Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cookbook – My slow cooker is soon going to be working in overdrive – it’s such a godsend when making winter stews and casseroles. Some of you may have seen professional chef, TikTok star, and Sunday Times bestselling author Poppy O’Toole on TV and her newly published book shows you how to get the most out of your slow cooker.
Featuring 90 mouth-watering recipes that focus on ease and convenience without breaking the bank or sacrificing flavour, this is the book you need to get great food on the table at the end of a busy day. It has recipes for the ultimate slow cooker chilli con carne, as well as family favourite fakeaways, soups, curries, pasta dishes, hot chocolate and much more (including a chapter on potatoes). Poppy elevates each recipe with hacks, tips and flavour ideas, so it becomes something actually delicious. With more of us relying on quick, affordable, low-energy cooking than ever before, Poppy Cooks is the only companion you need for mastering your slow cooker and keeping everyone at your table happy. Poppy rose to TikTok fame in the 2020 lockdown, quickly becoming known for her love of potatoes. Now, with more than 4 and a half million followers, she is a highly in-demand food influencer and the co-host of BBC Three’s Young MasterChef.
Published by Bloomsbury at £20 for a hardback, it’s a must-have for any slow cooker fan. Here are a few recipes that demonstrate how easy Poppy’s recipes are:
Beef Bourguignon
“Now we’re getting fancy! Picture it now … a beef bourguignon on the slow cooker. Red wine in the glass. Barry White on the Alexa. A rose between your teeth. Okay maybe a bit too far. And if I’m being honest, there’s probably better food to get you in the mood than this hearty beef and moist carrot stew, because after a bowl or two of this you’ll be needing at least a three-hour nap. But whatever floats your boat.”
Serves 4 – 5 hours on high
800g beef shin, diced
200g pancetta
250g shallots, finely diced
2 celery sticks, finely diced
300g chestnut mushrooms, halved
2 carrots, thickly sliced small handful of thyme, leaves picked
2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
2 bay leaves 250ml red wine (I like Malbec)
250ml beef stock
30g butter, cubed (optional)
splash of olive oil
1 tablespoon cornflour, slackened with water
salt and black pepper
flat-leaf parsley leaves, to serve (optional)
Season the beef generously with salt and let it come up to room temperature. Then, tip it into the bowl of your slow cooker.
Add all the remaining ingredients, with the exception of the cornflour, along with 1 teaspoon of salt and lots of black pepper. Put the lid on and cook on high for 5 hours, until the beef is completely tender and shreds easily with a fork. Stir through the cornflour slurry, and scatter with a few flat-leaf parsley leaves to serve, if you like.
MY SUGGESTIONS: If you like mustard, whack a good spoonful of Dijon into the mixture before you start the cooking, just to give the stew a bit of extra oomph.
Classically, this would be served with mashed potatoes), but if you want just a bowl of beefy goodness then make sure you have plenty of crusty bread on the side to swipe round the bowl.
Asian Style Turkey Mince
This is a take on the meat you’d find in a yuk sung at your local Chinese restaurant or takeaway – you know the dish where you wrap it in a lettuce leaf and munch on down. For some reason, this becomes my go-to when I’m in a Keep Fit era (which is rare). I think maybe because you’re wrapping it in lettuce and turkey mince is so much leaner than other meats, you just feel it’s healthy.
Serves 4
1 hour on high / 2½ hours on low /
+ 30–40 minutes on high, if needed
500g turkey mince
2 garlic cloves, grated or crushed
thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1½ teaspoons Chinese five spice
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 teaspoon chilli flakes 1½ tablespoons dark
soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce splash of hot water
150g frozen peas
To serve
1 iceberg lettuce, leaves separated and washed
small handful of sesame seeds or crushed peanuts
2–3 spring onions, sliced
2 red chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced
Break up your turkey mince into smaller pieces in the bowl of your slow cooker, using a spoon. Mix the garlic, ginger, five spice, honey, chilli flakes, soy sauce and fish sauce in a small bowl with a splash of hot water, then pour this over the mince.
Stir to combine everything, then put the lid on and cook on high for 1 hour or on low for 2½ hours, until the mince is cooked through and the sauce is thickening slightly. Throw in the peas when you have 30 minutes of cooking time left. If the sauce is still thin, lift the lid and cook on high for an extra 30–40 minutes.
To serve, grab your biggest leaf of iceberg lettuce, load it with your turkey mince and top with sesame seeds or crushed peanuts, sliced spring onions and red chilli.
My Suggestions
You can make a meal of it and serve the turkey up with some delicious, cooked jasmine rice and the same garnishes.
Coq au Vin
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know I’m partial to a slip-up with words like this (please don’t Google ‘Poppy O’Toole whim’). So as much as this classic French dish can be a bit of a … mouthful … it’s equally a properly hearty and tasty meal to enjoy for your dinner.
This is one for a fancy date night or a dinner party to sound posh in front of your friends or family. Or as it’s just throwing it all in to the slow cooker, you could even whap it out midweek on a … whim.
Serves 4
3 hours on high / 6–7 hours on low
6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
250g shallots, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, grated or crushed
300g chestnut mushrooms, halved
small handful of thyme, leaves picked
200g diced pancetta or chopped smoked streaky bacon
200ml dry white wine good knob of butter, cubed
1 chicken stock cube, crumbled
100ml double cream 30g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon cornflour, slackened with water (optional)
salt and black pepper
1 Season the chicken generously with salt, then add the chicken, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, thyme, pancetta or bacon, wine, butter, stock cube, 1 teaspoon of salt and tonnes of black pepper to the bowl of your slow cooker. Put the lid on and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6–7 hours, until the chicken is completely tender.
2 Stir in the cream, parsley and cornflour slurry (if using), gently breaking up any larger pieces of chicken as you go. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust as needed. Spoon the coq au vin on to plates to serve.
My Suggestions
Serve this up with my ultimate buttery mashed potatoes (see page 135 or page 177 for my slow-cooker mash) or you can go the extra mile and chef up a dauphinoise potato for the side: put 300ml of double cream, 2 garlic cloves, thyme and rosemary sprigs in a pan with salt and pepper. Heat it gently and let it infuse, then thinly slice 4–5 large Maris Piper potatoes as fine as you can (use a mandoline, if you have one) and layer them up in your dish. Season between each layer, pouring over a bit of your warm, infused cream each time, then pour the remaining cream over the top. Bake for 50 minutes at 170°C/150°C fan, until golden and cooked through. (For my slow cooker dauphinoise, see page 186.)
The Seasoned Gastronome