Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Cool weather means time for crock pots
Three slow-cooker recipes to try now
As the leaves change, do you crave comfort food like stew and chili, but feel too swamped to stand at the stove? Then these slow-cooker recipes are for you.
“It’s a super-convenient way to get the family around the dinner table,” said Justin West of What a Crock Meals to Go. “My favorite dish is probably our New Orleans braised beef or our firecracker chicken.”
His wife first enjoyed the ease of a slow cooker while expecting their first child. They later launched a family business, selling ready-to-slow-cook meals in Brookhaven, Booths Corner and Chestnut Hill.
“There’s literally no work — a pair of scissors and a Crock-Pot,” West explained. “About 30-percent of the menu is her grandmother’s recipes.”
Author and journalist Anupy Singla credits her mother with inspiring “The Indian Slow Cooker,” the first of three cookbooks.
“She toiled for years, experimenting,” said Singla, born in India and raised in Montgomery County. “Indian food is so predisposed to slow cooking.”
A family favorite: rajmah, “our version of red beans and rice.”
“Another one of my favorites is the chicken curry,” she added. “… And for dessert, I love the rice pudding because it’s so simple to make and, at the same time, a little different because we use cardamom.”
For breakfast, she savors steel-cut oats, which are “amazing coming out of the Crock-Pot.”
“Anything that really cooks low and slow, you can save yourself time in the slow cooker,” agreed personal chef Emily Scott of West Chester, aka The Wildflower Chef. “It’s just so much less stress. Nothing is going to completely burn and stick to the bottom.”
Her repertoire includes vegan black bean soup, chicken marsala and autumn pork stew with bell peppers, raisins and winter squash.
“You can sneak tons of nutrient-rich vegetables and legumes into these meals!” Scott described. “Just because it’s cozy and warm doesn’t necessarily mean it’s heavy.”
“It can be light caloriewise.”