The Great American Slow Cooker Book (110 page)

1
Set a large skillet over low heat for a couple of minutes, then pour in the oil. Dump in the onion and cook, stirring often, until golden and softened, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

2
Plop the beans into the slow cooker; pour in the almond milk. Use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to mash the beans into a smooth paste with the almond milk. Scrape the contents of the skillet into this paste and stir until fairly smooth.

3
Stir in the tomatoes, wine, lentils, carrot, celery, tomato paste, oregano, basil, and garlic. Leave no lumps of tomato paste in the mix.

4
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until the lentils are tender and the sauce has thickened somewhat.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
This is a creamy, vegan, Bolognese-style pasta sauce best served over wide noodles like papardelle.

•
Some almond milk is sweetened; some is not. Choose which you like, based on whether you want a sweeter taste against the acidic tomatoes or a more savory finish to complement the lentils.

INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED
Lentils are the edible seeds of various plants in the legume family, related to beans but with a muskier flavor. There’s a wide variety of lentils, from the common brown to the more elegant French green lentils (sometimes called
le Puy lentils
), from the murky red lentils favored in East Indian cooking to the inky black lentils with their sweet, creamy texture.

1
Mix the broth, lentils, spinach, tomatoes, onion, ginger, garlic, curry powder, and salt in the slow cooker.

2
Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours, until rich and creamy, the lentils broken into a paste.

3
Stir in the cilantro, honey, and lemon juice. Cover and keep warm for 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
This luxurious stew is great for a chilly evening. Rather than bread, offer na’an, an East Indian flatbread, on the side. Or just flour tortillas.

•
Squeeze the spinach in very small handfuls over the sink so excess moisture doesn’t bog down the stew.

INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED
Red lentils, which actually are more salmon colored, are the sweetest lentils. A favorite in East Indian cooking, they cook up in no time and turn soft, a natural thickener.

1
Pour the lentils into a large saucepan, then fill that saucepan about two-thirds full of water. Bring to a boil over high heat and continue boiling until the lentils are a tad beyond tender, in fact mushable, about 25 minutes. Drain in a colander set in the sink.

2
Put a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes, then pour in the oil. Tilt the skillet to grease its interior, then add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring often, until the onion softens, between 3 and 5 minutes.

3
Add the garlic, stir over the heat for 20 seconds, then dump in the mushrooms. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms give off their liquid and it evaporates to a thick glaze, 8 to 12 minutes. Scrape the contents of the skillet into a large food processor fitted with the chopping blade; cool for 5 minutes.

4
Pour the drained lentils into the food processor; add the breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese, parsley, walnuts, tomato paste, and seasoning. Cover and pulse to a coarse paste, about like wet sand, not smooth at all, scraping down the inside of the container occasionally. There is almost no way the ingredients for a large slow cooker will fit in even a very large
food processor. Work in batches if you must, scraping each into a bowl before adding the next and using fairly proportionate ratios of the various ingredients in each batch to get the right consistency; mix all the batches well with a wooden spoon to make sure they’re evenly blended.

5
Scrape down and remove the blade. Dab some olive oil on a paper towel and grease the inside of the slow cooker. Dump the lentil mixture into the cooker and use your clean, still-wet hands to form it into a lump with at least ½ inch space between the lump and the slow cooker’s walls, smoothing the top to create a fairly flat surface.

6
Cover and cook on low for 4 hours in a small slow cooker, 5 hours in a medium cooker, or 6 hours in a large one, or until the meatloaf is firm and set to the touch, even in the middle. Remove the crock if possible and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes—or unplug the machine and cool, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Use a nonstick-safe knife or spatula to cut the meatloaf into slices right in the crock.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
Mince the vegetables before they go into the food processor so there’s no chance of random bits of this or that in the final, rather smooth meatloaf.

•
The loaf doesn’t freeze well; it will fall apart when thawed.

•
The amount of ingredients for a large slow cooker may well be too much for your food processor. If so, work in batches, making sure each batch contains proportioned amounts of the ingredients.

SHORTCUTS
Omit the Italian seasoning and use Italian-seasoned dry breadcrumbs.

1
Stir the broth, polenta, salt, and pepper in the slow cooker.

2
Cover and cook on high, stirring once, for 1½ hours, or until the broth has been absorbed and the polenta is creamy. Stir in the cheese and chives (if using) to serve.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
You don’t need to stir this polenta over a hot stove!

•
Add herbs with the polenta: up to 1¼ teaspoons dried thyme, crumbled dried rosemary, or dried oregano.

•
For a bolder flavor, substitute aged Asiago cheese for the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Or do a French twist by substituting half the amount of minced fresh tarragon for the chives and using aged Gruyère instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

•
If you can’t find coarse-grain polenta at your supermarket, substitute standard grits (not instant).

1
Stir the broth, leeks, barley, thyme, pepper, and saffron in the slow cooker.

2
Cover and cook on low for 4½ hours, or until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the barley is tender.

3
Stir in the peas, cheese, and butter. Let stand, unplugged but covered, for 5 minutes before serving.

TESTERS’ NOTES

•
If you’re looking for a side dish with a little more heft and a lot less sweetness than the more standard risotto made with rice, consider this grain risotto your answer. Or serve it as a vegetarian main course with a crunchy salad on the side.

•
For a dish that’s a little closer to whole-grain goodness, substitute semi-pearled (
semi-perlato
) barley for the pearled barley.