slow cooker experts?

[mtemm]

am wondering if I can use my crock pot for my stew recipe and am wondering if any slow cooker experts could tell me how to go about adapting it. I would really like to make it today, but have a very busy afternoon so my only other option would be to make it early and then heat it up for dinner, which is what I am planning to do, but then I thought of the crock pot I have stashed away that I never use and thought I'd see if that might be a solution.

here is my recipe (from cooking light):

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001142004

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 pound small cremini mushrooms
Cooking spray
2 cups chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
2 pounds lean beef stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 (14-ounce) cans less-sodium beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 cups (3/4-inch) cubed peeled white potato (about 1 pound)
1 1/2 cups (1-inch) slices carrot (about 12 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, and sauté for 5 minutes or until mushrooms begin to brown. Spoon mushrooms into a large bowl. Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add onion mixture to mushroom mixture.

Place flour in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add half of beef mixture; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Add browned beef to mushroom mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining beef mixture and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Add 1 cup wine to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add thyme, broth, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Stir in beef mixture. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 hour or until beef is just tender.

Stir in potato and carrot. Simmer, uncovered, 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beef and vegetables are very tender and sauce is thick, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Discard bay leaf. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

 

[PoppyGirl]

For the best flavor, I would do these few steps as directed
Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, and sauté for 5 minutes or until mushrooms begin to brown. Spoon mushrooms into a large bowl. Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add onion mixture to mushroom mixture.

Place flour in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add half of beef mixture; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Add browned beef to mushroom mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining beef mixture and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Add 1 cup wine to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add thyme, broth, and bay leaf; bring to a boil

and then add everything to the crockpot and cook on low about 6 hours. I cook in my crockpot every day. Sometimes I just throw everything in (even with the beef frozen) early in the morning and let it cook all day.

I have 2 crock pots--one has a lid that fastens down and with that one I tend to use a little less liquid. The other one seems to lose some of the moisture out of the top while cooking and so I use the recommended amount of liquid in that one.

HOpe that helps. It sounds delicous. What time is dinner?

 

[cabanafrau]

If you try this recipe in the slow cooker, the first thing I'd recommend is not prepping your vegetables quite as much. Onion wedges, not diced, not pre-cooked. Carrots either in bigger slices or chunks, potatoes in wedges or bigger chunks also.

I'm also skeptical of the mushrooms going in to cook so long in a slow cooker. Maybe put those in the last hour or so of cooking?

 

[mtemm]

thanks! I did do the first part like poppygirl suggested, but kept them in bigger chunks like cabanafrau recommended. and I didn't precook as long as the recipe said. will see how it turns out! it smells good, at least, and hopefully at the very least its edible. lol. I am not usually a fan of stew, but I love this recipe so much.

 

[PoppyGirl]

Let us know how it turns out!

 

[mtemm]

well, it was definitely edible and worked very well for how busy my day was. it was also very nice to come home from the kids skating lessons at 5:30 and have a nice, hot meal waiting for us. the mushrooms ended up being fine, as did the rest of the veggies and beef.

that said, it was not as good as cooking it per the recipe. the flavor just wasn't as good, and I'm guessing a lot of that has to do with the fact that the broth doesn't reduce at all like it does in a dutch oven w/o a lid on. so most likely I will continue to make it like I normally do. but if I'm ever in a pinch for time again, I won't hesitate to go the slow cooker route again.

thanks for the input!