Slow-cooker ideas for freezer

Sicilian sauce

I love making stocks and sauces that I can freeze and use as the need arises. Coming home after a busy day and being able to go to the freezer and pull out some homemade tomato sauce, I brown off some mince, cook some pasta and stir it together. It's a meal in moments.

Using my slow cooker to make sauces, stocks and quick-to-plate meals is easy and not time consuming.

STOCKS

Nothing beats a home made stock as they provide a foundation taste to so many dishes and my slow cooker helps me make these with easy. My standard stocks are chicken and vegetable. I do make beef stock on occasion and I will cover this another time.

The only difference between my chicken stock recipe and my vegetable is that the vegetable has no chicken bodies in it. It's that simple, one basic recipe does two stocks. Both of these stocks also create the base for warming soups.

Chicken stock

You will often find chicken carcasses in the meat section at your supermarket. I usually purchase 3-4 at a time and if I am not going to make stock that day I will freeze them so I have them at hand for when I do need to make it. You can take the carcasses straight from the freezer and place in simmering water.

I quite often make chicken stock after roasting a chicken. I will use the carcasses that I have roasted and add 1kg of fresh chicken wings which I usually purchase when on special and freeze them for this occasion. On special you can usually pick up the chicken wings for about $5-$6 per kg.

Ingredients

2 chicken carcasses or bones from leftover roast chicken

6 garlic cloves cut in half

1 tsp whole pepper corns (about 6-8)

1 onion cut in half

4 celery sticks cut into chunky pieces

2 large carrots chopped into chunky pieces

2 bay fresh leaves

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

4 sprigs of fresh parsley

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

3-5 litres warm water (not hot) depending on the size of your slow cooker

salt to taste

Method

Place the chicken carcasses, garlic, vegetables, herbs and peppercorns in your slow cooker. Add the warm water and season with salt to taste.

Cook on low for at least 12 hours or overnight. Turn off and let cool completely.

Once the stock is cold it should look clear and slightly amber in colour. At this point I skim off any fat that has solidified on the top. I usually divide it into small plastic containers or ziplock bags at this point and freeze it. It will keep in the fridge for about 3-4 days and in the freezer for 2-3 months.

Vegetable Stock

Cook as above without the chicken bones.

Sicilian Tomato Sauce
Nothing beats a good homemade tomato sauce and the smell in the kitchen as it's cooking is fantastic. I freeze this in 2 cup lots in ziplock bags and this gives me the option for meals in minutes. You can use this as a base on pizza, with meatballs, as a dipping sauce, with pasta and in your general cooking.

Ingredients
2 400g tins diced tomatoes

1 mediumlarge onion, diced

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

35 cloves garlic, crushed with the flat of a knife and sliced thinly

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried rosemary

2 tsp dried oregano

cup red wine (optional), if not using wine replace with stock

2 bay leaves

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

200g tomato puree

cup fresh Italian parsley

Method
Saut onion in olive oil and simmer over low heat, covered, for 10 minutes.

Add the garlic, basil, rosemary and oregano and simmer, covered, for another 5 minutes or so. Uncover and add wine and bay leaves.

Once simmering add to your slow cooker bowl.

Add tomatoes, chicken/vegetable stock, salt and pepper, pure into the slow cooker.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

If you want to turn this sauce into a base that is great for pizzas, add 1012 sliced olives (pips removed) and 2 tsp capers in the last 90 minutes of simmering.