When I started this blog, I didn’t want us to do any batch cooking – I wanted everyone on their own to enjoy the shopping, the cooking and the eating of a meal but I have been asked recently to think about cooking in a slow cooker – so here you are!

Why slow cook?  Basically, once you have prepared all the ingredients and put them in the pot, the food can be left to its own devices, requiring minimal further effort , so you can go out for the day, spend time in the garden, paint a room – and return to a perfectly cooked meal.

Slow cooking makes economic sense, too, as it works best using cheaper cuts of meat and inexpensive staples such as beans and lentils.  It is also easy to cook larger quantities at once, creating leftovers for another day or to freeze.

With colder times approaching, stews, casseroles and pot roasts are real comfort food – and you might not have thought of doing them just for yourself so this way you can be really organised for a meal for today  and think ahead to another week.

Energywise, slow cooking is great – don’t be put off when you see the recipe saying switch on and slow cook for 8 hours!

• Cooking time: 8 hours
• Energy used: 200 watts x 8 hours = 1600 Wh or 1.6 kWh 
• Cost: If your energy rate is 20p per kWh, the cost would be 1.6 kWh x 20p = 32p. 

Tips for success

For maximum flavour, brown the meat at the start of the cooking ie lightly fry and soften aromatic vegetables such as onions and garlic in the same  pan afterwards.

Be careful not to over season as salty flavours become concentrated with slow cooking.  You ca always adjust at the end.

Peppercorns and seeds, such as cumin and coriander are best crushed before adding to the pot so they release their flavour slowly.

Woody herbs such as rosemary and thyme are robust enough to add at the beginning of cooking whilst delicate herbs like parsley towards the end.

Always add delicate ingredients that don’t need much cooking such as fish and seafood towards the end of the cooking time.

If topping up the liquid during the cooking, add HOT liquid to prevent lowering the cooking temperature.

Make sure all frozen ingredients are thawed and meats thoroughly defrosted before cooking.

If a recipe calls for milk add this for the last 30 minutes of cooking. Add any cream at the end.

Adapting recipes from conventional  cooking to a slow cooking. Look at the basic cooking time – but leave to cook for longer – low, if all day and high, for 3 – 4 hours.  A slow cooker will never boil dry. As a general rule, halve the liquid as it doesn’t evaporate. If at the end, it looks like too much liquid, put it onto high with the lid off.   You may need to reduce spices and herbs as their flavour becomes concentrated in the slow cooker.

MINESTRONE SOUP                                                                                   Serves 4 – 6

• 2 tablespoon olive oil                                                  
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped                                                       
• 1 onion, chopped
• 400g can chopped tomatoes                                   
• can of cannellini beans (optional)
• 750 ml hot chicken or vegetable stock                
• 60g small pasta shapes
• 4 tablespoons chopped parsley                             
• 40g parmesan cheese

Heat the oil and cook the celery, carrots and onions until softened,  Stir in the tomatoes and their juice.  Transfer to the cooker and add stock. Cover and cook low 6 – 8 hours. Add the pasta (and beans, if using) for the last 15 minutes of cooking.  Stir in the parsley and parmesan.

MUSTARD CHICKEN CASSEROLE                                                       Serves 4 – 6

• 2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard                      
• 1 tablespoon English mustard
• 2 tablespoons runny honey                                      
• 8 chicken thighs (bone in, skin off)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil                                                
• 2 -3 onions roughly chopped
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic
• 200g parsnips/200g carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 pint hot chicken or vegetable stock ( a cube is fine)
• Herbs of your choosing / slices of lemon (optional)

Mix together the mustards and honey in a bowl. Season the thighs and smother them with the mustard mix.  Leave to marinate for ½ hour. Heat half the oil in a pan and add the chicken pieces, a few at a time. Cook for 6 – 10 minutes until golden.  Remove and set aside. Add the remaining oil and fry the onions for a few minutes, scraping up any of the chicken juices,  Add the carrots and parsnips. Put everything into the cooker, pour in the stock and add the chicken. Put the lid on and cook on low for 6 hours or High for 3 – 4 hours.

