Five Spice Chicken, Crock-Pot Style

Pin It Ever since I made that Five Spice Crock-Pot Roast, I have been trying to come up with another recipe using the same spice. With some minor changes, I adapted it to chicken, and I think it is going to be amazing! (It's cooking as I type). For me, the combination of tangy vinegar, sweet brown sugar, rich sesame oil, and flavorful five spice is just irresistible. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Five Spice Crock-Pot Chicken

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts (about 1 - 1 1/2 lb)
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp Chinese five spice
1 tsp sesame oil
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place all ingredients except chicken in crock-pot. Whisk together well, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chicken. Cook on low heat for 5-6 hours, or on low heat for 2 1/2-3 hours. Serve with rice.

Five Spice Crock-Pot Roast

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I love Asian food. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Cantonese, Vietnamese... you get the point. I am forever trying to find ways to infuse my cooking with those wonderful flavors. Tonight, I decided to try out a new spice I picked up on whim: Chinese 5 Spice. I found it in the ethnic food department of my local market. The one I picked up is made of cinnamon, star anise, fennel, ginger, cloves, white pepper, and licorice root. (I know that's more than 5 spices, but that's what the jar says!) It is very potent, and recommended to be used sparingly. I hope you will take a journey with me to try out this new recipe!

Five Spice Crock-Pot Roast

Ingredients:

2-3 lb beef roast (I used a rump roast)
3/4 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
salt and pepper

Preparation:

Season all sides of roast with salt and pepper. Place roast in crock-pot. In a medium pan, combine vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, water, and Chinese 5 Spice. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to simmer. Stir often, until brown sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool slightly (5-10 minutes), then pour over roast. Cook on low for 5-6 hours, or on high for 2.5-3 hours. Serve with rice and a green vegetable. Enjoy!!

Dr. Pepper Roast

Pin It I love pop. (Or soda, or coke, depending on what part of the country you hail from) I generally drink diet pop, whether it be Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mt. Dew, or store brand. It doesn't matter to me, as long as it's cold, carbonated, and caffeinated. I have tried different sauces and marinades that are labelled as including some type of pop or another, and they are usually pretty tasty. Something about that propietary blend of flavors just hits the spot. When I was browsing Pinterest (which, if you don't know by now, is easily my favorite website EVER!), I saw someone post a link to Dr. Pepper crock-pot roast. You can see where I found it here. So, of course, I had to try it! Super easy to put together, and you can pretty much forget about it for most of the day! It is in my crock-pot right now, filling my home with delicious smells, while I relax :)

Dr. Pepper Roast

Ingredients:

1 3-5 pound beef roast (I actually used a 2.5 pounder...)
1 can Dr Pepper
2 cups water
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic

Preparation:

Place beef roast in slow cooker.
Add in all other ingredients.
Cook for 7 hours on low or 3 1/2 hours on high.
Drain off juice and serve warm.

Indonesian Beef Stew

Pin It This is a wonderful crock-pot stew that I found in my Williams-Sonoma Slow Cooker Cookbook. The original recipe can be found here. I couldn't find unsweetened coconut at my local grocery store, so I used sweetened and omitted the brown sugar. Cumin and Coriander are not spices I had used before, so I had to purchase them. I was able to find smaller jars for less than $3 at Target. I figured I wasn't sure if I would use them frequently, so that was a small price to pay to try something new! As I was making this, I was thinking that this stew would be equally good (and cheaper) if I used chicken breast instead. Just a thought. Without further ado, here is the recipe!

Indonesian Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1/4 cup canola oil
3 lb. boneless beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes (I used the pre-cut "beef for stew" found in the meat section of the grocery)
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cups unsweetened shredded or flaked dried coconut (I used sweetened)
1 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar (I omitted this because of the sweetened coconut)
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt, plus more, to taste
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper, plus more, to taste
4 cups coconut milk
Steamed white rice for serving

Preparation:

In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the beef and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is no longer red and the onion has softened, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with the coconut, brown sugar (if using), coriander, cumin, the 1 tsp. salt and the 1 tsp. pepper. Continue sautéing until the meat and coconut are browned and the spices are fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes more. Transfer the mixture to a slow cooker.

