Slow, slow, quick, quick slow

Cooking with a slow cooker or pressure cooker: A fuel-efficient and delicious way to save money!

Recipe Crumbs is the Weekly newsletter for Only Crumbs Remain and Recipes Made Easy

Hello Friends

I hope you have had a good week.  Just as I thought I was getting back on track after my fractured wrist, I managed to pick up one of the many colds doing the rounds. This meant I didn’t get as much work done on the two blogs as

I would have liked and the new recipe I wanted to publish on Recipes Made Easy this week, didn't get photographed. It’s a delicious and economical dish which I’m sure you will love, and will be on the website next week instead.

However, I am determined to be more consistent in getting my newsletters out weekly. Okay so I’m a day or so late but hey nobody is perfect!

Instead of the new recipe, this week I’m sharing some suggestions for meals that can be cooked in the slow cooker or in a pressure cooker. Both are great ways of saving a bit on fuel, something we have all become a lot more aware of over recent months. 

I find both useful, although of the two I use the pressure cooker the most often. In Slow cookers do require a bit of forward planning and I’m much more of a last minute cook when it comes to the day to day meals, and often I cook with the ingredients I have at hand for the evening meal  

I actually have two pressure cookers a traditional stove top plus an instant pot which has the bonus of having a slow cooker function.

There has been a lot of coverage of air fryers for saving fuel but I have yet to be tempted. Partly because I have a half oven as well as a full-size oven which I use when I’m only cooking for small numbers so the saving would be less than it would be if I only had a full sized oven.  Plus I really don't have enough room on my worktops for another appliance.

How about you? Have you changed the way you cook to save fuel? Or do you enjoy cooking too much to limit your cooking methods?  Have you been tempted by an air fryer? If so what do you think?  Or do you like me have use pressure or slow cooker?  Let me know in the comments below. Would you like to see more recipes for these methods of cooking?

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Recipes

Pork and chorizo stew

This is one of my favourite meat dishes to make in the pressure cooker. The chorizo really packs a punch when it comes to flavour so making this a hearty gutsy flavoured casserole in no time at all.

Old fashioned beef stew and carrots

If I'm honest I find the flavour of beef stews in particular not quite as good as when slow cooked but the time saved using a pressure cooker makes it still worth while cooking this way.  And when reheated the next day the flavour is just as good as when slow cooked (sometimes time is needed for flavour to fully develop).  I like to cook this either the day before or when eating over a couple of nights appreciating the quickness on day one and the increased flavour on day two.

Brown Rice

Since I started cooking brown rice in the pressure cooker we tend to eat it more often than white as now it only takes a fraction longer to cook. No more opting for white rice because I haven't got time to wait for brown to cook.

Pumpkin risotto

Risotto can be very successfully cooked in a pressure cooker see the notes at the end of this recipe to adapt to cooking in a pressure cooker

Pauls sweet and sour slow cooked pork

Not only is Paul's sweet and sour slow cooked pork simplicity itself to make, it tastes fantastic. It makes a delicious Sunday lunch.

Slow cooked lamb shanks with onions and peppers

These slow cooked lamb shanks are cooked in a slow cooker to make an easy and really delicious tasting meal. After just about 20 minutes prep time, sit back and let the slow cooker (or oven if you do not have a slow cooker) do the job. Perfect to come home to on a winter weekend after a bracing walk.

Top Tips

Pressure cooker

• Read the manual and become familiar with the pressure cooker's functions and safety features.

• The pressure cooker is great for making soups and stews, but also experimenting with using the pressure cooker for different types of foods, such as grains, legumes, preserves and vegetables.

Slow Cooker

• Brown meat before slow cooking to enhance its flavor and texture.

• Don't overfill the slow cooker, as this can slow cooking time.

• Avoid removing the lid, as each time you do, the temperature drops and cooking time increases.

Something Sweet

Looking for a little something sweet after all these savoury options? These Banana Muffins On Only Crumbs Remain are a great way to use up over ripe bananas and are quicker to bake and even easier to make than banana bread.

Crumbs

What I’m cooking/ eating this week

We helped my son move out (again) last weekend. So I cooked my pork and chorizo stew the day before as we didn't know how much of the kitchen would be unpacked by the time we came to eat. Instead of serving with potatoes or rice as I usually do I added some tinned cannellini beans, so all we needed to reheat was the one pan.  It was delicious, and I will do that again as it saves on the washing up!

During the week it was a case of getting used to cooking for just two again. Being under the weather,  comfort foods have been appealing so I also made a creamy rice pudding this week (in the instant pot).

What I’ve been reading?

Modern pressure cooking by Catherine Phipps. Even though I have been using my pressure cookers for many years and just couldn't resist buying this book when it came out last year. But I have only just got around to really looking through it  and  now I can’t wait to try some of the recipes. I'm particularly keen to try the passion fruit curd as making curds in the pressure cooker is not something I have tried before.

That’s it for now until next time 

Have a delicious week.