MEATBALLS FILLED WITH PROVOLA AND SPECK




 

Cooking time: 4 hours in High mode


Difficulty: medium




Ingredients


  • 500 g of ground beef
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons of Parmesan
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 50 ml of milk
  • 1 teaspoon of parsley
  • 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs
  • 50 g smoked cheese
  • 25 g of diced speck
  • 350 ml of tomato sauce
  • Oil, salt and onion to taste

Preparation


Put the meat, egg, Parmesan, salt, milk, parsley and breadcrumbs in a bowl. Mix everything trying to obtain a mixture that is neither too soft nor too hard. It must be easy to work by hand and stay nice and firm once the meatball is made.

Take 1/5 of the mixture, about 100 g, mash it in the center and add provolone and speck. Work it in order to obtain a ball. Repeat the operation until the mixture is finished.

Once the meatballs have been obtained, put them in the Slow Cooker where a drizzle of oil, onion (the amount varies according to taste) and tomato puree was previously placed.

Cooking


Leave to cook for 3 and a half hours in HIGH temperature and then half an hour in LOW mode. Halfway through cooking, turn the meatballs upside down.

To accompany it, cut some homemade bread into strips, grate it and put it to garnish the dish.



SLOW COOKING STEAM ARTICHOKES



Cooking time: 4 hours in High mode


Difficulty: easy




Ingredients



  • 4 artichokes (Roman variant)
  • 1 meager cup of breadcrumbs
  • 1 bunch of chopped large-leaf parsley
  • 1 small teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 clove of minced garlic
  • 1 small teaspoon of chopped mint




Preparation


Soak the artichokes in water and lemon for at least an hour. Drain and clean the artichokes by removing the outer leaves, the beard inside the leaves and cutting the tips with a pair of scissors.

In a small bowl combine the breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and mint. Spread the leaves of the artichoke and generously fill the pockets with the mixture.


Cooking


Arrange the artichokes in the Slow Cooker pot and add about an inch of water to the bottom. Season the artichokes with olive oil. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours, until leaves are tender.

At the end of cooking, the color will tend to darken more (due to oxidation) than with traditional cooking, but the artichokes will be very tender, including the outer leaves. They can be served alone or as a side dish.



VEGETABLES "CAPONATA" WITH 20 INGREDIENTS



Cooking time: 3 hours in high mode


Difficulty: low




Ingredients


  • 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
  • ½ cup of tomato puree
  • 2 tablespoons of honey
  • ½ teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon of dried mint
  • Salt to taste.
  • ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 medium eggplant
  • 4 medium tomatoes
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 2 medium stalks of celery
  • ⅓ cup of golden raisins
  • 3 tablespoons of capers, rinsed and drained
  • 3 tablespoons of green olives
  • 3 tablespoons of pine nuts



Preparation


Mix together the vinegar, oil, tomato puree, tomato paste, honey, salt, pepper and cocoa in a cup.

Prepare aubergine, courgette, pepper, carrots, tomatoes, onion, celery and olives by cutting everything into cubes of the size you prefer. Then pour everything together with the raisins and capers into the Slow Cooker.

Pour the previously prepared mix into the cup over the vegetables and mix. Finally sprinkle on top with mint.


Cooking


Cook on HIGH for 3 hours and, when cooked, transfer to a bowl or container and allow to cool completely.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring often until golden and fragrant. Cool completely, then mix the pine nuts into the cooled caponata.

Serve garnished with basil or mint leaves and accompanied with slices of toasted bread.



LUCIANA'S STYLE OCTOPUS




Cooking time: 4 hours in high mode


Difficulty: medium




Ingredients


  • 500 g of octopus (about 4 small octopuses)
  • 500 g of cherry tomatoes
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 bunch of parsley
  • 200 g of olives in brine
  • black pepper to taste
  • Salt to taste.
  • 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of capers


Preparation


If the octopus you are using is not already clean, clean the octopus by emptying the contents of the head.

Insert in the head of each octopus: a clove of garlic, parsley (keep a part for later), a couple of pitted olives, 3 or 4 capers.

At this point with a toothpick close the head so that the contents cannot escape during cooking.

Place half of the tomatoes on the bottom of the Slow Cooker after cutting them in half and place the octopus on top.

Add the olives, capers, the other part of the chopped parsley, the remaining cherry tomatoes, three tablespoons of oil, salt and pepper.


Cooking


Close the lid and cook for 4 hours by setting the Slow Cooker to HIGH.

After 4 hours, open the lid. If too much liquid has formed, you can leave it to cook for another 30/45 minutes with the lid open, or put everything on the stove in order to restrict the cooking liquids.



PORK CHOP WITH HONEY 




Cooking time: 6 hours in high mode (or 10 hours in low mode)


Difficulty: easy




Ingredients


  • 1 kg of pork ribs
  • 3 tablespoons of oil
  • 2 tablespoons of honey (plus a little more for cooking in the oven)
  • 1 tablespoon of vinegar
  • ½ tablespoon of salt
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • pepper
  • thyme
  • rosemary
  • Origan


Prepation


Chop the aromas (adding others to taste).

Crush the two garlic cloves.

Mix all the ingredients except the meat and create an emulsion.

Massage the ribs with the emulsion.


