Chicken and rice

I worked on this recipe a while. 

I first cooked chicken and rice together in a slow cooker, and it did not work the way I hoped. Then I toured a number of recipes and experimented until I got results I wanted, including rice that is almost creamy in texture. 

I'm a fan of risotto, but not a fan of spending time stirring. This recipe incorporates elements of recipes I found for "oven risotto." 

The right baking dish is important: I would not dream of making this in metal, for example. Also I fear that covering a dish with foil won't have the same result. 

Ingredients: 

3 tablespoons olive oil 

1 1/2 cup white rice (uncooked, not the pre-parboiled kind) 

1 teaspoon paprika 

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon oregano 

1 teaspoon ground black pepper 

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup dry, unoaked white wine (e.g. Italian Pinot Grigio or an unoaked Chardonnay) 

1 1/2 cup chicken broth 

6 pieces of fresh garlic 

1 1/2 - 2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken

Get a 12x8 ceramic baking dish with a lid. Coat the bottom of the dish with oil and add the rice, cheese and dry spices; then add the liquids. 

Spread the rice somewhat evenly before positioning the chicken on top; I usually add the pieces of garlic at this point also. You may wish to mince the garlic first, but I will just toss in some cloves. 

Cover and bake at 375°F for 45-60 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the chicken is fully cooked. Stir, re-cover and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. 

Beef stew in the slow cooker

I really like slow cookers. 

I also adore this recipe. This is the best beef stew I ever made, and one of few recipes in my book to feature very little garlic. Sometimes I add peas or sun-dried tomatoes. 

Amounts are approximate: adjust as desired. The only absolutely necessary ingredients are beef, beef stock, red wine, and cardamom. 

You may wish to add salt to taste at the end. I tend to under-salt and over-pepper, because I am old. 

Ingredients:

Beef roast cut into inch-size chunks (about a pound and a half) 

Carrots (1 package "baby" carrots)

Potatoes (several, red and/or golden)

1-2 cups pearl onions 

2 tablespoons pearled barley, if desired 

Olive oil 

Olive oil infused with orange oil, if you can get it

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil 

2-3 cups beef stock

1 cup dry red wine 

1/4 cup liquor - I prefer tequila or Irish whisky 

4 tablespoons dark soy sauce 

1-2 teaspoons ground cardamom 

2 teaspoon black pepper 

1 teaspoon salt 

3 cloves of garlic 

If the pearl onions are frozen, consider thawing them first. 

Turn slow cooker on high and coat bottom with good, extra virgin olive oil. (Save the orange for later.) Chop garlic fine and add it to the slow cooker, along with the barley, carrots, tequila, soy sauce, salt, pepper, cardamom, red wine, and enough beef stock to cover. 

Sear the beef in a skillet with the olive-orange oil on medium-high heat for a couple of minutes. Don't worry about browning every side, just get some color on it. Then transfer the beef to the slow cooker. 

Top the beef with potatoes; if they're large, cut them into chunks first. Golden and/or red potatoes are best. 

Finally, add the pearl onions and sesame oil, and cover with the rest of the beef stock. If everything isn’t covered, that’s fine, but immerse the onions and potatoes as best you can. 

Cover and set on high for about four hours, or high-then-low, if your slow cooker does that, for six-and-a-half-plus hours. 

 

Pork carnitas in the slow cooker

Now this is my personal spin on pork carnitas. I got the original recipe from a Mexican lady: she really appreciated how much I enjoyed her carnitas. I vary the recipe on occasion but a few elements remain the same: pork of course, the seasoning, and... well, the pork and the seasoning.

As I've said before, amounts are approximate: indulge your inner Zen archer.

Ingredients:

pork roast
orange juice
lemon and/or lime juice
tequila (reprosado, natch; or Irish whisky in a pinch - or you can stick to orange juice. You have to have some liquid, and I like something that has a bit of bite.)
garlic
carrot
potato
olive oil

plus a heaping teaspoon of each of the following, per pound of pork:
salt
black pepper
oregano
cumin

Start heating the slow cooker; coat the bottom with olive oil and put in the garlic, about three good-sized pieces of garlic per pound of pork. (You can reduce the amount of garlic without any problem - I simply love garlic.)

Take the pork and cut it into sections, maybe half a pound per section; this is a good time to remove excessive fat, if you're so inclined. Don't be afraid of the dark meat, it's your friend! Coat each section with the dry seasonings, and place it in the slow cooker.

Pour orange juice and alcohol over the pork, half-covering it. Add lemon and/or lime juice, about a teaspoon per pound of pork.

Toss in some carrot - I use three or four "baby" carrots per pound of pork. Also put in a small potato or two, cut into sections. Make sure the vegetables are submerged in the liquid.

(You'll notice I omit onions - the kiddo doesn't care for them, so I do without. If you add onion, recommend you dice it fine.)

Cover and cook on high for three-and-a-half or four hours; when the pork appears to be cooked, remove it and shred it with forks. Place it back in the liquid and let it cook another half-hour.

If you plan to use the pork in a taco or burrito, I recommend you fry it a minute or two on a hot griddle before serving. My son likes to fry it and use it in nachos, but I will eat this out of the crock if I'm allowed.

Slow cooker pork chops with Irish whiskey

First post: I figured it might be handy to collect my recipes, perhaps occasionally share them as well. As with any advice you might take, for food or anything else, your mileage may vary (YMMV).

A note regarding the title of this blog: I looked up meanings of the word "foob" on Urban Dictionary, and you kids are all clearly going to hell. The simple fact is I misspelled "food" in a text to my son once, and now when we talk about dinner, inevitably we refer to it as "foob."

All measures are regrettably approximate: this is cookery, not baking.

Ingredients:

Six thick boneless pork chops
Three cups chicken stock
3/4 cup Irish whisky
2 tablespoons olive oil
Six toes of garlic (optional) 
1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon coriander (optional)
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Arrange the pork chops on end, fatty edges down. 

(Edit: my first slow cooker is the old-school kind that's vertically oriented, not low-slung and oblong; now I also have one of the newer ones, and it's pretty awesome - I can fit an entire pork loin in there. But I shared this recipe before I had the new one, which explains the following parenthetical paragraph.)

(Kids, if you're using the newfangled kind of slow cooker, just arrange the chops however you think best. Also, get the hell off my lawn.)

Add just enough liquids so that the tops of the chops peek out. I always add the whisky first; if there is no room for the chicken broth, just leave it out. 

Sprinkle the dried spices on the pork; if you do it right, the spices will form a crust which is amazing. 

Set on high for four hours, or until the pork is sufficiently cooked. (Remember, dark meat takes longer to cook than white meat.) 

Here's a picture of the broth, which is tremendously tasty.