I got excited when I first saw this 5 in 1 multi-cooker on the Kitchenware Direct website. Yes, I know it’s lame that I get excited over such things but I mean look at it, not only is it a slow cooker but it’s a pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer and soup maker too! It seemed that I wasn’t the only one excited by this appliance, it’s one of their most popular slow cookers. Now that I’ve reverted back to poor uni student status, I was debating whether or not to buy it; it wasn’t a necessity, I just wanted to have it one day. When it was out of stock, I took it as a sign to not purchase it and decided to wait until I had more funds to splurge. However, my downfall came when I received their newsletter saying it was back in stock, so acting on impulse, I just had to get it, despite still being poor..
Winter is a time for hearty and comforting food. Slow cooking is the way to go. There’s simply limited time to do things during the day and the last thing I want to do is slave away in the kitchen. Every time I cook for the family, I have to cook for 8 mouths. Therefore I like to make things that requires minimal effort and can be cooked in one pot/baking dish eg risotto, curries, pasta etc The first thing that came to mind to christen this cooker with was ossobuco.
Ossobuco is an italian dish originating from Milan. A tomato-base braise of cross-cut veal shanks cooked with vegetables, white wine and broth. Traditionally it’s served with gremolata and Risotto Milanese. I know the gremolata wouldn’t go down too well with my family so I decided to serve the ossobuco with plain couscous, to keep with the theme of fuss-free cooking.
As I was preparing the ossobuco, I noticed that I was running out of time to get the dish ready for dinner so I decided to use the pressure cooker function to speed up the process. So instead of slow cooking it for 6 hours, I pressure cooked it for 30 minutes and then slow cooked it for an extra 3 hours to make the meat extra tender. That seemed to work a treat as the meat fell off the bone and shredded apart effortlessly with a nudge of a fork.
Some of the things that I liked with this cooker are:
- the option to brown off meats and saute onions/vegetables; so essentially you could just use the one device to do all your cooking in
- the automatic “keep warm” function which turns on after the cooking process is complete
- the ease of washing the cooker; the non stick cooking bowl and even the lid are removable
- the removable condensation collector and detachable rice serving spoon holder
- the fact that I can do so much with it with all the functions available.
Now thanks to the lovely people from Kitchenware Direct, they are giving this cooker away to one lucky reader. This competition is open to Australian residents only and ends at 11:59PM (AEST) on the 31st of July 2011. You may enter as many times as you want, once daily, just as long as each entry is different. All you have to do is tell me what you’d cook with this cooker.
Congratulations to Adrian on winning the prize. The Kare Kare sounds very interesting, I would like to know how it turns out when you’ve cook it. You know, I don’t hold any responsibilities for you getting bigger because of the increase in food consumption that you’ll be doing instead of slaving over the stove.
Recipe
Amended from The River Cafe Classic Italian Cook Book by Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers
Serves 6
6 pieces of veal shin (about 2-3cm thick)
salt and pepper
50g (1/3 cup) flour
olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 celery heart, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup white wine
4 sprigs of fresh thyme (or oregano) (or 1 tsp of dried equivalent)
1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
1 cup beef stock
2 bay leaves
- Preheat the oven to 150C (300F). Arrange the wire rack to the bottom shelf.
- Season the veal and dust with flour, shaking off the excess.
- Heat oil in pan over a moderately high heat and brown the meat. Remove meat from pan and set aside.
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed lidded ovenproof casserole dish over low heat and gently fry the onions, garlic, carrot and celery for 10-15 minutes.
- Pour in wine, bring to boil, and simmer until volume has reduced by half.
- Place meat into the casserole dish, making sure the bones are placed upright so that the marrow doesn’t fall out during cooking.
- Add the thyme/oregano, tomatoes, chicken stock and bay leaves. (The liquid should come halfway up the pieces of meat, if not, add more stock or wine.)
- Bring just to boiling point, cover with greaseproof paper and the lid.
- Cook in oven for 2-2.5 hours, the meat should fall off from the bone and be tender enough to eat with only a fork.
- Serve the veal with the sauce and vegetables with plain couscous, mash potato or (traditionally) gremolata (recipe follows).
Using a pressure cooker or slow cooker
Pressure cooker – Cook the ossobuco for 30 minutes at high pressure.
