract surgery is behind me so I’m able to see a lot better. Yes, this big baby survived – the thought of the surgery had me terrified but the surgery itself was nothing, I’ve had worse dental visits. Then the heat wave of 2012 hit and I didn’t want to do much cooking, even with AC in the house. I had an unexpected visitor; I found a raccoon in my house – yes a real live raccoon and believe me that had me freaked out for a long time. The raccoon was captured and released and thanks to my two wonderful brothers’ – in- law, I now have a cover on my chimney and shouldn’t have any more unwanted visitors making their way down through the fireplace – sorry Santa. My nephew, his wife and their two daughters (who live in Washington state) came to Ohio for a visit so I spent two days helping my sister shop and cook, getting ready for their visit and a family gathering she had planned. A major storm blew through on June 29 and caused a lot of damage and power outages (actually happened while my sister and I were trying to get the shopping and cooking done for her son's visit), fortunately we all made it through with only a little inconvenience. Now we are in the middle of a major drought - as is the rest of the midwest. So things have been a little crazy/busy. Now I'm at Michael’s but haven’t been cooking a whole lot and when I do, it’s mostly been things I’ve already blogged about. I have tried a few new recipes but wasn’t ready to blog about them yet. I’ve also been trying to keep up with all the lovely fruit and veggies that I’ve been getting at the farmers markets – been baking a lot of pie and cobbler.

Now it’s time to get down to business. Sometime during the winter I decided to check some cookbooks out of the library, one of which was the Slow Cooker Revolution, by America’s Test Kitchen. I had tried a slight variation of their Sticky Wings recipe, that I read on another blog, a few months before and liked it a lot, Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken, is now a favorite around here and I prepare it often, and was anxious to actually see what this cookbook had to offer. I saw several recipes that I wanted to try but the first one that I decided on was how to roast garlic in the slow cooker. I love roast garlic and use it a lot in mashed potatoes but have been roasting it the old fashioned way, in the oven. So, the next time I made garlic mashed potatoes, I pulled out my Crock Pot and the recipe from the Slow Cooker Revolution and put this new method to the test.

Slow Cooker Roasted Garlic
America's Test Kitchen
Print Version of Recipe

5 garlic heads
2 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt

Slice top 1/2-inch from each garlic head to expose cloves.
Pour 1/2 cup water into slow cooker. Place garlic heads, cut side up, in slow cooker.
Drizzle each head with 1/2 teaspoon oil and sprinkle with pinch salt.
Cover and cook until garlic is soft and golden, 4 to 6 hours on low.
Transfer garlic to cutting board, let cool slightly, then gently squeeze to remove cloves from skin.


Tips
Roasted Garlic can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 1 week.


Source: Slow Cooker Revolution, America's Test Kitchen

Notes
I use my 3 1/2 quart CrockPot.
I usually roast 4 heads using 2 T of olive oil. Mash them up while still warm and add to mashed potatoes.

I know the recipe calls for 5 garlic heads but I usually just use 4, that's the amount that I put in my mashed potatoes. I make Ree Drummond's (The Pioneer Woman) mashed potatoes and they are delicious!

This is after the garlic has cooked for about six hours, on low.

I removed them from the slow cooker and let them cool for a while before squeezing them to release the garlic.

Look at all the beautiful garlic!

I then like to put it in my small food processor and chop it up until smooth. Can also mash it up with a fork, or probably even a immersion blender.

Here it is - ready to put in mashed potatoes or spread on bread - yum!

Ever since I first made garlic in the slow cooker, I haven't prepared it the oven. Yes, it takes longer so you have to plan a head but I don't mind since I'm a planner anyway. I like how nice and soft the garlic gets and I've never over roasted and dried it out like I have in the oven.

This recipe is definitely a keeper and so is the cookbook! After trying a few more recipes, one for rice pudding and another for brown rice, plus seeing several more I wanted to try, I broke down and bought a copy.

Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken

I’ve been getting a lot of use out of my slow cooker this summer. It allowed me to prepare delicious meals without having to turn on the oven and heat up the house….the electric bill was high enough with trying to keep the house cool without adding additional heat to it. I also liked that I could put something in the slow cooker and leave the house for a few hours to run some errands and know that when I got home, dinner would be ready, or at least ready with just a little extra effort on my part. We didn’t have to pick up fast food or stop in to eat at a restaurant….so it saved us money on eating out/take out as well.

