Tag Archives: slow cooker

A New Year’s Resolution, and slow cooked porridge

Honestly, I never actually abandon this blog despite the loooong gaps between posts. But the main purpose is for me to have my own ‘recipe book’ online for easy access, and if I don’t cook new things – well, there’s nothing to blog about!

Oh, hang on. Cooking new things sounds an awful lot like a goal for the year…

So, yup, here we are: 2024, and an intention to cook at least one new thing each month. And blog about it. 12 posts will be a whole lot more than I’ve managed of late 😉 (where does the time go, honestly?!).

If you’re not familiar with AppleJellyJam (ie this blog!), I do things my own way: there is a page for each recipe, with *just* the recipe – that’s what the links at the top of the page (and all due apologies, I totally know that words better on a full browser, not so much on mobile. One of these years…). Blog posts are chattier about the process, but it is always backed up with that just-the-info page. So you never have to read my sixteen pages of back story, like Ever Other Food Blog Ever! 😉

Well, not this time: I tried a recipe, I didn’t much care for it, it gets waffle but no linked page! Or rather, you can have the link I used: Slow-cooked porridge from BBC GoodFood.

I actually went looking for this after a friend recommended overnight porridge in the slow cooker. It’s not that porridge takes that long from scratch, but the big draw for me was the idea of stewing apple right along with the oats. You also make 3-4 portions at a time, and just reheat it from the microwave on other mornings. Sounds good? Hmm.

I did have my doubts looking at the recipe – it seems like a *lot* of liquid. It was a lot of liquid. I went with:

  • 1 cup oats (in fairness, mine weren’t jumbo, and that would have helped)
  • 2 cups milk (skimmed. Also I didn’t have that much milk to do it all)
  • 2 cups water (seriously? How much liquid?? But I don’t argue first go)
  • 2 small apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
  • a sprinkling of cinnamon

And that’s it! Bung it all in, cook on low for 8ish hours aka overnight.

And voila… urm, oaty … pudding?

slow cooked porridge

Admittedly, a bowl of porridge isn’t going to look that spectacular regardless, but the oats – remember I said I maybe should have bought jumbo oats? – had disappeared into nothingness. It tasted of oaty apple and cinnamon and not too bad at all (needed more sweetness), but the texture was just weird. I ate it, over three mornings, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. And the kicker? It took almost as long to reheat in the microwave as it does to just make porridge! Hah!

So as you can imagine, I’m not planning on trying this again. Yes, jumbo oats might help. Less liquid might help. Some honey/syrup/sugar might help. But honestly, just not worth the effort for the result. I am enjoying feeling healthy from the switch to porridge for most breakfasts, but I’ll stick to making it a little more traditionally. Or, y’know, out of a sachet in the microwave ‘cos mornings, bleh 😉

One bonus tip: you can buy liners for slow cookers. I dread to think what kind of a baked on mess this would have made, and decided not to find out. Liner worked well! Wouldn’t use them for everything, but a good mess saving possibility.

Slow-cooked chicken casserole

Much as I love my slow cooker (aka crock pot), my results can be a little hit and miss. Yesterday’s attempts at a fairly simple chicken casserole, however, were so amazing that I had to scribble down my recipe (here) so I can do this one again!

slow cooked chicken casserole

First to mention, I have one of the smaller-sized slow cookers (about 1.5 litres, I think), which is supposed to be a 2-portion version. However, I tend to cook my accompaniment separately (shout out for frozen mashed potatoes, btw!) which means I get 3 or even 4 portions out of a batch – certainly, 4 out of this batch!

Starting with chicken – I suppose I’m a little ‘mean’ with this, using less than 1 breast per person, but I like to balance it with more veg – I used carrots, parsnip, and leek as my veggies. Top tip: leave the carrots far more chunky than you would usually – the slow cooker makes them lovely and tender, and it’s nice to have a substantial ‘chunk’ as an added feature in the meal. This is pretty important, in my view, to balance the super-tender chicken which can flake into next to nothingness after a long cook. The leeks also more or less vanished into the sauce, along with the onion which I’d only added for flavour.

Flavour was the big aim for this dish. First, a splash of white wine. I’d advise going easy on this – wine can turn a little bitter in a slow cooker, I’ve found. Then some herbs and spices: a little garlic puree, a splash of (vegetarian, so fish-free) worcestershire sauce for that ‘umami-ness’, and a good shake of chicken seasoning (I have the Swartz spice one) – these are all rather unspecific, my apologies, but the phrase ‘to taste’ is a saver here 😉

I’m a recent convert to the ‘stock pot’ style of stock (no, I don’t make my own!), and used about ⅔ of one – the rest will go into my risotto tomorrow. I also added some chicken gravy powder – just a little, for flavour and, I’d hoped, a little thickness – no measurement to share, sorry! Add enough cold water to cover the ingredients to about ⅔ – too much liquid is a common mistake (for me!) with slow cooking. Mix it all well, especially trying to distribute the stock.

I’d prepped all this the night before, so as I was heading out to work I put the crock pot on low and left it for about 8 hours. The house smelled amazing when I got back last night!

Alas, I hadn’t quite got the liquid right, so it was looking fairly running – don’t panic! As I stirred, a lot of the chicken broke up, and the leeks broke down, both adding a little thickness. I also added some cornflour – mixed with a little cold water – and left the whole thing uncovered on high for about half an hour while I prepared the rest of the meal. I know some people find the point of slow cooking to have the entire meal in ‘one pot’ fashion, but I like the extra portion of ‘main’ and a little separation for the sides. Besides, frozen mashed potato is surprisingly nice, and ready in a few minutes!

Rather impressed myself with this one – for a ‘made up’ recipe, it was absolutely delicious! 🙂