Cooking


Place the ribs in the Slow Cooker if possible vertically or raised in some way from the bottom.

Cook for 6 hours on HIGH (or 10 on LOW).

Place the meat on a baking sheet, and brush it with plenty of honey

Cook under the grill for 7/10 minutes until the honey is caramelized



CHILLI WITH BEEF




Cooking time: 8 hours in low mode


Difficulty: easy


Ingredients


  • 300 g of ground beef
  • 300 g of tomato sauce
  • 3 x 200g cans of red beans
  • (about 300 g of drained beans)
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 pepper (in my recipe it was not used, but if you like it it is advisable to put it)
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 fresh chilli
  • (alternatively chili powder)
  • 2 teaspoons of cumin
  • 1/2 tablespoon of ground coriander
  • half a tablespoon of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
  • 1/2 tablespoon of ground pepper
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • tabasco q.s.
  • oil to taste



Preparation

First, slice the onion and garlic, making them into small pieces, and place them on the bottom of the Slow Cooker.

We add the ground, trying to break it and avoiding leaving it too compact. Let's distribute it evenly.

We sprinkle with a drizzle of oil.

We add the salt and all the spices.

We cover everything with the sauce.


Cooking 


We close the lid and turn on the Slow Cooker.

For the chili con carne, it must be cooked at the lowest “LOW” temperature for 8 hours.

After 8 hours we open the lid, mix well making sure that the meat is evenly distributed.

At this point you just need to add Tabasco to taste and serve.



SWEET AND SOUR MINI ONIONS



Cooking time: 3 hours in high mode


Difficulty: easy




Ingredients


  • About 600 g of mini onions
  • Half a glass of wine
  • Half a glass of vinegar
  • Half a glass of oil
  • 100 grams of sugar



Preparation


First you need to clean all the borettane onions well and then place them inside the Slow Cooker pot.

Pour half a glass of wine, half of vinegar and half of oil over the onions.


Finally, add the 100 grams of sugar and mix everything.


Cooking


Set the mode to HIGH and cook for about 3 hours. During this time, periodically check the onions because the exact cooking time depends on their size. In the end they should be soft, but not flake.


Once cooked, the onions are ready to be eaten or stored in a jar. In case you want to bring them to the table immediately, you can sauté them for a few minutes in a pan to give the dish a nice browning.



HUNGARIAN GOULASH




Ingredients


  • 900 g of adult beef stew
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 large potato
  • 1 large white onion
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 cup of tomato puree
  • 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
  • 30 g sweet paprika
  • Extra virgin olive oil as needed
  • Pepper as needed.
  • Salt to taste.


Preparation


Chop the onion, carrot, potato, tomato and pepper into smaller pieces. Also uniform the beef by cutting it into pieces of the same size.

Put the oil in a large pan and fry the onion, carrot, pepper and add half of the cumin seeds.

Then add the beef and let it brown on all sides for a few minutes.

Finally add the chopped tomatoes.


Cooking 


When the meat is browned, put everything in the slow cooker.

In a cup of tomato puree mix the sweet paprika, salt, pepper and the remaining cumin. Pour all the mixture into the pot to cover the other ingredients.

Also add the chopped potato and mix everything gently with a ladle so as not to damage the slow cooker internal pot.

Cook the goulash for a total of 5 hours in HIGH mode, mixing everything once after about 4 hours.

Serve the Hungarian goulash hot as per tradition. You choose if you like it more or less soupy, in which case adjust by adding water or flour during the last hour of cooking.



QUINOA SOUP




Cooking time: 3 hours in high mode


Difficulty: easy




Ingredients


  • 300 g of quinoa
  • water q.s.
  • 1 tablespoon of granules for broth
  • 3 medium sized sweet peppers
  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 stick of celery
  • 200 g of cherry tomatoes
  • extra virgin olive oil to taste



Preparation


Slice the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and peppers.

Fry the onion, celery, garlic and carrot in two tablespoons of oil.

Place the sauté on the bottom of the slow cooker.

Add the peppers, cherry tomatoes and the broth granules to the Slow Cooker (alternatively, chop a nut or dissolve it in a little hot water),

Add the quinoa.

Add water and cover everything, the water must exceed the vegetables at the bottom of a couple of fingers.

Cooking


Prepare the slow cooker for cooking on HIGH for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, open the slow cooker, mix and serve the quinoa soup.



PULLED CHICKEN WITH 3 INGREDIENTS




Cooking time: 8 hours in low mode (or 5 hours in high mode)


Difficulty: easy




Ingredients


  • 1.2 kg of skinned and boneless chicken breast
  • 300 g of BBQ sauce + more to serve for garnish
  • ketchup sauce to taste

Preparation


Place the chicken on the bottom of the Slow Cooker

in a cup add the 300 g of BBQ sauce and a little ketchup of your choice. I use it to give a less strong flavor to the dish by reserving a final addition of BBQ sauce as a filling.

pour everything on the chicken trying to cover it well

cover and turn on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 5 hours)

when cooked, place it in the heat maintenance position, take the chicken and place it on a plate. With two forks proceed to the fraying

once frayed put everything back into the Slow Cooker and mix the chicken and cooking juices

serve the chicken on soft sandwiches or wherever you want, seasoned with a little more barbecue sauce and red cabbage