RED CABBAGE WITH CIDER                                                                   Serves 4

• ½ red onion                                                                      
• 1 large red cabbage
• 1 apple, cored but not peeled, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon 5 spice powder  
• 300ml cider    

Put the onion, cabbage, apple and 5spice powder into the cooker. Season. Pour in the cider and stir to mix well.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

October, and a sharp drop in temperature so we really need something warm and sustaining – and what could be better than soup?  I know it’s easy to open a tin, a packet or a carton, and, yes, some of them are very nice – but wouldn’t you like to make your own with fresh ingredients and no preservatives? Buy “wonky” veg / use it up the odd ingredient lurking in the back of the fridge or use up the end of spices or herbs

Of course, you can’t really make soup for one but this is one of those occasions when you do want to make more than you need for one sitting – a pot of soup sitting in the fridge when you want it should last the week – and you can vary it in lots of ways by what you add to it.

Extra touches you can add to Soups

Parsley    Sage         Rosemary        Thyme           Oregano            Basil         Coriander      Mint         

Kaffir Lime Leaves              Chervil              Chives

• Single or Double Cream
• Crème Fraiche
• Yogurt
• Sour Cream

Croutons – cube some bread and fry in butter

Croutes – French bread of slices of bread, brushed with olive oil and toasted in the oven

As above but rubbed with garlic

As above but covered in cheese and toasted

You can make your own stock, boiling up the carcass or bones of a roast dinner with some vegetables – but stock cubes are perfectly acceptable – there lots of good ones in the shops now.

Canned Beans eg cannellini / pulses eg dried beans and lentils / grains eg rice, pearl barley and couscous can all be added to bulk out simple soups.

How about you make one of the below, go for a walk in the lovely crisp air and come home to a bowl of soup.  Don’t forget to pick up a nice crusty bread to go with it – and you definitely want some nice butter to go on it – no margarine!

Broccoli and Stilton Soup – a “quickie” recipe as cooking time is less than 10 mins   Serves 4

• 12oz broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 14fl oz vegetable stock
• 1 oz butter
• 4 spring onions, sliced (or 1 leek)
• 1 3/4oz Stilton, crumbled or to taste
• 3 ½ fl.oz double cream
• Salt and pepper
• Pinch nutmeg

Put broccoli pieces into a glass bowl. Pour over stock. Cover the bowl with cling film and put in microwave. Cook for 4 minutes till tender. Heat a frying pan till hot and add butter. When it starts to foam, add onions and cook for 1 minute. Put cooked broccoli and stock in a bowl/blender. Add onions, stilton and cream and blend together. Transfer mixture to a pan and bring gently to a simmer.

Red Lentil and chilli soup Serves 4

• 2 teaspoons cumin seed
• pinch chilli flakes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1chopped red onion
• 140g red lentils
• 850ml vegetable stock
• 400g can tomatoes
• 200g can chickpeas*
• Small bunch of coriander chopped
• Greek yogurt to serve

* optional

Heat a large saucepan and dry fry cumin seeds and chilli flakes for 1 minute. Add oil and onion and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the lentils, stock and tomatoes and bring to boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Whiz the soup with stick blender or food processor until rough puree. Put back in pan and add chickpeas if wanted. Heat and stir in coriander. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.

Leek and Potato Soup with cheesy mustard croutons Serves 4

• 10 grams butter
• 2 leeks
• 1 teasp dried tarragon (optional)
• 1 large potato
• 500 ml stock with boiling water and a stock cube
• 30 grams watercress (optional)

Melt butter in a large pan and add chopped leeks and tarragon. Add the chopped potato and stock.  Bring to boil and cook until potato is soft.  Add the watercress if using, simmer for 3 minutes and blend till smooth. Preheat grill to high and toast 2 slices of bread/baguette until crisp.  Spread each slice with some Dijon mustard and top with some grated cheese (any kind you like) Put the soup into a bowl and top with a cheesy crouton and serve.

