One of the problems when you are first trying a new slow cooker recipe is the anticipation. You have picked from hundreds of recipes online or in cook books, you have hunted out all the ingredients, entrusted them to the large pot and placed the lid on top. Yet at this point you have to wait, often for 8 hours.

If I am in the unfortunate position to be home while I am slow cooking, I’ll spend too much time peering through the condensation.

An ongoing internal dialogue as to whether I should lift up the lid, only for a moment, just to check.

They say lifting the lid on a slow cooker adds 30 minutes to the cooking time, I say lifting the lid on a slow-cooker is tantamount to opening Christmas presents and resealing before putting them back under the tree.

It ruins the surprise.

When you do eventually lift the lid off it can all to easily be a disappointment after being built up for so long. This recipe, however, will be no disappointment.
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Everyone has their standard method of cooking a steak, usually I fry mine, some people grill them (or broil them), my mother-in-law* bakes them.

On New Year’s Day my she made steaks for 13 people by baking them! These are a definite crowd pleaser, and are much simpler than if you wanted to fry or grill that many steaks.

*(almost) mother-in-law, it might feel like it, but we aren’t married yet

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Can you believe that before today I had never tasted a chestnut before? I remember playing conkers as a child, but I can’t have been very good cause I didn’t even seem to remember what they look after the tough brown outer layer is removed.

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I have waxed lyrical enough about the wonders of a good stir-fry many a time, and here is another reason to try them out. This one is really made by the vivid greens of the broad beans (or fava beans) and the broccoli alongside the deep purple of the red cabbage.

Broad bean, Broccoli and Red Cabbage Stir-fry

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Largely based on the same recipe as my Low Fat Beef Stir-fry this has the surprising addition of broccoli. A version of this recipe was one of the first things my fiancee ever made me for dinner. While I have never been a broccoli-hater, I had relegated it to something to be boiled and put as a side vegetable. This dish made me see that Broccoli can be a main star. If you don’t believe me you’ll just have to try it and see.

Cooking the Broccoli

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The number of times I have made really bad beef stir fry has meant that now I have actually made a really good one I feel the need to post the recipe! However this time I did it a bit differently, and it was worth it.

1. The first thing I did differently was to buy a great cut of meat, a fillet steak. While you might think it a waste to stir-fry a fillet steak, this was by far the best change I made. Admittedly if I had been deep frying the beef in the stir-fry it would have been a crime, but by keeping it healthy (or at least healthier, it didn’t compromise the taste).
2. I marinaded the Beef for 8 hours. This meant that it was succulent and melt in the mouth.
3. I tend to overcook everything, and I made sure this time that the beef was cut really thinly so that it would cook quickly in the heat, this way it didn’t dry out and become tough.

From now on I think I’ll try to stick to these rules as much as possible, although maybe I’ll try downgrading the cut of beef, the fillet was perfect but really can only afford it for special occasions.

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