A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

A Post About My Slow Cooker and Then It Snowed

I wrote this post last night and during the night something happened. It snowed...AGAIN! I couldn't ignore what was going on outside my window. Here is the tree that we call "Blue" a couple of months ago.... and here she is this morning. We are to have snow all day ending sometime tomorrow. Accumulations of up to a foot in some places. It is very cold and the snow is light. What a pretty sight to wake up to a white wonderland...Joe says, "Balisha, you don't have to shovel it." I smile and make the coffee :)

And now the post about the slow cooker...
Here I am writing about the slow cooker again. Things must be slow around here :) The food was so flavorful yesterday. I sort of made up my own recipe...after watching Ina do a similar thing on TV. Here is the way I did it:
We bought something called short ribs appropriate for grilling. These weren't those chunky short ribs, but flat, sort of thin, with a bone down one side. I think we had a little over 2 lbs. I put the ribs on a bake sheet and put a Tb. of salt on them and a Tsp of pepper. They went into a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 min. I used 4 carrots, 2 leeks, 1 onion, 3 stalks of celery, and 1/4 c olive oil. I chopped the veggies sort of smallish and all the same size and put them in the hot pan with oil. I cooked this mixture for 10-15 minutes till they were starting to brown. Then I poured a whole bottle of dry red wine on the mixture and cooked it down for about 20 min. I then put the veggie mixture into the slow cooker and put the meat on top. I poured a large container (4 c) of beef stock over it and added a Tbs of brown sugar. Put on the lid and didn't peek for 6 hours. When I took the cover off.....heaven...I took the meat out and put it on a platter, and then fished the bones out of the pot. I poured the mixture into a saucepan and used a hand blender to blend. I put a flame under the pan and added some water that I had put two Tbs of flour in. This made a thinnish gravy or sauce. I served it with mashed potatoes and Italian green beans and Italian bread. The flavor was outstanding. We ate fast at first and then sat back and slowed down, so we could really enjoy it. There was a lot of sauce leftover, so I put it in a freezer bag and will make a noodle dish using it. I would say that this was a very labor intensive meal. I remember when Crockpots first came out and women would just throw something in and go to work....come home to a pretty tasteless meal. That's why so many Crockpots are way back in the cupboard in hard to reach places in the kitchen. The new slow cooker recipes are not as easy as one might like. You really have to brown the meat first to intensify the flavor that is so good. I think that you could call what I did yesterday "Gourmet Cooking" using a slow cooker. Next it's Joe's turn. He is making chili using our new cooker.
Balisha

5 comments:

Roses and Lilacs said...

Hi Balisha, it was a miserable drive to work this morning. I hope I can get down my little country road going home this afternoon.

I haven't used a slow cooker in years. I more or less replaced it with a pressure cooker which I love.

What kind of slow cooker do your have?
Marnie

Balisha said...

Hi Marnie,
I think that it's supposed to last all day unless the forecast changed from last night.Be safe driving home.
I bought a Wolfgang Puck brand. Stainless steel, digital timer, warming setting etc.

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

I could smell it clear South.
Sounds so good.
You gave me an idea!!!

Lona said...

I see you got your snow. Wow! It will be here at noon today. Thanks for sending it on. LOL! You could have just kept it Balisha. It is a beautiful one for you though. Ours is going to be the old blowy drifting kind and in these hills it will do a good job of it.
Yummy! Your crockpot meal sounds so delicious. Great for a cold day too with a hot tea.
I am glad you do not have to shovel ;-)

Amber Star said...

My husband loves his slow cooker, but me...not so much. We made a pot roast in the oven using the old fashioned method of slow cooking. I'm not such a fan since I can't cook the meat and pour off the fat. His barbeque using a lean roast and a ton of spices is really good. That one is a real keeper.

We don't have snow today, but it is windy and very cold.