Bargemen's Beef Stew From The French Slow Cooker - Michele Scicolone

Now I really loved this. My boys did not. Any sort of fish flavor traumatizes thy Canadian children's tongue. One would think that having grown up on here on the West Coast of B.C., eating fish was, well, second nature. It's not. Eventually though and as their taste buds die from old age, a taste for fish, whether fresh, wild, farmed or simply politically incorrect will, praise God, develop. After all, the wine I didn't like as a child I quite liked with less taste buds as a full grown adult. Enjoy! Or as the French Slow and Sleepy Cookers say, Bon....A...p..p..e...t (yawn)i...t!

Serve 8
Olive Oil
4 pounds of beef chuck, well trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes, 3 tbsp. all purpose flour, salt and freshly ground pepper, 3 large onions, thinly sliced, 6 anchovy fillets, 6 garlic cloves, peeled, 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar.

Oil the insert of a large slow cooker. In a large bowl, toss the meat with flour and salt and pepper to taste. Scatter half of the onions in the slow cooker. Add half of the meat. Add the remaining onions and top with the remaining meat. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the meat is very tender.
In a food processor or blender, chop the anchovies, garlic, and parsley very fine. Add the mustard and vinegar and pulse just until blended. Skim the fat off the stew. Stir in the anchovy mixture. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Butternut Bisque - French Slow Cooker...Cooking!

Imagine my overwhelming joy happenstancing over a cookbook in my favourite bookstore called, "The French Slow Cooker" by Michele Scicolone. An Italian cooking French food the old house wifery way - in otherwords elegance in a crockpot!

Here is the first recipe I tried which was:

Butternut Bisque: 1 large butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces, 1 medium onion, chopped, 1 large sweet apple, such as...red! 6 cups of chicken broth, but I used beef, 1 tsp. of salt, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, but I will use low fat milk, plus more for garnish, sliced apples, for garnish.

In a large slow cooker, combine the squash, onion, apple, and broth. Add 1 tsp. of salt. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until the vegetables are very soft. Let cool slightly. Transfer the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Add the cream and nutmeg and blend again. Reheat if necessary. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed. Spoon the soup into serving bowls, drizzle each serving with a teaspoon of heavy cream, garnish with the nutmeg and apple slices, and serve hot.