The Great American Slow Cooker Book (28 page)

Serve It Up!
Any pasta will do, although fettuccini or pappardelle are the traditional choices. Serve some finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to sprinkle on every bowlful.

1
Warm a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes, then pour in the oil and tilt the skillet to slick the hot surface. Crumble in the sausage meat; cook, stirring often, until browned, no raw spots visible, between 4 and 6 minutes, depending on how much sausage you have and how big your skillet is. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the browned sausage meat to the slow cooker.

2
Crumble the ground beef into the skillet, still set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef loses any trace of pink and just begins to brown, between 4 and 8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the beef to the slow cooker, leaving the rendered fat (which you can discard after you get the slow cooker going).

3
Stir the tomatoes, onion, carrots, celery, olives, tomato paste, oregano, fennel seeds, sugar, and salt into the cooker until the tomato paste dissolves and everything’s mixed.

4
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the sauce has thickened and the flavors have blended. Stir in the basil just before serving.

TESTERS’ NOTES

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This meat sauce is more aromatic than the previous incarnation, thanks in large part to the olives and dried spices. It uses two kinds of meat, both pork sausage and ground beef—the former for a distinct sweetness, the latter for a savory satisfaction. The sauce also mimics a more authentic Italian sensibility—more like a condiment for the cooked pasta than a sauce heaped into the bowls. You’ll find you use less than you might normally.

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Shred the peeled carrots through the large holes of a box grater or with the shredding blade of a food processor.

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Don’t mince the vegetables. Instead, cut them into small bits, each about ¼ inch. You want vegetables in every spoonful, but not so small they melt into the sauce.

Serve It Up!
This hearty sauce is best on thick pasta noodles like pappardelle or even mafaldina. Or you can skip the pasta altogether: make long noodles from zucchini by running a vegetable peeler down their length, creating wide thin strips. Mound these in a bowl, then ladle the hot sauce on top.

1
Set a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes, swirl in the oil, and crumble in the ground beef and the sausage meat. Cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly browned and broken into tiny bits, between 5 and 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, oregano, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

2
Stir the ricotta, egg, and nutmeg in a large bowl until the egg is thoroughly mixed into the cheese.

3
Layer in the slow cooker in this order: the meat sauce, the ricotta mixture, the mozzarella, and the noodles, breaking the noodles to fit the basic shape of your cooker and patching any holes with shards of the dried noodles. Because of varying shapes and sizes of slow cookers, there’s no exact number for the number of layers; just begin and end with the meat sauce and make at least two full sets of layers. Sprinkle the top with the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

4
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until the casserole has set and you can cut it with a knife. Turn the cooker off and let stand, covered, for 15 minutes. Serve the lasagna by slicing portions with a nonstick-safe knife or spatula, then lifting them out with a large, flat spatula.

TESTERS’ NOTES

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Italian sausage meat will provide many of the classic seasonings for the meat sauce. But we also added some dried spices to give it a wintry, comfort-food feel, a nice balance to the summery tomatoes.

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If you’re preparing this for a large slow cooker, the meat and vegetables may not fit in even the largest skillet. Use two skillets, set over separate burners, dividing the ingredients between them.

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Dried rosemary won’t blend evenly through a casserole like this one because the individual leaves are too large and tough. By crushing the leaves under a rolling pin or even with your fingers, you’ll be able to distribute the flavor evenly.

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Yes, you’ll need to break the noodles to get them to fit. Here’s the rule: you want decent coverage but you don’t need to get obsessive.

1
Place the rice in a large bowl, cover with water, and soak for 1 hour.

2
Set the ground beef, water chestnuts, scallion, ginger, five-spice powder, and half the soy sauce in a second large bowl. Using your clean, dry hands, work the mixture into an evenly spiced and uniform meatball mélange. Form the mixture into small meatballs, using 3 tablespoons per ball. Set the meatballs on a large plate or cutting board.

3
Drain the rice in a colander set in the sink. Spread the rice in a thin layer on a plate. Roll the meatballs in the rice to coat them before placing them in a single layer in the slow cooker.

4
Whisk the remainder of the soy sauce with the broth, sherry, and rice vinegar in a small bowl. Pour the mixture over the meatballs, taking care not to knock off the rice kernels.

5
Cover and cook on high for 2½ hours, or until the rice is tender and the meatballs are cooked through. Serve the meatballs with some of the sauce drizzled over the top.

TESTERS’ NOTES

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This Asian-inspired recipe makes very few meatballs, since they must stay small to cook properly yet still fit in a single layer in the slow cooker.

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The rice studding the meatballs give rise to their name, as the grains look like small quills. Don’t worry; the rice will get tender. However, the meatballs will be a bit fragile. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon.

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For a more authentic flavor, substitute Shaoxing (a Chinese rice wine often used for cooking) for the dry sherry. Also whisk up to 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil into the braising liquids in step 4.

Serve It Up!
Since there’s already rice on the meatballs, serve them over baby spinach leaves cooked with a little broth, some minced fresh ginger, and very thin garlic slivers in a covered, large skillet over medium heat. As a bonus, the soy-sauce–laced sauce for the meatballs will add plenty of flavor to the wilted spinach.