Respect

If you think that slow cooking belongs to the “bung it all in, couldn't care less brigade” then think again.

Whatever method of cooking you choose it is true what they say – if you treat your ingredients with care, attention and respect it shows in the finished dish.

I get a great sense of satisfaction in getting the absolute best out of old fashioned cuts of meat that were renowned for being as tough as old boots – it's why the slow cooking method works so well.

To prove my point, here's the steak pie filling – browned and ready to slow cook :

before,

and after,

Happy Autumn Days!

Meat for slow cooking

Cheaper cuts of meat take longer to cook to become tender and flavoursome.

For example, beef cheeks (or pigs' cheeks) are now popular, braised for 8 hours I promise you'll never look back. Cuts of meat like shin and skirt make great casseroles or pie fillings. You're using cuts that come from the hard working muscles of the animal.

Two other cuts I'd recommend :

Lamb shanks

Shanks are fashionable these days so easy to source. I slow cook 4-6 (depending on the size of the shank) at a time. You can either leave in tact or strip and then freeze. Place a defrosted whole shank in a pre-heated oven so that the outside can brown.

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6. Wrap the shank in foil and bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil and let the shank brown for a further 15 minutes.

The meat from the shank falls away and is tender and sweet. Bear in mind that when you slow cook meat containing a bone it will take longer.

Ham hock

Is another cut that is perfect for slow cooking and its uses are many and varied. If you want to be cheffy you can turn it into a terrine. Strip it and leave in sizeable chunks – perfect with your slow cooked chicken as a pie base. Pea and ham soup anyone?

Keep it simple – let the meat speak for itself!

When you have another 5 minutes spare

… try this and before we begin can I suggest that if you're cooking a roast this weekend, cook extra veggies – par boiled or part roasted parsnips, carrots and potatoes would be excellent choices.

Slow cooked pork loin steaks with

Calvados cream sauce

600g/1lb 5oz pork loin steaks – 6 steaks, trimmed

glug of rapeseed/Canola oil

salt and black pepper

generous sprinkle of dried herbs – sage or

thyme

2 tsps of garlic paste – optional

500ml/1 pint approx vegetable stock – use a stock pot if you're

not using your own stock

Heat the oil in a large frying pan until hot. Seal the loin steaks on both sides, add salt and black pepper, garlic and herbs. Set aside the steaks in the slow cooker then add your stock to the residual juices in the frying pan, bring to the boil and slow cook for 3 hours.

Before you begin to make your sauce, time for the leftover veggies – try and make sure they are of a similar size. Place in a foil tray and drizzle with rapeseed or similar oil and season with salt and black pepper. Pop into a pre-heated oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6 for 25 minutes to allow them to finish roasting and become crisp.

For the sauce, you'll need approximately 200ml of stock from the cooked pork steaks - strain, cover and fridge until cold and ready for use. Freeze the remainder of the stock.

Calvados cream sauce

15g/¾ oz unsalted butter

15g/¾ oz plain flour

1 tsp garlic paste or 1 clove, crushed

glug of Calvados

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

200ml/7 fl oz stock

300ml/½ pint/10 fl oz double cream

salt and black pepper

Melt the butter, take the pan off the heat, add the flour and whisk. Return to the heat and cook out the flour for 2/3 mins, stirring continuously – add the garlic paste and mustard and then, on a high heat, add the Calvados and cook for 1-2 mins. Add the cold stock straight into the sauce and whisk until smooth, then cook on a low heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve in large bowls, veggies first then the pork and drizzle with the sauce.

It looks just like this :

Feeling peckish?

Your choice of pie lid

This is not the pastry police - you can take the easy route and use a ready-made pastry sheet, either puff or shortcrust.

If you choose this option, use square foil trays or a casserole dish – approx 24x24x6 cms – 9½x9½x2¼” Wilkos sell the foil trays.

Cut the pastry lid to size and glaze with beaten egg. Pre-heat oven to 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 30/40 minutes depending on whether your meat is still hot from the slow cooker or has been left, say, until the next day.

Depending on the depth of your foil tray you may have enough meat left to freeze for another pie, or you could just serve the slow cooked meat, casserole style, with cheese and onion mashed potatoes for a change!

Make your own shortcrust pastry lid – with or without the cheese as mentioned in “Do you like making pastry?”

Make your own “pot” pies – you can decant the filling into your pots, cover and freeze. Make your pastry when you have time. You don't have to make lids that are an exact fit for your pots – cut out pastry circles, or hearts or whatever design your cutter collection inspires. Bake the pastry tops on a baking sheet and place on top of your pie filling. Perfect for a dinner party.

Create a dish that is designed for “feet up” in front of your favourite “guilty pleasure” viewing – three elements – mashed potato, ladle the steak filling, top with a pastry lid, serve with veggies of your choice.

No pressure – do whatever suits you!

When you have thirty minutes to spare …

… how about slow cooking a pie filling, in this instance - steak.

Once upon a time the kids were coming to visit. As I've said recently their favourite meat is lamb which was already on the menu. For some reason best known only to me I decided to serve two mains, giving a choice. I wanted to make a pie, I think there's nothing more comforting in the Autumn/Winter. Hey, if the worst came to the worst and it didn't get eaten I could always freeze it.

