One-Pot Wonders

(CBS)  If you zip around the kitchen, preparing complicated meals for your family, slow down!

The slow cooker is becoming hip again.

And, on The Early Show Friday, Grace Parisi of Food and Wine magazine served up recipes perfect for slow cookers, for savory and simple meals that care made in only one pot.

Food and Wine is known for its family-friendly recipes, and Parisi, an award-winning cookbook author and a senior test kitchen associate for the magazine, tries out recipes to make sure they're indeed easy and flavorful.

The recipes she featured on the show Friday are geared for harried, busy people -- whether the dishes are made in a slow cooker or on a stove.

Ironically, the slow cooker is a big time-saver when it comes to cooking.

When it hit stores shelves in 1971, it was dubbed a "crock-pot" and was a huge hit.

But over the years, its image slipped from "hip."

Still, it's remained a constant in most American kitchens. Even today, studies show that nearly 80-percent of American households own one.

It's successful because you really can't go wrong with the slow cooker. Once you put your ingredients in one, you can walk away, and come back hours later to a fabulous meal.

And the slow cooker is coming back in a big way this year. Experts predict it will be a big trend in 2008. There are now more cookbooks being published for "fancier" recipes for the slow cooker. You can also buy many pre-chopped vegetables and meat packages to use with one.

Parisi is a working mom herself and loves "fast" recipes that require little preparation.

She showed two easy recipes Friday -- one using a slow cooker, and one using one pot to prepare a hot meal.

Parisi pointed out that, sometimes, you need to cook some items before placing them in the slow cooker to bet the best flavor. Many recipes reflect that. An example is a large roast -- you should brown it on a stove prior to adding it to a slow cooker, to seal in the juices.

Also, add dense vegetables first to the bottom of the slow cooker, since they require more time to cook.

One of the slow cooker's best attributes is that it tenderizes meat, making it super for inexpensive cuts, because they become so tender and flavorful with the slow cooker method.

RECIPES

Japanese-Inspired Pot Roast

Makes 8 servings

One 4-pound chuck eye roast or other chuck roast, tied
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
6 slices ginger
3 garlic cloves
3 cups beef stock or low-sodium broth
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 pound shiitake mushroom caps
1 pound peeled daikon, sliced diagonally 1/2 inch thick
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks

1. Season the roast with salt and pepper and dust with flour. In a medium, enameled cast-iron pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the roast, cook over moderate heat, turning, until browned.
2. Add meat and all other ingredients to slow cooker
3. Cook for 8 hours on low.
Serve over Udon noodles.

For more recipes, go to Page 2.

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[sevenveils]

With the exception of the first recipe, Japanese pot roast, these are welcoming feel good dishes that never went out of style in my world.

This jury is out on Japanese pot roast; it sounds innovative and I''ll give my own version a shot without the potatoes. You already have the noodles for a starch. The diakon radish is traditionally only boiled for 2 minutes or so to retain firmness, so that ''ll get pulled out of the pot as well. Using the water from boiling the udon noodles I''d boil or steam the daikon with sliced carrots and or green beans for about 2 minutes, drain and drizzle these vegetables with some mirin, grated ginger maybe, and sesame seeds