Slow-cooker Tostada Meat

A friend of mine asked me for this recipe. I’m putting it here so that it is easier to find should I need it again. The magazine page is getting a little worn. (This was originally found by my wife in Family Circle magazine. May 2008 pg. 204)

(To make actual tostadas, add cheese beans, lettuce, salsa, etc to a tostada shell along with the beef. The meat is also good in a variety of other applications…)

What you need:

1 1/2 lb. boneless beef round
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup lime juice
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

What you do:

Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper. Place 3 tbls of the lime juice, the carlic, jalapeno, onion, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne in a slow cooker. Place beef on top and cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.

Remove beef to a cutting board and when cool enough to handle, shred with fingers or using two forks. Place shredded beef in large bowl. Add remaining tbsp of lime juice and liquid from the slow cooker (along with solids –this is where I differ from the magazine – not a huge thing, but whatever.) to the shredded beef.

At this point, you can use the beef in tostadas, tacos, burritos, salad, whatever. 🙂

Modified Coq Au Vin

Coq Au Vin was one of the first recipes I tried out in the slow-cooker. The version you see below is far from traditional, but it captures the essence of what I love about the original.

While you don’t strictly need to brown ingredients before adding them to a slow-cooker, doing so brings a richer flavor to this dish.

One note about wine: Don’t cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink. Cooking will intensify the flavors in the wine. If you use a cheap wine that you don’t really like the flavor of, you won’t be happy with the final dish.

Continue reading Modified Coq Au Vin

Slow-Cookery

I bought a crock-pot a couple of weeks back, so I could submit an entry for the chili cook-off at work. I’ve been using it quite a bit since. I wish I had gotten one of these a long time ago.

I’ve done a braised chicken, a roast beef, (well braised beef, really) Coq Au Vin, chicken and dumplings, and 2 batches of chili (I did a test batch before my final entry for the contest as I was adapting a pressure-cooker recipe, and wanted to make a couple of other changes, too.) So far, I think my favorite was the Coq Au Vin. Tonight I’ve got corned beef (sans cabbage) lined up.

The thing I like best about cooking with a crock-pot: Throwing everything in to it in the morning, and basically forgetting about it until dinner time.

The thing I like least about cooking with a crock-pot: Having to wait 7 more hours to eat dinner when it smells SO GOOD right now. 🙂