slow food

so what’s keeping the wheels turning lately is doing the washing at night and biffing stuffs into the slow cooker in the morning. when “i dunno what to do… I dunno what to do…” (guess the movie line) i use a maggi sachet – i know, it’s not quite au naturel but it’s just so easy peasy. today's epic comfortfoodyness: take one bolar roast from a happy moo, defrost on the bench overnight. sear it on all sides in a swoosh of hot olive oil (and forget to wipe up splatters on the bench). pop into slow cooker. open a sachet of ‘maggi beef provençale’ (yeah, i’m a little unconventional – had run out of gravy options), tip sachet contents into a cup and fill to the nearly-brim with two-day-old ngatarawa stables merlot (how that had escaped the eyeballs i do not know). stir, pour over the meatygoodness. quarter a few medium sized pohtaytohs lengthways, sprinkle with ‘tuscan seasoning’ (from a jar = more inorganic naughtyness) and toss them in a little extra olive oil. throw the taters preciouses into the slow cooker so they can snuggle around the meat. wham on lid. cook on low power all day whilst entertaining a hundred and fifty kiddos at skool. arrive home to aromatic deliciousness. scare up some frozen veggies and persuade hubby to assemble it all artfully on plates. eat piggy dins styles whilst watching the weather peeps tell us that a huuuuge storm – the size of austraaaaaalia – is about to descend on leetle en zed. chase kiddos into showers and pop the washing on... X

(nota bene: if/when ya do an onions, meat, mushrooms, tomatoes stroganoff thang: always soften onions in olive oil first. throw all into slow cooker and keep the mushrooms whole otherwise they will shrivel. cook on low eight to ten hours. be careful not to drown it in too much liquid. practice makes perfect delish.)