Slow Cooker_ The Best Cookbook Ever - Diane Phillips [146]
Follow this basic recipe for any type of berry you would like to make into jam; the proportions should be the same. This recipe will give you six one-pint jars that can be refrigerated or frozen.
12 cups (3 quarts) strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters
10 cups sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
combine all the ingredients in the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2½ hours. Uncover the cooker, stir the jam, and cook covered for another 2 hours.
cool to room temperature and store in airtight containers for 2 weeks in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer.
makes about 12 cups
Bellini Peach Jam
Prosecco syrup combines with peaches to create a jam with the taste of the delicious effervescent cocktail that originated at Harry’s Bar in Venice, the Bellini. In Venice, white peaches are juiced, and the pits are left in the peach juice to give it a pink tone. The juice is poured into champagne flutes and topped with Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine.
2 cups Prosecco
10 cups sugar
16 cups peeled, pitted, and coarsely chopped firm but not overly ripe fresh peaches
One 7.5-ounce box powdered pectin
bring the Prosecco to a boil in a saucepan. Add the sugar and boil, stirring, until the mixture is thickened. (It should coat a spoon.) Transfer to the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Add the peaches and pectin and stir to blend. Cover and cook on high for 2½ hours. Uncover the slow cooker, stir the jam, and cook covered for an additional 2 hours.
cool to room temper ature and store in air tight containers in the refriger ator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
makes about 12 cups
Orange Margarita Marmalade
Brilliantly colored and intensely flavored, this marmalade makes it worth getting up in the morning. I have made this with pink oranges and blood oranges, and they are spectacular, but even regular navel oranges will turn out a fine marmalade. The addition of lime that has been cooked in tequila sugar syrup gives this marmalade a delicious new twist. It’s important to wash the fruit thoroughly, because the peel will be a major player in the finished marmalade; if it has any wax on it, it will affect the taste of your marmalade.
2 cups tequila (white tequila is fine for this)
8 cups sugar
1 medium lime, washed thoroughly, cut in half, and thinly sliced
1 cup orange juice
16 large navel oranges, washed thoroughly, cut in half, and thinly sliced
stir the tequila, sugar, lime, and orange juice together in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue to boil, stirring, until the mixture becomes thick, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Add the oranges and stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Uncover the cooker, stir the marmalade, and cook cover wed for an additional 3 hours.
cool to room temperature. Transfer the marmalade to airtight containers and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. The marmalade doesn’t freeze very well, so I don’t recommend it.
makes about 12 cups
Chapter 11
What’s for Dessert?
Desserts in the slow cooker can be anything from a fruit cobbler, rice pudding, bread pudding, hot fudge cake to brandied peaches. All require only a few minutes of prep work and then a long, slow cooking time to bring out the best in the ingredients. You may wonder why you would want to make a dessert in the slow cooker, but if oven space is a concern or if you want to make something and not have to tend it during a busy day, the slow cooker is your ticket. Also, in the heat of summer, a slow cooker can take the place of your oven, so that your hot fudge cake does not heat up the kitchen as well.
Brandied Peaches
Peaches poached in brandy with cloves and cinnamon are delicious served with a dollop of crème fraîche in the center, or warm over ice cream, or garnishing a platter of roasted meats. The peaches keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
½ cup brandy
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1½ cups firmly packed light brown