Slow Cooker_ The Best Cookbook Ever - Diane Phillips [34]
remove the cover and add the shellfish and cook on high for 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and the shellfish is cooked. Remove the bay leaf.
garnish with green onions and serve directly from the slow cooker with an assortment of hot sauces.
serves 8–10
Chapter 2
Is That a Casserole in There?
This chapter contains all those wonderful casseroles that you love to make but want to leave in the pot so you won’t have to think about them. Lasagna, tuna noodle casserole, mac and cheese, and all their cousins shine in this chapter. I love casseroles because they recycle your leftovers and become a completely different meal. Casseroles also stretch your food dollar, using starches like potatoes, pastas, and rice to bulk up the proteins in the dish. Since cooking noodles and rice from their dry state with other ingredients in the slow cooker can be a bit tricky, I recommend planning ahead by cooking extra pasta and rice and freezing them in zipper-top plastic bags. With a zap in the microwave to defrost them, you are on your way to assembling your slow-cooker casserole.
For these casseroles, I’d recommend either spraying the inside of the ceramic insert with nonstick cooking spray or using a slow-cooker liner to prevent sticking and make cleaning up easier.
Noodles
Even though it’s just me and my husband at home, I still cook a pound of pasta when making it for the two of us—old habits die hard. I’ve learned to freeze the leftover plain pasta to use it later for casseroles and soups made in the slow cooker. Fresh pasta doesn’t need to be cooked before it goes into the slow cooker, but if you are adapting a favorite recipe to use fresh pasta, add extra sauce, as the pasta will absorb quite a bit while it’s cooking. Also, make sure not to cook the dry pasta too long before adding it to the slow cooker. It should be just short of al dente, or about 2 to 4 minutes short of your average cooking time, so that it won’t become mushy when it cooks again. Casseroles can be made ahead of time in slow-cooker liners and then refrigerated, or in some cases frozen, until you are ready to cook them. Your favorite chicken and noodles, mac and cheese, and lasagna will be ready when you are.
Not-Your-Mother’s Tuna Noodle Casserole
In my classes I tell a story about how, as a child, I would beg my mother to let me go to my friends’ homes on Friday nights so I could eat tuna noodle casserole. My mom didn’t have a single can of soup in her pantry and was horrified that I thought these foods were exotic and homey! When we first were married, my husband loved tuna noodle casserole. The one time I made it for him, however, the man who would eat anything asked if we could go out to dinner! I’ve come a long way since then; this tuna noodle casserole is an elegant comfort food filled with sautéed mushrooms and a delicious cream sauce. It’s a great party dish and, of course, you can substitute chicken for the tuna if you’d like.
½ pound wide egg noodles, cooked just short of al dente
Two 6-ounce cans solid white albacore tuna packed in oil, drained and broken into chunks (see savvy)
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped (about ¼ cup)
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
4 drops Tabasco sauce
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup finely crushed potato chips
coat the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray or line it with a slow-cooker liner according to the manufacturer’s directions.
put the noodles and tuna in the slow-cooker insert and stir to combine. Melt the butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onion, celery, and mushrooms and sauté until the liquid in the pan begins to evaporate (you should still have some fat in the pan).
stir in the flour and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add the milk and bring to a boil,