Carrot and Ginger Soup Serves 4

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 tbsp coarsely grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 500 grams of carrots
• 850ml vegetable stock
• little nutmeg

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, ginger and garlic, and fry for 5 mins until starting to soften. Stir in the nutmeg and cook for 1 min more. Pour in the stock, add the carrots then cover and simmer for 20-25 mins until the carrots are tender. Scoop a third of the mixture into a bowl and blitz the remainder with a hand blender or in a food processor until smooth. Return everything to the pan and heat until bubbling. Serve topped with a little nutmeg.

Everything is starting to bloom and hazes of green cover the trees and hedges. Amidst showers and sunshine, we are out walking more and enjoying the Spring. Daffodils, tulips and bluebells; new rhubarb and spinach and strawberry flowers with the promises to come. The Husband has been fishing and the added bonus to this is the first of the year’s green treasures – wild garlic by the riverbank.   It looks like this:

Please note – wild garlic does look similar to lily of the valley, which is poisonous. The key difference between the two plants is that wild garlic always smells – yes, you guessed it – of garlic. If you’re in any doubt about which plant you’ve found, do not eat it.

Take yourself out for a walk in the woods and you won’t fail to notice the fragrant smell of wild garlic as you stroll through – the scent is truly hard to miss!  The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked and taste milder than shop-bought garlic. A fairly low growing plant and the most beautiful vibrant green. Pick it when you find it and you can make wonderful soup, dips, butter and oil.

Wild Garlic Soup

This recipe is enough for 4 but freezes beautifully. Not only is it delicious but also helps lower cholesterol and high blood pressure!

• 1 onion sliced
• 2 – 3 potatoes (these are for thickening the soup so depends on size)
• 500 ml water
• stock cube (I use a vegetable one)
• milk/crème fraiche/cream

Saute the onion in a little butter in a large saucepan.  Add chopped potato, stock cube, and water and bring to the boil.  Cook until the potato is soft.  Lay 3 – 4 handfuls of the garlic leaves on the top and allow to wilt and cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Cool slightly and, using a hand blender, puree.  Put back into the saucepan and add milk or cream or creme fraiche to taste along with plenty of pepper.  It never lasts long in our house but will keep in the fridge for 2 – 3 days – or ladle into bags to freeze.  Serve with crusty bread and a dollop of creme fraiche.

Wild Garlic Oil – blanch several handfuls of leaves in boiling water for 5 – 10 seconds then immediately drain and toss into iced water (this keeps the colour). Drain again and wrap in an old tea towel and squeeze all the liquid out. Chop up into small pieces and put in a jam jar or bottle and top up with 150 ml of olive oil.

Wild Garlic Butter – I make lots of this and usually manage to eke it out all year. Chop the garlic leaves up as you would any other herb. Soften a block of butter, add salt and pepper and the chopped leaves. Roll into cigar shaped pieces, wrap in cling film and freeze. I usually keep one on the go in the fridge, replacing with a frozen one when needed. Just cut off slices and use to cook with as you would any other flavoured butters.

Garlicky green Goddess dressing

Put about 30 washed and dried garlic leaves into a food processor or blender with 300ml sour cream (if you haven’t got this creme fraiche will do or make your own by adding some lemon juice to fresh cream – leave aside for a minute or two whilst it goes thick) , the juice of half a lemon and salt and pepper.  Blitz till smooth and serve over a green s salad or use a dipping sauce for bread or crisps.

New Year – new look – and an update of why we/you are here.

