* Slow Cooker Prawn and Sausage Jambalaya

Yeah Baby... YEAH!... Another success in my slow cooker. "OOooooh Happy Daaaaayyyyyyyzzzzzz".

I'll be honest (when am I not), I was expecting this to be a disaster because of the rice. Not out of any sort of psychic knowledge of what rice does in a slow cooker, but from one experience a couple of weeks back when dinner went in the dog.

I had discovered a weight watchers chicken rice type recipe for the slow cooker and followed the method and ingredients precisely and maaaan oh maaan "disgusting" just doesn't cover it - I could have cemented a house together with what came out of the pot. Sammy (the dog) thought it was Christmas (for the third time that week... don't even get me started on the beef skirt I wasted on a casserole in the bloody thing). I didn't give her the whole pot all at once - I made it last for a few days at dinner time for her - but she still couldn't get her belly up off the floor for a week afterwards. When Neil tried to play tug-o-war with her, which she loves, she just kind of rolled her eyes at him in a "stupid boy" fashion, rolled over, farted and went back to sleep...(I also do this when Neil wants me to play tug-o-war... but for entirely different reasons).

She didn't get any of this though. It was scrumptious.

Yet again it's a recipe that I adapted (quite a lot) from The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney. There was a bit of pre-cooking involved, and I have to admit that's not what I bought the slow cooker for. I really wanted to be able to just bung everything in it, turn it on and "Hey Presto!"... dinner is cooked and ready to serve a few hours later.... however... the end result is always worth the extra bit of effort, and I have the time to do it (mostly) - so why not?

As typically as ever, I didn't have all of the ingredients for this to begin with. I bought okra thinking I had everything else... and when I checked, the only thing I had, was the okra. Thankfully I got my car back from Neil on Monday, so was able to go shopping (I was born to shop) and get the rest. I suppose I could have played about with the main ingredients, but I've had such little success with the slow cooker that I didn't want to jinx the current turn of events.

I'm building up the courage to tackle making a cheesecake in it. Though I'm not sure my brain is on the same page with this one.

Which could be interesting.

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Slow Cooker Prawn and Sausage Jambalaya Recipe

Serves 4

Prep time (including precook time) - 25 minutes
Cooking time - AUTO/LOW 3 - 4 hrs
Total time - 3.5 - 4.5 hrs

You will need
A slow cooker
A frying pan/ skillet

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
5oz/150g chorizo sausage - thickly sliced
3.5oz/100g smoked sausage - thickly sliced
1 large onion - chopped
1 red pepper - deseeded and chopped
1/2 green pepper - deseeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp worcester sauce
7oz/200g easy cook white rice
16fl oz/450ml chicken stock
5oz/150g okra - sliced
5oz/150g raw prawns
handful of flat leaf parsley - chopped

Method

• Heat the oil in the pan and cook the chorizo and smoked sausage until golden - about 5 minutes.
• Remove from pan with slotted spoon and place in slow cooker.
• Throw the onion into the remaining oil and sweat gently for about 5 minutes.
• Add the peppers and cook for another 5 minutes, then stir in all the spices, salt, pepper, oregano, chilli flakes and garlic.
• Add the worcester sauce and cook for 2 minutes.
• Scoop the contents of the pan into the slow cooker and add the rice - gently stir to combine.
• Pour over the chicken stock, until rice and vegetables are just covered, stir one more time and pop the lid on.
• Cook on AUTO/LOW for 3 - 4 hours.
• Add the prawns and okra for the last half hour of cooking.
• Stir in the chopped parsley, serve with crusty bread and salad.

EAT

NOTE: If you discover that the rice is beginning to dry out when you are about to add the prawns and okra, just add a splash or two of boiling water from the kettle to loosen it up.