Slow cooker – Cook the ossobuco for 5-6 hours.
Gremolata
2 lemons, finely zested
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Combine the ingredients.
- Serve.
Oooo, you know what I’d do with this machine/contraption/cooking thingy-ma-jiggy? I’d cook this Osso Buco – in fact I’m going to do it anyway this weeked. Looks SO simple. And if I won this machine/contraption/cooking thingy-ma-jiggy? I’d donate our current rice-cooker/slow cooker to charity and free up some cupboard space in our small kitchen.
I’ve given myself the task to cook something that will impress my partner, and given the quality of their cooking, I’ve got my work cut out. However, I’d like to slow cook a pork, ginger and egg dish and figure using a slow cooker approach may succeed in getting the meat mouthwateringly tender… and possibly suitable to impress?!
I’ve already got a rice cooker and a pressure cooker. I am missing a slow cooker in my kitchen. If I had a slow cooker I could ask my mum to teach me how to make her Chinese herbal soups. I used to drink them all the time, they would be simmering away in the slow cooker while I was at school and we would have a hearty soup before dinner starts. I have been unable to replicate any of these soups now that I live away from home because I don’t have a slow cooker. I like the multifunction aspect of this slow cooker and how you could switch between slow cooking and pressure cooking for your ossobuco.
I’d love to try out my beef vindaloo in the pressure cooker. Its so tasty but we can only really have it on weekends because it takes 6 hours in the slow cooker. It would be SO awesome to do it in a fraction of the time and have it taste basically the same đ
p.s. Your ossobucco looks amazing! So tender and drool-worthy! đ
I am sure this is a good investment as you will be cooking a lot lot more of delicious and impressive meals and treats with this amazing cooker.. It is great to pamper yourself with things that you desire every once in a while, don’t you think? đ
Looks like such a good winter feed! Mmmm. And when I have enough funds myself, can’t wait to get me one of those multi-cookers!
ooo that looks awesome! I would make chicken porridge in the cooker – this cold snap is making me want something simply and comforting.
wow your ossobuco looks lovely, i have never used a pressure cooker – it intrigues me that it can cook so quickly, and it amazes me that it does so much in one appliance, that would free up cupboard space!
i would cook moroccan lamb shanks….
beef rendang would be awesome to make in this cooker, mmmmmm
I so need to make a delicious Lamb Korma. When I do Korma it has a bit of heat for those cool evenings, it includes delicious rich cream and a lemon finish… I can almsot taste the lamb just thinking about it. The slow cooker would make it melt in the mouth delicious!
The second dish I would make is your Osso Bucco!! It looks amazing, I have been going to do one all winter and haven’t got there yet đ
I love what you have done here Phuoc. Osso buco is such a classic. Yum! I like that this machine has a pressure cooker function too. I’d be making my braised Greek meatballs to serve over home made pasta.
I’ve read some where that you can toss ribs in a slow cooker, with a couple of simple ingredients and it’ll come out stunning – would like to try that with the cooker
Phuoc I absolutely love Osso Bucco. It’s so hearty and perfect for this cold weather. I would probably attempt to cook beef cheeks. I always order them but I have never tried to cook them myself. Braised beef cheeks in red wine. Delicious..
I would slow cook lamb..can imagine it coming out tender and just falling off bone..mmmm
Your Osso buco looks devine. Handy having that pressure cooker element on the slower cooker. I would cook Asian style braised beef short ribs. Actually cooked it last night painfully on slow heat for 5 hours on the stove top – how this would have made my life easier. They were yummy tho.
i am a dessert fan so i can definitely make kheer (indian rice pudding) with this đ
and of course, the mandatory rice for every meal đ
I would also make bbq pulled pork in the cooker – mmm meat đ
What a perfect recipe for the cooker and for this weather! đ
I saw this as well and is actually quite cheap. Great way to start cooking with this baby by doing a mean Osso buco!
