ArcaMax

Slow Cooker Snow Storms

For many of you, in so many parts of the country, another 15 minutes to an hour and half or more has been added to your commute.  It has nothing to do with road construction. It has everything to do with ice and snow.

You have to dig your way out before you can get in your car.

You have to shovel the walk to keep the kiddies safe on the way to school and avoid a City fine for not clearing a path.

You have to salt the blazes out of your driveway because the ice has built up so bad you could skate on it.

In my case, (in the big city of Chicago), the snow plows don’t go through the alleys. All of our garages (for those of us lucky enough to have a garage) line up along the alleys.  We’ve had more snow this year than we had in the last three years combined. And it’s only early February.  We don’t have much more space to pile snow.  It’s really tough to get out of our garage at this point and they’ve been predicting snow about every 3 days lately.  We got 5 more inches today!

I love snow.  Don’t get me wrong. That’s why I live here.  I don’t, however, love the logistics required at the moment.

And here’s the kicker: if you don’t get it shoved in the morning, it’s waiting for you when you get home.

I can’t shovel for you, but I can make the job of getting dinner ready FASTER and TASTY.  Let’s pull out the slow cooker.

The slow cooker is a mainstay for many and I know many a harried parent who throws things in the crock pot and rushes off to work.  I knew one guy who used to just toss in six chicken breasts with some broth and head off to work.  He came home to six cooked chicken breasts. He’d cut up one breast each evening and put it on top of a salad and that was his dinner.

I cringe at the thought.

So let’s make slow cooking tasty.  Most recipes for a slow cooker are based on a medium-sized pot and serve approximately 4 adults.  Most of those recipes can be doubled for up to 8. You might have to adjust the cooking liquid so the pot doesn’t get too full but other than that you should be fine. I have 4 slow cookers; one for each cooking application.  I have a teeny one for dips and sauces.  The medium will make dinner for four.  This is the one I use the most.  I have a bigger one for small crowds.  I cook large batches of things like chili in there, or use it to keep a large dish warm on a buffet.  And I bought the biggest one when I needed to make a whole load of ribs for a crowd. You should choose the pot that best suits your family and your needs.

Use a recipe like this one below - Italian Crock Pot Stew.  Toss the stuff in the pot quickly, put the lid on and get off to work (see instructions at the end for cooking for 7 hours.  Then use the auto-shut off on your pot so it keeps your food warm).  Then when you’re shoveling the final piles of snow in the early evening you can come into the house and smell your dinner ready-to-eat! 

Italian Crock Pot Stew

This dish is very easy to make. It better be or it doesn’t deserve to be a crock pot meal! All you have to do is brown the meat and then time adding the mushrooms. Walk away from your crock pot and dinner will cook itself.

A note on the Italian sausage: I like my sausage “loose”; not in a casing like a wiener. I slice the casing and take out the meat and break it up into once inch blobs. You don’t need to make little meatballs; just break up the meat into chunks like you’d find on a pizza. Sweet Italian sausage is not sugary it’s just not as spicy as hot sausage. You make this dish with all sweet sausage if you don’t like too much spice. I love hot food but I would not recommend you make this with all hot or it will be very VERY spicy.

Servings: Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Tbl olive oil
3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, broken into bites
3/4 pound hot Italian sausage, broken into bites
2 small, six inch zucchini cut into one half inch rings
1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper cut into one-inch chunks
1/2 a medium onion cut into chunks (it will fall apart later)
1 tsp garlic (jar garlic is fine)
28 oz chopped Italian tomatoes. I use canned organic with the juice.
2 tsp Italian spice blend
8 oz thickly sliced large button mushrooms; or small button mushrooms cut in half
1-1/2 cups Italian cheese blend
4 Tbl of fresh basil cut into thin slices (a.k.a chiffonade)

Instructions:

Put the broken up sausage and the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Toss. Cook on medium high until both sides of the sausage are browned. You don’t need to cook the sausage all the way through. It will finish in the crock pot. The reason to sauté it ahead is to get a nice brown crust on it so it will be visually appealing. My secret is to leave it alone while it gets the crust on it. Don’t toss it around too much. This will take about 3 minutes per side.

When the meat is browning you can cut up all of your veggies. You’ll have plenty of time. When the sausage is done put half of it in the crock pot. Layer in the zucchini, pepper onion and garlic. Then add the other half of the sausage. Top it all with the tomatoes. Just open the can and pour it on juice and all. Add the Italian spices and stir to get it all mixed up.

Put the top on the crock pot and cook on high heat for one and a half hours. When that time is up add the mushrooms and stir again. The crock pot will be rather full so be careful when you are stirring. Just poke the mushrooms into the hot liquid if you need to. The reason not to put the mushrooms in too soon is you don’t want them to over-cook and get mushy. Put the top back on and let it cook another one and a half hours on high. Most crock pot recipes say cook eight hours on low or four hours on high. My theory is if you cook three hours on high...maybe a few minutes more, your veggies will still have some bite to them. That’s a good idea when zucchini is involved. Another secret to crock pot cooking. Don’t peak. The more you open the top, the longer it will take to cook. Some say you add 15 minutes to the cooking time every time you open to peek or stir. At the three hour point pull out a piece of your veggies. If you like them then your meal is done. If they are a little too crunchy, cook for up to 30 minutes more.

If you need to cook this while you are at work I would best suggest you plan on seven hours on low. Or start it on your lunch hour if your commute is short. And keep in mind mushy is not all bad. If you can’t get home the meal will still taste great. It will just be softer. The stew will be great served in large soup bowls. When you put your stew in the bowl you’ll be topping it with the cheese and then the fresh basil.

Serving Suggestions:

Serve with a quick salad and you have a gourmet meal.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola