A mother-daughter conversation on food and cooking (mostly)
I love to cook and I love polenta, but I don't have the patience to stand and stir for 30 minutes. I have tried this crockpot version several times now, and it's been a big success.
Polenta
2 cups polenta
6 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons salt
Place polenta in crockpot and gradually add boiling water, stirring until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, stirring every 20 or 30 minutes. If desired, a few minutes before serving stir in
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
I had to post this because for a while we couldn't find the recipe card--we worried that it might be lost to posterity. Dad makes these.
And I have to tout Anasazi beans again: they are less gassy than pinto beans, and they cook in about half the time without pre-soaking. This is a slow crockpot recipe, but on the stove top they become tender in a little over an hour.
Crockpot Anasazi Beans
1 pound Anasazi beans
Water to cover by about 1 ½ inches
Place in crockpot in the morning and cook on High for half a day.
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small dried red chile
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
Add the remaining ingredients and cook on Low until dinnertime.
I made pot roast in the crockpot again. It took maybe ten minutes of prep work. I browned a small chunk of beef, then put it in the crockpot with chopped carrots, onions, and mushrooms. I added salt, a bay leaf, and cheap wine and turned it on low for 20 hours. I served it with egg noodles.
Pot roast feels like wartime food, food for a recession, food for hard times. It also feels like food for winter; it's going to be 20 degrees here overnight. I did not move to the South for this.
I just finished a few big projects I had going, so I should be cooking and posting more. I'll have Thanksgiving plans up soon; we're going to try to shop for ingredients early this year instead of Wednesday evening.
We're going out for fancy Thai food tonight.
