Weeknight menu plan: Two-slow-cooker dinner.

We had a two-crockpot dinner the other night:  slow-cooked black beans; slow-cooked collard greens and kale; and a cast-iron skillet full of homemade cornbread.   If you have two slow cookers, this is a perfect weeknight dinner; cornbread is ridiculously easy to make, and you can pre-measure all the ingredients (don't mix the wets with the drys until right before you bake it, though).  You can also prep the greens the night before and have them ready to go in the crock in your fridge.  

 If you don't have two slow cookers, you should ask yourself what's stopping you.  I have a big one and a small one.  But if you only have one, you can still have this dinner:  Cook the greens overnight, transfer them to a bowl in your fridge in the morning, and then start the beans in the same slow cooker.  You do not even have to wash it.  The greens will heat up fine in the microwave.  

The day I cooked this was a busy-at-home day, so I could start one cooker at 7 AM and the other at 1 PM.  If I wasn't going to be home, I'd have started them both at the same time in the morning; I have never heard of collard greens being ruined by cooking too long.  But if you like the way they taste best when they're only medium-stewed, I'm pretty sure you could safely set the greens to turn on midday, on a timer (the kind you use with your lamps when you go on vacation).

I served these three items with sliced fresh tomatoes and avocados.  Nothing more is needed.  Except maybe a cold beer to suck back while you're waiting for the cornbread to come out of the oven.  (Oh, and my husband would like to add:  honey to slather on the cornbread.  Me, I'm happy to slather it with the beans, but to each his own.)

For-the-big-slow-cooker black beans

• 1 pound dry black beans, soaked overnight in water to cover
• 6 cups water 
• 1 carrot 
• 1 rib celery with leaves 
• 1 onion, peeled
• Several sprigs fresh cilantro (optional; don't let it stop you if you have none)
• 5 whole cloves
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper 
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp lard or other fat
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Stud the onion with the cloves.  First thing in the morning, put everything into the slow cooker EXCEPT the salt and pepper (do NOT add the salt).  Cook on high until dinner time, at least 10 hours.  Just before serving, discard the vegetables and season to taste.

For-the-small-slow-cooker collard greens and kale (slightly adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann)

• 1 bunch each collard greens and kale, rinsed well, tough stems trimmed, and cut into half-inch strips
• 3 Tbsp olive oil or other fat
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock 
• 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, whole (that's one PEPPER, not one CAN) 
•  Salt and pepper to taste 
• Juice of 1 lemon 
• 1 Tbsp cider vinegar 

Saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat, about 1 minute.  Add the greens in handfuls, tossing each addition to coat in the oil, and then covering the pan for a minute each time to wilt them before adding more.  When they're all done, transfer to the slow cooker and add the broth and the chipotle pepper.  Cook on Low for 5 hours (more's okay).  Remove the chipotle pepper, season with salt and pepper, and stir in the lemon juice and vinegar.

Corn bread, my way, not too sweet

• 1 1/2 cups ordinary yellow cornmeal, medium grind
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk or yogurt or a mix of the two 
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• 2 Tbsp lard, butter, or coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp sugar 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 egg 

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Heat the fat in a medium cast-iron or other oven-safe skillet over medium heat until the fat melts and is hot (or melt it in a 9-inch square Pyrex pan in the preheating oven).  When it's hot, turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients in one bowl.  Combine the buttermilk and egg in the other, and add to the dry ingredients, stirring until well combined.  Pour the batter into the hot fat in the prepared pan, smoothing the top if necessary.  Bake about 30 minutes or until it's lightly browned on the edges and a toothpick comes out clean; if you use a larger skillet, so the bread is flatter, it might be done sooner.  Serve right out of the skillet.

Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients in one bowl.  Combine the buttermilk and egg in the other, and add to the dry ingredients, stirring until well combined.  Pour the batter into the hot fat in the prepared pan, smoothing the top if necessary.  Bake about 30 minutes or until it's lightly browned on the edges and a toothpick comes out clean; if you use a larger skillet, so the bread is flatter, it might be done sooner.  Serve right out of the skillet.

Comments

[Kelly]

Would you consider adding a search box to your blog? I was looking for a post you did a while back that had a link to an article on discount make-up or lotions that someone had found to be the same as luxury ones.

Anyway, I guessed on three different possible categories, and couldn't find it. That's happened to me before, too.

So, search box? Pretty please?

[bearing]

Hm, I'll have to see if Typepad does that easily...

In the meantime, did you try a Google search on the site arlinghaus.typepad.com?

[bearing]

Yes, Typepad does it very easily. It's up.