Slow Cooker Thai Red Curry Chicken

I've been itching to get out my slow cooker, so today was perfect for this opportunity. A thick fog blanketed us this morning, nothing but greyness and dampness, after an evening of downpours followed by soaking, soft drizzle into the small hours of the morning. These weather conditions actually excite me for 2 reasons. First of all the gloominess outside calls for cozy wood fires to be lit inside, with the aromas of slow cooked spicy food wafting in and out of every room. Secondly, and most exciting of the two, is it's nearly mushroom time, and with the drenching received on Friday night, followed by a beautiful sunny day (after the fog had lifted), I'm off in search of the elusive mushy tomorrow. Maybe I'll be lucky, maybe not.

This dish is extremely simple, as are all slow cooker dishes. Dump the ingredients into the pot, turn it on and walk away. This meal is done in 4 hours total and simple in flavour but tasty. Next time I would perhaps add some extra Thai ingredients such as kaffir lime leaves and a touch of lemon grass. The possibilities are endless. And maybe a sprinkle of chopped coriander, rather than the basil leaves (which aren't visible in the photo).

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1kg chicken thigh fillets, trimmed,
• cut in half crossways
• 114g Thai red curry paste (out of a jar is fine)
  
• 1 cup Chicken Stock
• 150g fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed, halved
• 230g can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 140ml can coconut milk
• 1/3 cup basil leaves
• steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Method

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken, in batches, for 1 to 2 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer to slow cooker.
2. Reduce frying pan heat to low. Add remaining oil to pan. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes or until aromatic. Add stock and stir until curry paste has dissolved. Add mushroom and bamboo shoots. Pour mixture over chicken and stir to combine.
3. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 1/2 hours. Combine fish sauce, sugar and coconut milk in a jug. Stir into curry. Cover and cook on HIGH for a further 30 minutes.
4. Stir in basil. Spoon curry over rice. Serve.

Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging has arrived in Australia this week and Anh, of Food Lovers Journey, from Melbourne will be the kind hostess. Be sure to visit her beautiful blog full of lots of Vietnamese inspired recipes and great photos.

Judy's lamb shanks

You know how it is....the conversation around the "cuppa" tearoom table, amongst (mostly female) staff, goes something like this (as well as other delectable topics, not necessarily food related!) ......

"I have no idea WHAT I'm going to cook for dinner tonight"...(groan....sigh). Then someone pipes up with..."WEELLL...., I cooked lamb shanks last night...(smirk)". "Oh wow, lamb shanks are my all time favourite...how did you cook them?"

And this is the simple recipe, scribbled on the back of a very "important" document, that never made it's way to the intended recipient. It's now in my recipe folder. I really feel quite guilty about that (oh well..), but I've enjoyed this meal over and over, cooked either in a pressure cooker, or as last nights dinner, done in the slow cooker.

Personally I prefer the pressure cooked method, not only for it's speed and convenience, but because the shanks retain their shape, magnificent flavour, and most importantly, the meat still falls off the bone with a gentle coercion from the fork. With the slow cooker, most of the meat had fallen into the sauce, and there was nothing but sauce and bones. However, dinner was ready when I came home, after a long week of scribbling recipes on the back important documents. I recycle, that's good isn't it?

Served on top of creamy polenta, liberally laced with parmigiana reggiano, and a touch of parsley on the side, ahhhh...la dolce vita.

Katie, from Thyme for Cooking, the Blog who, in an untoward moment, had a recent encounter with a friendly centipede, and is the host of Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging # 99... Had Katie hosted next weeks event, it would have been very apt indeed.

Judy's Lamb Shanks

4 shanks/necks (cut away fat)
Large tin of tomato soup + some water
1/4 cup brown vinegar
Desertspoon of mustard powder
2 desertpoons of Worcestershire sauce
3 onions
4 rashers of bacon
Brown sugar

Cook it all together and thicken with flour (I love this methodolgy, but I would suggest you mix some flour with a liquid of some sort, to avoid horrible lumps)

Obviously the recipient of the document was lurking, because instructions and quantities had to brief. I usually quarter the onions, place the bacon rashers on top of each lamb shank, and as for the brown sugar, I guess I put in roughly 2 heaped tablespoons, more so for the consistency rather than the sweetness.


P.S. Don't forget to suck out the marrow....magnifico!

Osso Bucco in 30 minutes

My post yesterday reminded me of how neglectful I've been to my trusty pressure cooker, and in need of a really quick and tasty meal for dinner last night, osso bucco seemed to fit the bill. Apart from chopping up the onion, carrot, garlic and celery, and browning the beef shin, pressure cooking time is less than 20 minutes.

I must admit she's a noisy old thing, hissing and jiggling away, but the flavours are just so much better than the conventional oven cooked method. I added a large tin of tomatoes, a good cup of white wine, (I had a Chardonay on hand) salt and pepper, then just put the lid on. The creamy polenta, which I mixed while the osso bucco was doing it's thing (I'm not fond of the quick cooking polenta, so did it the traditional way and used it as my aerobic workout for the day), oozed up the rich sauce from the dish like a sponge. Toss a bit of freshly torn basil over the top...viola. One pot to clean, simple meal. Ah, if they were only all like that.