Slow Cooked: 200 exciting, new recipes for your slow cooker by Miss South Read Free Book Online

adore meatballs and these are based on a perfect version my friend Carolyne once made me for my birthday. Not only do I love eating meatballs, I find the act of making them incredibly relaxing. There’s something very satisfying about getting your hands in there, mixing everything through, and then rolling and shaping them so that you end up with a plump plateful in front of you, ready to be devoured.
    Two little tips will make your meatballs perfect every time. Firstly, make sure your meat is well chilled before shaping or you’ll repeat the meat slush puppie I made the time I skipped this step. Secondly, use breadcrumbs to keep the texture light and make your meat go further. They also hold the shape better when the meatballs are cooked. You may become slightly obsessed with making them like I am, but luckily they freeze well…
    SERVES 2–4
    1 teaspoon oil
    10g butter
    1 medium onion, finely diced
    2 slices of bread or 80g breadcrumbs (not golden)
    75ml milk
    500g pork mince, chilled
    1 large egg
    50g Parmesan, grated (optional)
    ½ lemon, zested (if waxed, give it a vigorous scrub under the hot tap first) or ¼ Preserved Lemon, chopped (see here )
    75g black olives, pitted and chopped
    200–250ml hot chicken stock
    1 lemon, juiced
    salt and pepper
    Heat the oil and butter in a small pan and sweat the chopped onion in it for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly (or if you have a batch of the Caramelised Onions from here , use these instead to skip this step).
    Remove the crusts from the bread and then soak the bread in the milk for about 10 minutes. This works best with stale bread. If using breadcrumbs, soak them too. Make sure you don’t use ‘golden’ breadcrumbs, which are very oily. Either use packaged white ones or make your own from stale bread and freeze until needed.
    Squeeze out any excess moisture from the bread and place it into a large bowl together with the chilled minced pork, the softened onion, the egg, Parmesan, lemon zest, chopped olives and salt and pepper. Mix well to combine everything, but don’t overmix.
    Wet your hands slightly and then pinch off small portions of the meat mix and roll into balls about the size of an unshelled walnut. Put each one on a plate as you go. If the meat gets sticky, pop it back in the fridge for 5 minutes and then start rolling again.
    Chill the meatballs for at least 30 minutes before cooking. I usually drop them into the slow cooker straight from the fridge, half cover with chicken stock and cook them on low for 6–7 hours.
    Drizzle the lemon juice over the meatballs before serving to lift them from ‘good’ to Carolyne’s ‘queen of the meatballs’ territory. Serve them with flatbreads or pasta.

SAUERKRAUT-SMOTHERED PORK CHOPS
    People do tend to snigger about sauerkraut in the UK, associating it with jokes about the Germans. I can only assume they have never actually eaten sauerkraut because it’s not to be joked about. It’s to be devoured with indecent haste, in fact. It’s tangy and salty and crunchy and utterly moreish and it loves being slow cooked.
    You can buy large jars of it for next to nothing in the Polish section of any large supermarket these days and it’s great value. Try it on top of hot dogs and the Caramelised Onions here as well as smothering it on these pork chops to tenderise the meat and add masses of flavour to the dish.
    Not only is this a one-pot meal, it’s practically a one-line recipe in its simplicity.
    SERVES 4
    2 onions, sliced
    1 parsnip, cut into chunks
    1 cooking apple, cored and cut into chunks
    150ml water
    4 spare rib chops
    200g sauerkraut
    salt and pepper
    Layer the onion, parsnip and apple on the base of the slow-cooker crock and add the water. Season the pork chops, bearing in mind sauerkraut is quite salty, and place them on top of the fruit and vegetables.
    Cover the chops with the sauerkraut, making sure the meat is completely covered, and then put the lid on the slow cooker. Cook it all on low for