Slow Cooking with Pyrex

I was recently sent a 2.2l Round SlowCook Casserole by Pyrex and just haven't had the chance to use it yet. Someone pointed out to me that I was being daft. Who would want to stand over a hot hob in this weather when you can sling a load of ingredients into the slow cooker and practically forget about it? She had a point.

My Pyrex Caserole is made from cast iron with an enamelled coating,  so it can be used on any type of hob, in the oven and then put through the dishwasher afterwards. The lid has nodules on the underside so that the condensation drips are directed all over the food and it self-bastes. It's also a gorgeous bright red colour to match my Square Roaster

I have some sausages that are about to go out of date, so instead of just giving the children a hot dog or going to the trouble of a toad-in-the-hole dinner when my time is really tight at the moment, I decided a sausage and bean casserole was probably a better option. It might seem inappropriate for this weather, but in fact with some salad and crusty bread it works really well, and it makes a great supper if people choose to eat later.

Ingredients

2 onions
8 sausages
2 cloves Garlic

1 stick celery
2 peppers
chilli pepper
carrot
mushrooms
tinned tomatoes
passata

a selection of beans from the following:
adzuki beans
borlotti beans
butter beans
canned baked beans

oil for sauteing onions and browning sausages

Seasonings

salt and pepper
thyme
oregano
cumin
coriander
ginger
chilli powder or hot sauce

Use as much or little of the seasonings as you wish. I fully believe recipes are often there  to give us a start, but to be adapted to what suits. I split my casserole into 2 and used vegetarian sausages in half. To the meaty half I added 100ml of apple juice, which goes very well with pork and gives a more Mediterranean taste, and to the vegetarian half I added 100ml of white wine and an extra chopped red chilli, as all the vegetarians eating today like their food a little spicy.

Method

Put the sausages into the slow cooker and brown them on the hob in a little oil. Remove, cut into 2-3cm chunks and set aside.

Add a little extra oil to the slow cooker if necessary (especially if you used vegetarian sausages) and cook the onions and garlic over a low heat until soft.

Add the chopped vegetables, seasonings, beans and tomatoes, put the lid on and place in a low oven for 3 hours.

Stir and add the sausages. Add mushrooms now if you want them to have more bite in the finished meal. Cook for a further hour. If the casserole starts to dry out add some passata (tomato puree). Because I was cooking 2 different meals I split the food into half before adding the sausages.

Can you spot which is veggie and which is pork sausage?

If you don't have a slow cooker then you can cook this recipe on the hob in a pan over a low heat. I found the slow cooker to be excellent as I needed only one pan, reducing fuss and washing up. Being able to use one piece of  equipment to move from hob to oven was really handy and also meant my dish lost no flavour. I was able to carefully and easily regulate the level of liquid in my dish, and reheat a portion when someone came home late by heating on the hob. The Pyrex Slow Cooker that I used retails at around £35.

Pyrex is a trademark of Corning Inc, used by permission

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Pyrex sent me the SlowCook Casserole for review