Tag Archives: slow cooker

Jan 10

Onions in the slow cooker: your questions answered

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I mentioned in a Twitter/Facebook update that I was making caramelized onions in the Crock Pot, and that drew a couple of questions.

Basically, you just slice up a bunch of onions, breaking them up into rings, toss them in a little oil, and put them in the crock pot on _high_, stirring every hour, until they get nice and brown. Sometimes, I add whole cumin seeds at the beginning. In some cases, you may need to take the lid off for a while and let some of the extra moisture evaporate.

Usually, I add a generous amount of salt, but I didn’t this time, as an experiment. I’ll definitely add salt to season the onions later; I just wanted to see if not salting them affected how well they caramelized. So far, it doesn’t seem to be making a difference; the moisture seems to be coming out of the onions as they cook just as it would with the salt.

As far as what I’m going to do with them, the short answer is: I don’t know. I’ll put some on a roast beef sandwich for dinner tonight, and I’ll probably add some to rice with dinner tomorrow. They’re very versatile. I just had some extra onions laying around and felt like caramelizing them.

My favorite thing to do with them is to make homemade onion dip, but I won’t do that this week. Take two parts sour cream, one part mayo, a little bit of horseradish and/or black pepper, and fold in some of the caramelized onions, chopped finely. (Be sure and chill the onions before mixing them into the dip.) Add salt if desired and if your onions weren’t too salty to begin with. Beats the soup-mix version by a mile.

May 24

Attention deficit chicken

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… so called because I thought about the recipe when I should have been paying attention in church this morning. This was sort of improvised, and I’m guessing at some of the quantities because I did not take notes.

1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1/4 to 1/2 cup diced carrots (I diced up little carrot sticks; I’m guessing it was about two whole carrots’ worth.)
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups white wine (I used the salt-laced cooking wine they sell in the grocery. I know, everyone tells you not to do that. So sue me.)
2 T Italian seasoning
Black pepper
Salt (if you didn’t use the salted cooking wine)
4 chicken thighs

Combine onion, carrots, pepper, garlic, tomato paste, wine and italian seasoning in slow cooker. Rest chicken thighs on top and season with salt and pepper.

Turn slow cooker on high for 15 minutes, then cut down to low and cook four hours. Do not open during cooking time.

Remove chicken and check for doneness; use immersion blender (“stick” blender) to puree sauce to desired consistency. Return chicken to sauce to keep warm.

Serve over pasta with parmesan cheese.

May 17

Slow cooking

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I have a rump roast in the slow cooker. The sauce may wind up being too salty, thinking back on what’s in there, but maybe I can dilute it with something. I sort of threw it together by the seat of my pants — onions, mushrooms, thyme, bay leaves, oregano, slightly-smashed garlic cloves, worcestershire sauce, tomato paste. I seared the roast in a cast iron skillet and I deglazed the skillet with that salt-laced cooking wine (I know, I know, but I hardly ever have real wine, and you can’t get it in the grocery stores here in Tennessee) and a little extra water. Then, at the last minute I threw in a couple of chipotle peppers, just because I happened to run across them in the fridge.

There wasn’t much liquid when I left for work this afternoon but there is now. The apartment smelled terrific when I walked in the door.

I am using the greatest invention of the millennium so far, Reynolds’ Slow Cooker Liners, which means that — unless you happen to poke a hole in the bag when serving — there is near-zero cleanup of the slow cooker when you’re through. Even if you poke a hole, the mess isn’t cooked-on, and so it’s pretty easy to dispense with.