Here's the recipe for the filling :

Steak Pie Filling

1kg/2.2lbs braising steak or stewing steak, cubed

glug of rapeseed or Canola oil

2 x Knorr beef stock pots

2 heaped tbsp tomato paste

2 heaped tbsp small chunk Branston pickle

or 2 generous tbsp Branston sauce

Brown the meat in a frying pan, using a drop of rapeseed oil – do this in small batches – if you don't you'll get grey looking meat - it'll take ages and will stew. Using a slotted spoon pop the browned meat into the slow cooker.

Dissolve the stock pots in the residual pan juices, then add the tomato paste – make sure the paste is properly melted and “cooked out” - if you don't do this you'll get a bitter taste. Add your Branston, then add 250ml water, bring to the boil and tip over your meat. Slow cook on low for 4 hours. If your gravy is too thin then add a little slaked cornflour and thicken to taste.

Freeze in amounts that suit you. For example, if you make pot pies weigh out how much filling you'd use for the size of pot and freeze accordingly.

Life is so much easier this way!

By the way, the thirty minutes in the title is the time it takes to seal and brown the batches of steak, the rest is done by magic.

Pastry Preferences are on their way.

When you have five minutes to spare …

… slow cook chicken fillets - once cooked, cool and freeze.

Tarragon Chicken

Serves 4

For the slow cooking

4 chicken fillets

drop of Rapeseed/Canola oil and a knob of butter

500ml/1 pint of chicken stock

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan until hot. Seal the fillets on both sides, set aside in your slow cooker. Add the stock to the residual juices in the pan and bring to the boil – add to your fillets and slow cook for 2/3 hours, depending on the thickness of the fillets.

Defrost in the fridge before use if you freeze after cooking.

For the completed dish

Bunch of spring onions, finely diced

1 tsp dried tarragon

Fresh tarragon – chopped – approx 2 tbsp

160ml/¼ pt/5 fl oz approx Vermouth or dry white wine

½ tsp of sea salt flakes

120ml/4fl oz double cream

white pepper

drop of Rapeseed oil/Canola and a knob of butter

**optional variation in sauce see below

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan, add the onions and then dried tarragon. Add the mashed garlic and stock paste at this stage. Add the Vermouth, let it bubble up, add salt. Add the cooked breasts and let them simmer for 20/25 minutes – depending on the size of the fillets. When you're ready to serve remove the fillets, wrap in foil and keep warm, bring the liquid to the boil, add the cream and fresh tarragon and finally white pepper.

**You can vary your sauce by adding 2 cloves of roasted garlic paste, mashed into a Knorr chicken stock pot – it's delicious – if you like garlic!

You can always slow cook more than four fillets – there are deals out there! Finally, don't forget to freeze in smaller quantities for convenience, you won't be sorry.

Your Autumn Treasure Chest (ATC) … slow cooking spree

If you're not familiar with slow cookers, or crock-pots in the USA, it's a method of cooking that you'll find very useful, particularly through the Autumn and Winter.

What follows gives you basic hints and tips and then a series of recipes and how to fill your Treasure Chest.

First up, the boring bits - the hints and tips :

You can slow cook all sorts of stuff apart from meat and poultry – soups, veggies, desserts, the world is your lobster!

I've used mine, all three of them in various sizes, principally for meat and poultry.

Cheaper cuts of meat take longer to cook to become tender and flavoursome.

For example, beef cheeks (or pigs' cheeks) are now popular, braised for 8 hours they melt in your mouth. Cuts of meat like shin and skirt make great casseroles or pie fillings. You're using cuts that come from the hard working muscles of the animal.

Two other cuts I'd recommend :

Lamb shanks – fashionable these days. I slow cook 4-6 (depending on the size of the shank) at a time. You can either leave in tact or strip and then freeze. Place a defrosted whole shank in a pre-heated oven so that the outside can brown.

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6. Wrap the shank in foil and bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil and let the shank brown for a further 15 minutes.

The meat from the shank falls away and is tender and sweet. Bear in mind that when you slow cook meat containing a bone it will take longer.

Ham hock is another cut that is perfect for slow cooking and its uses are many and varied. If you want to be cheffy you can turn it into a terrine. Strip it and leave in sizeable chunks to partner your slow cooked chicken as a pie base. Pea and ham soup anyone?

I've used a slow cooker for years and still apply the same principles as I've always done (which does not include the whole chicken recipe – rules are meant to be broken!). I seal my meat/poultry before it goes into the slow cooker and although these days you can buy slow cookers that are suitable for hob to hotplate I use a frying pan to seal – I know it creates washing up but the method in my madness is that I can set aside the protein and then use the juices in the pan adding stock and whatever else I feel like, de-glazing and getting the best flavour possible. I can see what I'm doing too.

Don't overfill with liquid – as a guide half to two thirds maximum.

Thickening. I'm not a lover of coating meat in flour and then sealing it. As far as I'm concerned you're slow cooking the coating and not the meat. I prefer to thicken with a teaspoon or two of slaked cornflour at the end of the cooking time.

If you don't own a slow cooker you might be tempted to buy a small version. It's my experience that you'll regret it – if you are cooking for yourself but feed family and friends too it's the perfect vehicle for saving you time, effort and of course dosh.

I find that stainless steel and a separate hotplate is most practical for me. I can decant from the slow cooker to freeze but leave enough for a meal and then transfer the cooker to my hob to re-heat later.

There are lots to choose from so take your time!

P.s. If you're new to this slow cooking malarkey invest in a slow cooking recipe book. There are some excellent ones out there – Lakeland publish at least two.