Hmmm…what to make first. I’d do Kare Kare- a Filipino Ox Tail peanut stew. I’d usually have to spend hours boiling the Ox Tail until it tenderises. This cooker would save me so much time ro spend on other important things like…more eating! LOL
thinking of all the food that I could be cooking without having the cooker is making me hungrier than I thought đ Beef brisket stew sounds like just the right thing to make and eat in this cold wet weather
I will use it to cook whole chinese 5 spice pork belly. I love pork belly and always only eat it when i am in a restaurant because I never have the time to watch the stove so long or bother to spend hrs and hrs to cook it til its tender. with this multi-cooker I am sure this job can be done in less than 1/2 of the time and result in a melt in the mouth pork belly đ
I will cook Red cooked beef (Bò kho)a vietnemese dishes used a cheap cut meat such as gravy beef ,beef shank or beef tendon and required bout 2 ,3 hours to braised until the meat and beef tendon all tender .
Bò kho can eat in variety way with rice or noodle even with bread can be serve for breakfast lunch and dinner So I could said it quite a vertasile vietnamese dish.
With this multi-cooker I am think for cooking Bò Kho can be done in advance for half an hour then can keep warm until ready to be serve and will tenderise by itself in this magic cooker
My dad made this other night in our Bessemer and it was so good x
I’d keep it simple the first time I tried it, with a beef and red wine casserole, packed with onion, garlic, carrots and potato đ I’ve made it lots of times before and loved it every time, but I bet it’ll be easier and tastier than ever in the multi-cooker (plus make less dishes because I won’t need to brown the meat in a frypan first!).
kate1485 at hotmail.com
I would show my mum the there’s more to life than slaving away in the kitchen for 6 hours. She doesn’t believe it using appliances to make things easier – we don’t even have a dishwasher for goodness sakes and there’s 10 of us in this house! As for the first recipe? It has to be red wine and garlic lamb shanks. Perfect comfort food.
Next I’d try a lamb and vegetable soup, with plenty of garlic and pearl barley. I’d serve it with chunks of bread, to wipe clean our bowls when we’ve eaten the soup. đ
I would make my mom’s herbal chicken soup – she used to start it off in the slow cooker in the morning and by dinner time, we’d have this delicious, nutritious soup with melt-in-your-mouth meat
I would like to just attempt to cook a ramen broth in it. I always had an idea of making a very slow cooked ramen broth. I made one before but it was over the stove for almost 12 hours. The cook would make it easier đ
^ opps i mean “the cooker” (sorry this isn’t another entry only the above :P)
I really need to make osso bucco in the pressure cooker. I usually cook it in the oven on a sunday, but I could really make it any day with a pressure cooker. I love my pressure cooker and use it all the time.
Ooh I am a bit impartial to a bit of soft osso buco with a spinkling of gremolata – and this weather practically screams for it – your photo of it looks so tempting. All I need is a roaring fire! As for what I’d make – slow braised brisket, slathered with gravy.
I think I would make roast chicken in the cooker – have seen a recipe called vietnamese roast chicken and the pictures looked drool-worthy.
I’d also love to cook a corned beef in it, I bet it would come out really tender and soft, yum! I’d serve it with mashed potato, stir fried cabbage (I hate it overcooked!) and mustard sauce.
I’d use it to cook some Jasmine rice, and then use it to cook a honey soy pork casserole to serve over it. đ
Ooh! I made lamb rogan josh with my mum a while ago (although in an electric frypan not a slow cooker), and I think it would be superlative in this! It’d be a lot more juicy and tender I think, and the house will fill with those wonderful spicy aromas all day as it cooked. đ I’d wipe it out and cook some basmati rice as well in it, and microwave some pappodoms to serve alongside it.
shall make garlic chicken in the cooker! Have seen it as a slow cooker recipe, its been on my to-cook list for a while
I think Steak Diane would be nice slow cooked too, the sauce would just cook with the steak rather than being added at the end. It would be BEE-utiful with snowy piles of mashed potato to soak up the sauce, and a nice dressed salad to balance it out somewhat. đ
feel like making braised beef with the cooker, something savory that would go awesome with rice
I’d start out by frying the onions, garlic and chorizo, then deglaze with red wine and stir in tomato paste, chopped olives and capers. Then I’d toss in some cooked rice (cooked earlier in the multi-cooker of course!) and stir through the seasonings for an easy Spanish rice!