 I’ve been cooking roasts, green beans, pulled pork and barbequed chicken….actually I’ve been using it to cook a lot of chicken. Michael and I like chicken….we really like chicken. We really are a little weird that way. If someone would ask us if we would rather have steak or chicken, we would choose chicken most of the time. That’s how much we like it. Anyway, over the summer I came across this recipe for Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken, actually saw it on FaceBook and think it was a review of an America’s Test Kitchen recipe. Since trying this recipe for the first time, I think I’ve made it about every other week since….it has become one of our favorites.

Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken
Printable Recipe
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs of minced ginger (I did not have any ginger, so I used 1 teaspoon of ground ginger)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp of cayenne or red pepper
3 lbs chicken, breast, thighs, legs, etc.
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup tomato paste

1. Combine 1/4 cup sugar,  2 tablespoon soy sauce , ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat.
2. Place in a slow cooker and cook on low for about 4 hours or until done.
3. When done place chicken in a broiler proof dish.
4. Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, water, and tomato paste, and remaining soy sauce. Brush on chicken and cook under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until chicken is slightly crisp. But keep in eye on this while it is cooking under the broiler, things can cook quickly when broiling. (You may be tempted to skip the broiling, but it really does help give this a nice sticky and good texture.

Tips
I like to broil the chicken a little while before brushing on the sauce and then I put it under the broiler again. I feel like the skin of the chicken gets a little more crispy that way.

Don't be afraid of the cayenne pepper, it adds very little heat to this dish. Michael and I don't like a lot of heat in our food and we eat this with no problem. If you like heat, you can always add more.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoon soy sauce , ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat.

Place in slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours or until done. My slow cooker cooks faster than some so is usually done in about 3 hours.

When done place chicken in a broiler proof dish. I usually use a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil.

Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, water, and tomato paste, and remaining soy sauce.

Brush on chicken and cook under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until chicken is slightly crisp. But keep in eye on this while it is cooking under the broiler, things can cook quickly when broiling.

Just looking at this makes my mouth water.

I used to make this with assorted pieces of chicken but Michael likes dark meat more than white and I can eat either so I started using thighs, wings and legs. Then one day while we were at Sam’s Club, we noticed that they had great prices on chicken thighs (also on legs) so we now buy those to use in this dish.

The chicken made this way is moist and tender and by sticking it under the broiler (twice) the skin gets crisper than if it hadn’t been. There is a little Asian flavor to the sauce, due to the soy sauce and ginger, but it isn’t very strong so I would imagine even someone who isn’t fond of Asian food would still like this.

Fresh Green Beans

As a child one of my favorite vegetables was green beans….especially if they were fresh homegrown beans. I remember summers when my mom would prepare fresh green beans….after she rinsed them off; she would bring a large pan of beans into the living room and snap them while watching TV. I would usually help…I always liked to snap them; and still do. It seemed like we rarely had to buy them, we usually knew someone who farmed or had a small garden who was willing to provide us with all we could eat. If, for some reason, we weren’t lucky enough to be on the receiving end of free green beans, we could always find a small vegetable stand while driving through the country. A sad sign of the times….these small family vegetable/fruit stands are practically nonexistent and we now have to limit ourselves to buying lovely homegrown produce to Saturday’s farmer’s markets.

I prepare my green beans pretty much like Mom used to. She would put a big pot on the stove (she was usually cooking for a lot of people) put the green beans in the pot and covered them with water, put in some type of ham/bone, salt and usually added small red potatoes then she would cook them for several hours. While she was working around the house, she would run out to the kitchen to check her beans, making sure the water didn’t boil off and scorch them. She always managed to get to them in time but sometimes she would have a close call. As I said I prepare green beans in almost the same way, the only difference is the quantity (I’m not cooking for a large family) and in how they are cooked….I use a Crockpot. When using a Crockpot, I don’t worry about the beans cooking dry and can let them cook several hours without worry.

This is another recipe that isn’t actually a recipe…..it’s more a list of ingredients.

green beans - I use about 2 pounds, cleaned, ends cut off and bean cut/snapped in half or thirds (depends on the length of the bean)
small red potatoes - I put in several, you want plenty but you want more beans than potatoes.
ham/bone -I buy ham shank/bone, you can usually find them at the supermarket for about $1.00 each and usually come one or two per package
water, enough to cover the beans
salt - I use kosher and add some in the beginning and then when beans have cooked about 4-5 hours, taste and usually have to add more.
onion - chopped - I don't always use onion but this time I did add some at the last minute
Ham Soup Base, 1 heaping teaspoon, optional - the beans are delicious without but this just adds a little extra flavor.
 
