By Christine Salins.
If last week’s column encouraged you to get out the slow cooker, this week’s column will further convince you of how easy it is to prepare delicious one-pot meals.
Slow Cooker Central: Family Favourites is the latest book from Paulene Christie, who became an Internet sensation with the Facebook page and website she started in 2012.
Today she has more than half a million followers in her Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families Facebook group; a hugely successful website, Slow Cooker Central; and four best-selling cookbooks under her belt.
Whereas her previous books were a mix of her own recipes and recipes submitted by members of her community, Family Favourites (ABC Books, $24.99) contains 200 recipes from her own kitchen.
Christie, who lives in Queensland with her husband and three young children, offers recipes across all meal types, along with snacks, sweets and dishes for entertaining.
As with her previous books, there are no exhaustive lists of exotic ingredients, no complex steps or skills to master, and no glossy photos. In fact, there are no photos at all, just pages and pages of dead-easy recipes.
Some, like the Porcupines here, are from another era. The last time I saw a recipe for Porcupines was in my high school recipe book, when cooking was a girls-only subject quaintly called “Home Economics”.
But sometimes it’s fun to go back to old favourites, isn’t it? Christie suggests serving the meatballs over pasta or on their own, with seasonal vegetables.
Porcupines in Barbecue Sauce
Makes 24 large meatballs
Cook 6 hours • Cooker capacity 5 litres
500 g lean minced beef
½ cup long grain white rice (uncooked)
1 large onion, grated
1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
Plain flour, for dusting
420 g can cream of tomato condensed soup
400 g can diced tomatoes
½ cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon (firmly packed) light brown sugar
- Combine the mince, rice, onion and garlic in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into golf ball–sized balls using your hands. Roll each ball lightly in flour to coat. Arrange the balls in the slow cooker in a single layer.
- Combine the soup, tomatoes, barbecue sauce and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Pour gently over the meatballs.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. If you need to stir, wait until the meatballs are cooked through and firm, so they don’t break up.
From: Slow Cooker Central: Family Favourites, by Paulene Christie, published by ABC Books.