Add the coconut milk to the fry pan, increase the heat to high and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom. Bring the coconut milk to a boil, then pour it into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Ladle the stew over steamed rice and serve immediately. Serves 6 to 8.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Series, Slow Cooker, by Norman Kolpas (Oxmoor House, 2007).

Sauerbraten

Pin It So, I have a whole bunch of cookbooks which I have either received as gifts, or purchased for myself. Honestly, I often use one recipe from a book and then put it right back on the shelf. In this particular case, I got a beautiful Williams-Sonoma slow cooker cookbook from my mother. I made one recipe, and back to the shelf it went. However, since I haven't been able to work, I have been cooking a lot more. So, as I was flipping through the pages, I found a recipe for crock pot sauerbraten. I had never tried sauerbraten before, so I figured "What the heck?" The cookbook has a little side note that says traditional sauerbraten is marinated for a couple of days before cooking, so I did that. It definitely was worth the wait. Even my 3 year old son loved it, especially the cabbage! You can find the original recipe here. I served it with olive oil roasted red potatoes, but it is traditionally served with spaetzle or boiled potatoes. Without further ado, here is the recipe!

Sauerbraten

Ingredients:

Boneless beef chuck roast (3 1/2 - 4lbs)

Salt and fresh ground pepper

1 tsp ground ginger

2 yellow onions, chopped

1 cup beef broth

3/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 bay leaf

1/2 head red cabbage, thinly shredded

12-16 gingersnap cookies, finely crushed (I used 16, and I used a food processor to crush them)

(Side note: As I type this, I realize I didn't use the onion when I made this. It was purely an accident on my part. So, I guess the lesson here is that if you don't particularly want onions, that's OK! It will taste delicious anyways!)

Preparation:

Boil the broth, vinegar, and brown sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature. Season the beef with salt, pepper, and ginger. Place beef in container and pour vinegar mixture over the top. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. If the roast is not completely covered, turn twice a day.

Transfer roast and liquid to crock pot. Add onions and bay leaf. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 7 hours. Add the cabbage, pressing it down around the edges with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle cabbage with one teaspoon salt. Cover and continue cooking for one hour.

Remove and discard bay leaf. Transfer roast to cutting board, and transfer cabbage to serving bowl. Whisk crushed gingersnaps into liquid in the crock pot until thickened into gravy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer gravy to serving dish/small pitcher. Slice meat across the grain. Either transfer to serving plate, or dish up individual servings. Serve with cabbage and gravy on top.

ENJOY!!

Credits: Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Slow Cooker

Porcupine Beef

Pin It I have forgotten to put this recipe up for over a month now, so here it is. Sara, this one's for you :) It's a little on the spicy side, especially when you use jalapenos, but these meatballs are delicious! A side of some cheesy cornbread cuts the spice nicely. I suppose you could throw a dollop of sour cream in there too, if you like. With a little adjusting, this can be made in a crock-pot easily. Brown the meatballs a little, heat up the sauce in the crock-pot, throw 'em in and they'd probably be done in a couple hours on low heat. Just a warning, if you don't brown them first, you run the risk of this turning into a porcupine stew.



Porcupine Beef

Ingredients:

1 LB ground beef
1/2 C uncooked instant rice
2 eggs, beaten
1 - 1.5 oz envelope dry onion soup mix
1/4 C finely chopped sweet green or jalapeno pepper
1 - 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 - 12 oz can or bottle light beer
2 tsp chili powder

Preparation:

Mix together ground beef, rice, eggs, dry soup mix and chopped pepper. Shape into 6 large balls.

Combine tomatoes, beer, and chili powder in a large skillet or 3 QT baker. Heat to boiling over medium heat or in a 350 oven.

Carefully drop meatballs into hot tomato mixture; cover and simmer or bake for 45-55 minutes. Lift out meatballs and, if desired, thicken sauce with 3 TBSP flour mixed with cold water. Serve in deep bowls with crusty bread or cheesy cornbread.

Makes 6 servings.

I got this recipe from a cookbook called Fifty From The Trail: The Best Cowboy Cooking From A Timeless Land. There is no credit given in the book to any author, so I can't give any either. This cookbook just showed up one day in my cookbook collection, and has become one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy the recipe!!