Recipe Book Giveaway: The Southern Slow Cooker

 Photo credit: Erin Kunkel © 2013

Kendra Bailey Morris, a friend and fellow Richmond cookbook author, food writer, recipe developer, and television host has released her latest cookbook — The Southern Slow Cooker. I could not be more excited to share a recipe from the book and give you the opportunity to win your very own copy in a giveaway at the bottom of today's post.

I recently attended the release party for The Southern Slow Cooker and scurried home excited to come up with a recipe to share. After dusting off the vintage slow cooker (as you will see from the photos below) and with cooler weather on the horizon I decided on Aunt Barbara's Beef Stew. This stew is such a warming dish, filled with plenty of vegetables, beef, and a hint of red wine — a recipe that makes your house smell OH-SO-GOOD!

Serves 6 to 8

2½ cups coarsely chopped onions

4 carrots, peeled and cut into 
1½-inch slices

2 large baking or russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1½-inch cubes (about 2½ cups)

1½ pounds boneless beef stew meat, trimmed of any visible excess fat and cut into 1-inch pieces

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon bacon grease, 
vegetable oil, or unsalted butter

½ cup red wine

3 cups beef broth, low sodium or homemade

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes 
with its juice

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon dried parsley

¼ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon dried basil

Sprig of fresh rosemary (optional)

Salt and black pepper

Chopped fresh rosemary or 
parsley, to garnish (optional)

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer the onions, carrots, and potatoes in the slow cooker.

Combine the stew meat, flour, salt, and black pepper in a large resealable plastic bag and shake to coat well. Heat a large cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon grease and let it melt. Shake 
the excess flour off the stew meat and add enough to fill the pan without crowding (you may have to do this in batches). Brown well on all sides, about 5 minutes, then transfer the meat to the slow cooker.

Add the wine to the skillet and cook for 1 minute. Add the beef broth. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up all the bits off the bottom of the pan and immediately transfer the stew meat and broth mixture to the slow cooker.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, sugar, parsley, paprika, oregano, thyme, and basil. Give it a stir. Toss in the rosemary. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, until the meat is tender and the stew has thickened.

Uncover, discard the bay leaves and the rosemary sprig, and season with salt and pepper. At this point, if you desire an even thicker stew, you can crank up the heat to high and continue to cook, uncovered, until thickened.

Serve the stew in bowls garnished with additional rosemary or fresh parsley, if desired.

This recipe was reprinted with permission from The Southern Slow Cooker by Kendra Bailey Morris, copyright © 2013. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Print this recipe

Reviewing the cookbook reminded me of how most recipes only require the crock pot as a cooking vessel, so it really does save on the amount of dishes required to make a particular meal. Assembling a recipe the night before allows for putting it on the morning and letting it cook while you are at work or just running errands.

You can see from the photo above that I have the classic 1980's motif for my vintage crock pot, nonetheless it still created a stew that my family certainly enjoyed!

So happy my crock pot has moved to the front of the kitchen cabinet because of this cookbook and these recipes. They are unique and filled with stories that only Kendra can tell through her family history. If you just cannot wait for this giveaway to end to see if you have won, find copies available for purchase at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond Virginia or Amazon are a couple of options to get your copy in the mail right away!

                                            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a copy of The Southern Slow cooker of you own! To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter form below — it should load right below this paragraph. For those unfamiliar with Rafflecopter, you fill in the fields using your choice of Facebook or your email, which is only used to contact the randomly selected winner (no spam) — it's that simple.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

E.A.T. local E.A.T. well