Three easy slow cooker recipes

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“Being Irish, it won’t be a surprise that I love Guinness or that I love pies,” says Nathan Anthony. “Traditionally made pies can be a bit of a labour of love, but this is the easiest pie recipe you’ll ever make – just throw it in, let it cook away during the day, add a pastry lid and serve. It’s honestly that easy.”

Slow cooker steak and Guinness pie

Serves:

Ingredients:

800g beef steak or rump (or 1kg brisket), chopped

440ml can of Guinness

200ml beef inventory

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 carrots, roughly chopped

1 pink onion, chopped

1 celery stick, chopped

1 heaped tbsp cornflour

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry

1 egg, crushed, to glaze the pastry

Salt and pepper, to style

Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, to serve (optionally available)

Method:

1. Throw all of the elements, besides the pastry and egg, within the slow cooker.

2. Cook on excessive for 4 hours or low for seven to eight hours. Discard the bay leaf.

3 Preheat the oven to 200C. Top the meat filling with the puff pastry, tuck it around the pie, then brush with the crushed egg.

4. Pop the ovenproof slow-cooker pot (with out the lid) into the oven for 25 minutes till golden and crisp. If your slow-cooker pot isn’t oven-safe, decant the filling into an ovenproof pot, cowl with the pastry, brush with the egg and bake as above.

5. Serve with Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, should you like.

Tip: To get the pastry the appropriate dimension, put your slow cooker lid on prime of your puff pastry sheet and reduce spherical it earlier than including to the slow cooker.

Carrot cake in a single day oats

Usually served chilly out of the fridge, this heat model of in a single day oats made within the slow cooker is subsequent degree,” says Anthony. “[It’s] a sneaky way to get veggies in at breakfast, while at the same time tasting of carrot cake.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500ml skimmed milk

150g porridge oats

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp floor cinnamon

1 tsp floor nutmeg

Handful of dried fruit (round 50g), chopped

200g Greek yoghurt

2 massive carrots, grated

To serve:

25g chopped walnuts

Zest of 1 orange

4 tbsp honey

Method:

1. Mix all of the elements, besides the walnuts, orange and honey, in your slow cooker. Cook on low for eight hours. If you’re an early riser, throw all of it in and cook dinner on excessive for 3 hours.

2. Serve with the chopped walnuts, orange zest and a drizzle of honey.

Tip: If it appears to be like a little bit dry at any level, add a splash extra milk. If cooking in a single day, add just a few further splashes at the beginning so it doesn’t dry out.

Red pepper bruschetta pasta

This is the recipe Anthony got here up with when making an attempt to determine between two favorite dishes: bruschetta and pasta.

“The result is this soft pasta with lots of flavour, crunchy croutons and a drizzle of balsamic: stunning. I do enjoy making my own sourdough croutons in the air fryer or the oven, but shop-bought croutons work very well if you don’t have the time,” he says.

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

2 x 300g jars of roasted pink peppers, chopped

15 cherry tomatoes, quartered

700g passata

1 tsp dried oregano

4 garlic cloves, grated

Generous handful of contemporary basil

250g contemporary lasagne sheets, reduce into thick strands

Salt and pepper, to style

4 tsp balsamic vinegar

Croutons

50g grated vegetarian parmesan cheese, to serve

Method:

1. Add the peppers, tomatoes, passata, oregano, grated garlic, salt and pepper and many of the basil to the slow cooker. Cook on excessive for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.

2. Add the lasagne strands and cook dinner for an extra 20-25 minutes (if cooking on low, you might want barely longer).

3. Plate up and prime the pasta with the balsamic vinegar, croutons, Parmesan and remaining contemporary basil.

Tip: To make your personal sourdough croutons, dice a few slices of bread, toss them in olive oil and put within the air fryer at 200C for six minutes, or on a baking tray in a 200C oven for 10-12 minutes.

‘Bored Of Lunch: Healthy Slow Cooker Even Easier’ by Nathan Anthony (Ebury Press, £20).