Put all of the above ingredients in a Crockpot/slow cooker and cook on high for approximately 5-6 hours. The time will vary...it depends on how firm/soft you like your beans and on your Crockpot. I have several Crockpots and each heats a little differently.

Fresh green beans...cleaned and snapped. I prefer stringless beans.

Ham shank or soup bone - if you can't find this in the section where ham is sold, check with someone at the meat counter.

Small red potatoes - I was lucky enough to find some very small ones at the farmers market. Scrub the potatoes to remove dirt and put them in the Crockpot. If the potatoes are a little large, cut them in  half.

Put everyhing in the Crockpot and cover with water.

I add a heaping teaspoon of Penzey's Ham Soup Base to the water. If you don't have a store near you or don't want to order it, the beans will still be delicious without. The only other product that I've seen like this in some supermarkets (I've seen it at Meijer, Giant Eagle and maybe Kroger) is Better than Boullion...they make a ham base. I've never used that so can't comment on the product.

Cover the Crockpot/slow cooker and cook on high for approximately 5-6 hours.

You may want to leave the house while this is cooking....the aroma could make you faint with hunger, even if you weren't hungry to begin with. These taste so good, it could make you cry!

Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker

It’s October in Southwest Ohio…the air is crisp and cool, the leaves on the trees are beginning to turn to their fall colors of yellow, orange and red. Autumn is definitely in the air and it’s my favorite time of the year. With the cooler weather my thoughts turn more and more to comfort food…roasts, stews and soup…heartier meals. Recently I’ve been craving pot roast…so when I did my grocery shopping this week, I picked up a roast, potatoes and carrots. This morning I pulled out my Crock Pot, gathered the ingredients and went to work.

Potatoes
Carrots
Onion
Garlic
Beef roast, approximately 3-4 pounds
Salt
Pepper
One package of dried onion soup mix....I don't always add this, the roast is just fine without.
beef broth ½ cup
½ cup flour and ½ cup water or broth, if you plan to make gravy

I don’t know how many potatoes or carrots I use but use a lot because my favorite part of this dish are the potatoes, carrots and gravy.

I put oil in a frying pan and brown both sides of roast ….beef cooked in the Crock Pot tends to look a little gray so I like to brown it first.

Put vegetables in the Crock Pot first then place the roast on top.

I was a little lazy and didn’t want to peel potatoes so chose to use red…all I had to do was give them a good scrub and cut up. I quartered the smaller potatoes and cut the larger into similar size.

I love baby carrots, I think they taste a little sweeter than regular carrots…again, no peeling; just add to the pot.

I used one onion…cut approximately the same size as potatoes.

One clove minced garlic. Whenever I use garlic it reminds me of a story.... I live in a small college town where most of the students live off campus. When these young people come to college, this is the first time that many of them have had to cook for themselves so cooking and shopping are new to them. One day while I was in the produce department at the supermarket, I had a young man come up to me carrying a bulb of garlic and asked me if it was a clove….he said he was going to prepare a dish that required one clove of garlic. I, of course, set him straight. Don’t even get me started on how some of these kids to their laundry……it would frighten you.

This looks good and it hasn't even cooked yet.

Place roast on top. I usually add dried onion soup mix at this point but the last time I was in Penzey’s, I saw a Beef Roast Seasoning and decided to use this instead. Salt and Pepper and add ½ cup of beef broth into the Crockpot.

Place lid on Crockpot. I sometimes start out with the Crockpot on high and then turn to low and let it cook for approximately 10-12 hours or 5-6 hours on high. Cooking times may vary depending on size and brand of slow cooker.

I left the house for the day and returned several hours later to the wonderful aroma of my roast cooking.

10 hours later....yum!

To make gravy, mix ½ cup flour with ½ cup water or broth until smooth. Remove meat and vegetables from crockpot, turn to high and add flour and water mixture, stirring constantly. Once all lumps are removed, put lid on crockpot and cook until boiling…this should take about 15 minutes. If the gravy is too thick, add liquid until it reaches the desired consistancy. If it's too thin, just let the gravy continue to cook a little longer. Salt and pepper, if needed.

I could hardly wait until I had the gravy made and the food plated. It was sooo good...another craving satisfied!