Slow Cooker_ The Best Cookbook Ever - Diane Phillips [41]
Grated zest of 1 lemon
½ cup finely chopped dried apricots (about 5)
3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces or shredded
4 cups cooked wild rice
1½ cups chicken broth
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.
melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper and sauté until the mushrooms begin to turn golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the Marsala, remove from the heat, and set aside to cool.
put the remaining ingredients in the slow-cooker insert. Add the cooled mushrooms and stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours, until the casserole is cooked through. Remove the cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed, an additional 30 to 45 minutes.
serve from the cooker set on warm.
serves 6–8
Arancini Casserole
A classic southern Italian dish from Palermo, arancini are tiny balls of leftover rice. Stuffed with goodies such as gooey cheese, mushrooms, eggplant, and sun- dried tomatoes, the arancini are deep-fried and served with a tomato sauce for a light lunch or as antipasti. In larger towns, tiny shops sell up to a dozen varieties, all using leftovers as a base. Instead of deep-frying balls of rice, this dish layers rice and Italian ingredients and makes a stellar side dish or main course along with an accompanying salad.
4 cups cooked white rice
2 cups mascarpone cheese
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups finely grated pecorino romano cheese
6 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into eight ½-inch-thick slices
6 slices Genoa salami or sopressata, cut into julienne strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
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 rice, mascarpone, broth, and 1 cup of the pecorino in a large bowl and stir to combine. Put half the rice mixture in the slow-cooker insert. Layer half the mozzarella and all the salami over the rice.
put the garlic, parsley, oil, and the remaining 1 cup pecorino in another small bowl and stir to combine. Spread half the garlic mixture over the salami. Layer with the remaining rice mixture, the mozzarella, and the remaining garlic mixture.
cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, until the casserole is heated through.
remove the cover and cook until the liquid in the casserole has been absorbed, an additional 30 to 45 minutes.
serve from the cooker set on warm.
serves 6–8
Tortillas
Tortilla casseroles are terrific to make in the slow cooker. The cooker doesn’t dry them out, and you will have a lovely south-of-the-border feast ready for your family on a busy day. Accompany with salad or fresh fruit, and dinner is all set. I recommend you use either white or yellow corn tortillas because flour tortillas tend to become gummy in a slow cooker. Blue corn tortillas turn everything an ugly shade of purple, so I don’t recommend them either. Enchiladas are traditionally made by wrapping tortillas around a filling. Since all slow cookers are shaped differently, it’s much easier to layer strips of tortillas rather than whole tortillas—I find this distributes the ingredients better than the traditional wrapping method.
Enchiladas Verde
A simple comfort food, enchiladas verde are covered with a green tomatillo sauce, rather than a red chile-flavored sauce. In this casserole, a light-green sauce peeks out from under a blanket of bubbling Monterey Jack and mild Cheddar cheeses and tortillas enfold sour cream and queso fresco, blending together to make a terrific meatless main dish to serve anytime.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Anaheim chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
3 cups tomatillo salsa (see savvy)
½ cup chicken broth
2½ cups finely shredded mild Cheddar cheese
2 cups finely