This cookery blog is a collection of some favourite recipes written at my kitchen table, using ingredients you can find locally and in season. Personally, I love the changes and wouldn’t want to live anywhere other than the UK with all its climate and regional diversities.  I look forward to the first asparagus from the farm just around the corner, English strawberries from the local market, the freshest fish from our British waters, field mushrooms from an autumn walk.

With less carbon footprint and more freshness, you will soon understand why eating British and following the months will tickle your tastebuds, save you some pennies and help local economy.

I live in Worcestershire with The Husband, one cat and with visiting children and grandchildren. as and when. In my time, I have been a nurse, made children’s clothes, had a catering company, estate agent and for the last 16 years volunteered, helping with arts and crafts, at a local Hospice.  It was there that I was encouraged to start www.ailsacooks4one.com after taking in recipes for those bereaved and having to cook just for themselves.  I want to give you the love of cooking I have and the confidence to do so for others. 

And, now, I want to get everyone else onboard, following the Seasons!

It wasn’t so long ago that every meal people ate was prepared using seasonal ingredients because there was no means of transporting international produce between countries.  People ate as nature intended and their diet was dictated by what grew locally.  There really is no sense or benefit in eating fruit, vegetables, meat and fish that have been flown around the world when you can enjoy native ingredients that have been grown, reared or caught a matter of miles from home.

Every time we look at our plates, we should ask ourselves where the food comes from, how it was produced and what it cost – not just in terms of money but also in terms of environmental damage. To entice us to buy fruits and vegetables, supermarkets lay out stacks of perfectly formed specimens, Unfortunately, this means that 20 – 40% of local farm produce is wasted because it isn’t “perfect” enough even though it tastes absolutely fine.  It also means that to reduce the risk of blemished produce, the former relies more and more on a range of pesticides and fertilisers to keep food available out of season. The fertilisers also cause massive problems in the environment as soil biodiversity and water course are polluted by the run off from fields.

Locally grown will often cost less, will be fresher, tastier and more nutritious. It will be less damaging to the Earth due to the reduction in energy used to transport far flung places. You will also be supporting farmers and producers in your area and, in turn, helping the local economy.

We can change things for the better by:

• accepting “wonky” or less than perfect vegetables and fruit
• Grow your own.
• Eat by the Season

Spring is traditionally a time of culinary celebration after the Winter months.  Fresh green produce, various meats and berries begin to appear. By the Summer the harvest from land and sea is in progress and many fruit and vegetables are plentiful.  With the advent of Autumn, there is still much about and will now include wild mushrooms, British apples and pears and nuts.  Winter is not the dull culinary season many people think it is with game and winter vegetables that need a touch of frost to bring them to their peak.

January 5th I know it’s a bit of a cliché and perhaps because I am a Scot and brought up in the tradition of Hogmanay but I love New Year’s Day.  I see a whole year before me stretching out just waiting to be filled with people and places and happenings!  Some will be bad as well as good but I’ll take that for a chance at newness and anticipation for a year to come. And my main resolution this year – to try to cook seasonally – as I hope you will!

Make the best of the month’s offerings with warming soups and casseroles and seasonal cooking will never feel so wholesome.

Anything-you-Have Coconut Curry Soup – the best soup using leftover veg.

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 -2 cloves garlic, smashed
• small knob of ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• salt to taste
• 1 dessertspoon sugar
• 1 14 ounce can of coconut milk
• 1 pint vegetable stock (from a cube will do)
• the fun part – any vegetables you have in the house!  You can add:
• potatoes/sweet potatoes/parsnips/carrots/courgettes/peppers/mushrooms/spinach

Heat the oil in a large pot over a medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic and ginger and stir fry for a few minutes. Add the curry paste, turmeric, salt and sugar.  Stir fry again to combine.  Add the coconut milk and stock – and whatever lost vegetables you have found!  Simmer until soft, blend to silky smooth and serve with some crispy fried onions and/or coriander on top.

This is obviously going to make more than more portion – but it will keep in a pot in the fridge for about a week – or you can freeze it in your own sized portions!