Metropol

miss hellfire wrote:And for guaranteed lump free mashed potatoe. Oven bake potatoes instead of boiling them. All you have to do when ready is scoop the potatoe from the skins add a bit of your spread of choice and black pepper and hey presto lump free mash. Tastes great and really compliments a roasty.

I put them back in the skins and back in the oven for "twice baked potatos".

That's a damned lie, I pay people to do that for me, but they are delicious nonetheless.

I have just made the bestest beef casserole ever. It's been cooking since yesterday evening it might have something to do with the amount of red wine i chucked into it. ( the man who invented the slow cooker should be guarateed a place in heaven) Gonna do roast pots in lard and mash pots with cheese and real butter and full fat milk. With purple sprouting and runner beans.
If you ask me nicely i might share the recipe with you.

For dessert i have put together a bowl of strawberrys, grapes, bananas, mixed in a pot of raspberry yoghurt. I sprinkled it with a crushed rich tea and a choc chip cookie and for decoration more slices of nana. It's bloody tasty matey.

Reading this thread has made me feel very hungry! I'm very tempted to either roast a chicken for lunch today or have a go at a beef casserole laced with red wine (Hellfire-style). I don't have a slow-cooker, but I'm sure about 4-5 hours in a conventional oven on a low heat will do fine. I can always drink the rest of the red wine while I'm waiting :roll:

Right, I'm off to the shops to gather the required fresh meat and veg as it's too late to defrost anything from the freezer! My plans for Spaghetti Carbonara for tonight will have to be shelved until later in the week

EDIT (16:30):
Well the aroma of my beef casserole wafted through the house for hours while it was cooking. Unfortunately I'm not hungry now as I was too tempted and drank most of the rest of the red wine this afternoon! :roll:

I've been looking at slow-cookers on the net, they seem very reasonably priced. Can anyone suggest a particular model/make from personal experience?

EDIT 2 (16:45):

Gavin Scott wrote:

miss hellfire wrote:And for guaranteed lump free mashed potatoe. Oven bake potatoes instead of boiling them. All you have to do when ready is scoop the potatoe from the skins add a bit of your spread of choice and black pepper and hey presto lump free mash. Tastes great and really compliments a roasty.

I put them back in the skins and back in the oven for "twice baked potatos".

That's a damned lie, I pay people to do that for me, but they are delicious nonetheless.

Try mixing the potato contents with some mature cheese, finely chopped onions, black pepper and butter (the proper stuff, none of that low fat stuff!) or a touch of double cream and then putting them back in the oven for about 10 mins.

Very fiddly and time consuming to make, but well worth the effort. Even if each serving equates to the daily calorific intake of a small african village

Mine is a Tower slow cooker i've had it for years and years. Not sure if you can still buy that make and model. I've used it alot over the years. I have the large one. You probably couldn't go far wrong with a russell hobbs one. It's the best thing ever. Chuck everything in and leave to cook on the lowest setting for 24 hours. When you get one, cook your beef joint in it. You'll never oven roast again.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CORDON-BLEU-TWIN- ... dZViewItem


This is very similar to mine. Mr H calls it my 21st century cauldron.

Lol - I was going to PM you later to tell you of my success with your recipe.

I bought a Breville MealMakerII. It also looks like a cauldron, which is oddly what attracted me to it in the store. It has worked extreemly well, and I had a quick taste of the contents after getting home tonight and it was delicious.

There is enough in there to last well into the weekend, but you said it's better the day after.

StuartPlymouth wrote:
There is enough in there to last well into the weekend, but you said it's better the day after.

You can trust me on that. Turn it off over night and switch it back on when you get up.

Cook loads of roast pots tomorrow afternoon then leave them in the fridge while you go out for a few drinks or whatever it you do. Invite a few friends back for some nosh and dwinkees. Preheat your conventional oven chuck the pots in for 10 - 15 mins and hey presto; Your mates will think you're the best thing since Jamie Oliver * coughs*