I’ve heard of people using rice cookers to have steamboat – would it work with this cooker? mm maybe a nice tom yum base, with vermicelli, beef, prawns, fish, cuttlefish balls, fish balls, veg, mushrooms, dipping sauces, and call in a group of friends to join in
I’ve wanted for ages to make a Guinness, beef and bacon casserole, and I think this would make it SUPERBLY. đ I’d use onions, garlic, potatoes, carrot, some finely diced lean bacon and some gravy beef (perfect for slow cooking and packed full of flavour, yum!). Then I’d let it bubble away all day until it was filling the house with my favourite kind of aromatherapy.
I know what I wouldn’t cook. It wouldn’t be the brussel sprouts that are cooked in the pressure cooker by Grandma; then she appologises for them being under cooked. Definitely not under cooked in my world! Instead I would cook things that are destined to be slow cooked, like lamb shanks in red wine.
Your ossobuco makes crave comfort food!
There’s a Korean chicken soup dish called sam gye tang (chicken soup with ginseng) which I remember having as a child but haven’t had since those days. I’d probably want to give that a go, especially considering how effortless the cooker would make the whole process.
Wow, you cook for 8 mouths! You need very large pots and pans! đ
I would love to make osso buco and lamb shanks in this slow cooker, but the first thing I’d make is broth.
I just bought a book called Arthritis Interrupted by an American Dr Stephen Sinatra. He gives a recipe for broth consisting of chicken bones, prawn shells, pork knuckles, beef bones, joints and crushed egg shells. You need to add a small amount of acid (lemon juice or vinegar) in order to release the calcium, glucosamine and chondroitin from the bones, etc. Apparently research published in the journal Clinical Rheumatology found that the egg shell membrane reduced joint pain and stiffness more effectively than glucosamine and chondroitin.
That broth needs to simmer for approximately 8 hours. So far I haven’t had a spare day to stay home and supervise that on the stove, so I’d love to use this slow cooker for the job. I have a long standing back injury and my chiropractor has recommended the broth!
Ooh, I just noticed it’s a steamer too, it would be perfect for making some cute little pork and prawn dimsims. I have yet to find a gluten-free alternative for the wrappers, so I guess I’ll have to make them myself, unless you have suggestions? đ I’d flavour the filling with a little ginger juice, spring onion, garlic and pepper, delicious!
was dreaming of creamy, thick chicken and mushroom soup – the cooker has a soup function, yes? đ
I think I’d improvise a casserole of chicken, white wine and mustard, probably with some vegies (definitely onion and garlic, I can’t make anything savoury without them!). I’d finish the sauce with a glug of thin cream to give it a smooth, rich consistency. Then I’d serve it with some steamed Jasmine rice (which I could totally cook in the multicooker too!), and probably stir the rice through the casserole to flavour it with the sauce.
I’d buy a cheaper cut of lamb, perhaps chump chops, and slow cook them with chopped tomatoes and stock until they were falling apart. Then I’d shred the meat, add it back to the sauce with some chopped black olives, and serve it over fettuccine. Delicioso!
would totally make slow cooker beef stew, served with bread to sop every last bit up, mmm
today feels like a soup day, so, methinks a nice hearty vegetable soup would be great to make with the cooker
Only one thing that I want to cook in this (well today at least), braised beef cheeks in red wine and oloroso with plenty of fresh herbs and mushrooms. Naturally I’d serve this with something pureed like cauliflower, potato or garlic and a bottle or two of grange *dreaming*
Definately be cooking garlic and herb lamb shanks! Yum yum! Best meal for a cold winters night!
I’ve been dreaming of a homemade pulled pork ever since I tried the goodness, but the thoughts of leaving my oven on for 8-10 hours while I sleep/go out somewhere terrifies me! What if I burn my house down?!
This recipe has been lying around in my bookmark list for the longest time too http://nookandpantry.blogspot.com/2008/03/pulled-pork.html
When I successfully make a batch of pulled pork, I am planning to eat them in sandwich, toasties with melted cheese (!!!), wraps, tacos, nachos, etc OR just by themselves ohh the possibilities are endless yum!
i’d have to say that given a chance with a new preasure cooker i would love to try out my Nan’s recipe for beef stew and dumplings. It has been such a long time since i last had that lovely beefy goodness. Great winter treat.
Thanks everyone for your comments, they all sound mouth watering and so comforting.