Make It Fast, Cook It Slow (21 page)

PARMESAN TILAPIA

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Set the sauce aside. Lay out sheets of aluminum foil, and put a fillet or two in the center of each sheet. Rub the sauce mixture on both sides of the fish. Fold the foil over to make a little packet surrounding the fish, and crimp the ends. Put the foil packet into your slow cooker. Do not add water. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours; fish should flake easily with a fork when done. Please take care when opening foil packets—the steam will be quite hot. Remove fish from the foil, and serve with your favorite side dishes.

The Verdict

Even people who aren’t crazy about fish will like this recipe. You’ve got cheese, mayonnaise, and lemon juice—a trifecta that can’t be beat. This is my family’s favorite fish recipe.

SEAFOOD ALFREDO

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Make a roux by melting butter in a saucepan on the stovetop and slowly stirring in flour until no lumps remain. Add to slow cooker. Pour in milk, add herbs, salt, garlic, and shredded cheeses. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Add frozen seafood, and stir well. Cover again and cook on high for 30 minutes, or until the seafood is heated through. Toss with freshly cooked pasta; I used brown rice spaghetti.

SWEET AND SPICY SALMON

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart or larger slow cooker. In a shallow dish, combine all the spices, salt, garlic, and brown sugar. Spread out a length of foil for each piece of salmon. Put a salmon fillet in the center of a foil sheet, and rub the spice and sugar mixture on all sides of the fish. Fold the foil over and crimp the sides to make a foil packet. Repeat with each piece of fish. Put the packets into a dry slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 4 hours, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

W
e eat a lot of chicken in our house. I grew up on boneless, skinless chicken, and we had it quite often. When I started cooking and shopping for my own family, I followed suit and made sure that we had plenty of chicken parts in the freezer. The problem with eating a lot of chicken is that you get bored. Really bored. And you start to hate chicken. And maybe you begin to kind of want to gouge your eyeballs out with a fork at the idea of another boring dry chicken meal. These aren’t boring chicken (or turkey) meals. These chicken meals are moist and packed full of flavor.

20- TO 40-CLOVE GARLIC CHICKEN

serves
6

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 6-quart oval slow cooker. Place onion slices on the bottom of the stoneware insert. In a large mixing bowl, toss chicken parts with olive oil, salt, paprika, pepper, and all of the garlic cloves. Pour into stoneware, on top of the onion. Do not add water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 6. The longer you cook chicken on the bone, the more tender it will be. If you use drumsticks, the ones on the sides of the crock will brown, and may stick, burning a bit. If this bothers you, you can rearrange them with tongs an hour before serving. I cooked our chicken on low for 7 hours, then kept it on warm for another 2.

The Verdict

This is wonderful! I used thirty-three cloves, because that’s how many I had in the house. The onion and garlic had a mild, nutty garlic flavor that was a bit sweet. Some of the larger cloves of garlic that were still intact were kind of strong—they itched my nose. The kids ate the chicken (no onions or garlic for them) dipped in barbecue sauce. Adam and I each ate three drumsticks that night, and I used the leftovers to make some amazing slow-cooked fried rice.

ABSOLUTELY CRAZY TURKEY

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Spread the bacon slices on the bottom of your stoneware. Lay anchovies on top. Add the turkey cutlets; it’s okay if they overlap. Sprinkle on the sun-dried tomatoes. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

The Verdict

I got adventurous with this dish, and was actually the only one in the house to give it a try—everyone else was scared. The combo of the smoky and slightly salty turkey with the acidity and tang of the sun-dried tomatoes was crazy-good. I didn’t eat the bacon or the anchovies—I just used them for flavor.

APPLE, CHEDDAR, AND TURKEY MEATBALLS

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. In a large mixing bowl, mix the ground turkey with the egg, seasonings, apple, cheese, and cranberries. I used my hands. Make golf-ball size meatballs, and place into your stoneware, stagger-stacking. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 6 hours.

While they cook, juice will collect on the bottom of the crock, and the meatballs will begin to look bright white and slimy. Don’t be alarmed—they will continue to cook and will brown. They (miraculously enough!) don’t seem to stick together in a big blob; you’ll be able to separate them.

The Verdict

We all really liked these a lot. They’re moist, flavorful, and fun to pop in your mouth. I did need to fish the cranberries out of my three-year-old’s portion, because evidently eating warm cranberries is “wrong.”

APPLESAUCE CHICKEN

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken pieces into your stoneware. Add the onion (if you are using the dried onion, wait and add it to the applesauce). In a small bowl, mix the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, and spices together. Pour on top of the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 7 hours, or on high for 3 to 4 hours. Serve with rice or quinoa.

The Verdict

This is a good chicken recipe. Don’t be concerned by the name—the chicken doesn’t turn into applesauce, it gets cooked in it, but still keeps its shape. The kids ate this! And liked it! And said I was the best mother ever and that I should make this every single night from now on. And it had nothing to do with the long lecture about wasting food and starving people. Nothing at all.

APRICOT CHICKEN

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken into the stoneware. In a small bowl, combine the other ingredients, and pour evenly over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 3 to 4 hours. Serve with white or brown rice.

The Verdict

This tastes so good that everyone you serve will be astonished that it was cooked in a slow cooker. That is a compliment.

BACON AND CHEESE CHICKEN

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Pour the olive oil into the bottom of your crock and spread it around. If you are using thighs, or a fattier cut of meat, this step is not needed. Place chicken pieces on top of the oil.

In a small bowl, combine the teriyaki sauce with the ranch dressing. (I kept tasting this—the flavor is so bizarre and tasty; I’ve never had anything like it.) Pour the sauce over the top of the chicken. Add the shredded cheese and the crumbled bacon to the crock, distributing it between the chicken pieces, if you can. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 3 to 4 hours. The cooking time will depend on how thick your chicken pieces are, and if they are fresh or frozen.

BACON-WRAPPED CORNISH GAME HENS

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Remove as much skin from the birds as you can with poultry shears. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, thyme, and rosemary. Rub the mixture all over the birds, inside and out. Place birds into stoneware. Wrap the bacon strips around each, 2 strips one way, and 1 strip the other, tucking the ends into the cavities. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours. I cooked ours on low for 4 hours, and then switched it to high for the last hour. Serve with rice and roasted veggies.

The Verdict

Oooh, boy. I like Cornish game hens. The meat is moist and rich—maybe a bit gamey for some, but quite full of flavor. The kids ate all the little drumsticks and a lot of the breast meat. The rosemary and thyme were perfect, and the bacon provided a neat smoky flavor.