The return of the crockpot

 Since the prospect of someone (like this fine gal to the left) greeting me at my own front door with a martini and the smell of dinner cooking is slim to none, at least in the foreseeable future, I’ve discovered the next best thing: the old crock pot.

Really.

I unearthed this from my basement yesterday when I had to run off to yoga class, but the beef stew wasn’t finished cooking. I couldn’t leave the burner on to finish the stew while I was away, but I knew it needed more time to simmer. So I (literally) dusted off the crockpot that’s been sitting in the basement for eight years, slopped the unfinished stew into it, turned the dial to “high,” threw a lid on it and left.

 

I wasn’t sure the pot actually worked – so I did wait around for long enough to be sure it didn’t explode and cause a fire, and that it did heat up and not sit there, broken, on the counter, with beef stew cooling inside it.

But all systems seemed to be in working order. And when I came home from yoga class, I opened the door and voila! The sumptuous smell of dinner cooking greeted me (albeit without the martini). The stew was bubbling away, and it turned out to be delicious: tender beef chunks, sweet carrots, tender potatoes, all flavored with garden herbs and tomatoes and onions cooked so they melt in your mouth.

Now I’m going to google around and try to find other ways to use this wondrous tool I’ve resurrected. I’m hoping it will work for black bean chili, or maybe a lentil-based Indian stew. Are there revised crockpot cookery books out there that update an old trend, the way books about canning and knitting made home-making hip and cool again? I’ll find out. Or maybe write one myself.

Yoga class beef stew

Yes, it’s probably not very yoga to eat animals, but this was free-range, antibiotic-free, hopefully well-treated beef. And I’m grateful I could buy it for that undeniable red-meat craving I cannot seem to shake.

Approx one pound stew beef (it’s the cheapest cut in the case!)

Olive oil for the pot
1 large onion
3 or 4 carrots, chopped
6 or 7 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
A handful of fresh rosemary (I actually used a 7-inch sprig that had been drying on the countertop), chopped
A handful of fresh sage (again, this was sort of drying out on the countertop), chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
Water
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and pat dry the beef. Heat olive oil in a soup pot. Add beef, brown on all sides, turning each piece with tongs, as needed. Add onion, cook until onion begins to soften, stirring occasionally. Add the rest of the veggies and herbs, give it a stir and let cook up to five minutes. Add the tomatoes and enough water to almost cover. Bring to a boil.

    At this point you could either
1) skip yoga class and keep cooking the stew for a couple of hours -- either on top of the stove or in the oven, with a lid, at about 300 -- or
2) cook it for as long as you can, then change into yoga clothes, dump the stew into the crockpot, and leave it for about two hours more.  
3) Third option is to go ahead and bring it to a boil, then transfer it to the crock pot and follow the instructions that come with the pot -- or look it up on a website that is more thorough in the crockpot category than mine. I like this one, as it has veggie options as well as meat.

For the martini, you're on your own.