When you have more time in the morning and will be jammed up against it in the evening there are 2 words that can save you every time. Slow Cooker.
If “This Is Us” hasn’t got you afraid to plug one of these bad boys in, well, this recipe might complete your phobia. Okay, that might be a spoiler. Honestly, it’s not THAT bad, it could just use some…oomph and there are a couple technical suggestions I’ll lay out.
The prep time for this one is pretty quick overall. Some ‘chunky cut’ veggies, a bit of a dry rub for the meat, and a couple cans to open. I stuck to the recipe on this one for the most part. I didn’t have fingerling potatoes (never heard of them before I read this recipe) so I cut good ol’ fashioned roasting potatoes into some longer chunkier strips to match the approximate size I saw on google image search. Carrots, instead of cutting 2 inch chunks, I just tossed in some mini-carrots we had kicking around as that’s about the right size. I used powdered ginger instead of peeling and grating as that’s what I had on hand, and I used a 1.5lb pork loin as, again, that’s what I had on hand. (Sweet deal at Costco…one massive loin for $15 that I chopped into 5 roasts about 1.5lb’s each – booyah!)
The prep was pretty easy. Fishing the bay leaves (DO NOT EAT THOSE) out afterwards was rather tedious. A couple notes. It’s not really a soup, but there’s quite a bit of liquid that makes it not really a ‘stew’ either. The potatoes were still pretty crunchy, and as my oldest child informed me “Carrots are never meant to be cooked”. This one was…hate to say it, a swing and a miss. 1/5 stars. The meat tasted pretty good when you got a chunk of it. Everything else was pretty bland. I though the tomatoes might kick things up a bit, but no. Not really sure how I’d save this one. Tomato paste for a more potent kink? Chopping the potatoes and veggies up into smaller pieces would be a good idea – the big chunk cuts are quick for assembling, but felt weird in the finished product.
I think overall, this one is going in the ‘Do Not Repeat’ folder.
With all that said, yeah, slow-cookers/crockpots! They’re pretty great. I’ve made some pretty amazing ribs in them before, they’re great for taking food to the next staff potluck, I really just need to dig in a bit more and figure out some recipes that ‘work’. And for those that are asking? No. I haven’t yet been converted to the wonders of the Insta-Pot, although I’ve met a few hardcore evangelists for the product. That said, if anybody wants to ship me one…. 😉 I’m always open to try it out.
-g
Dad's Turn To Cook 