Three recipes to help you master the slow cooker

Enjoy delicious, healthy and budget-friendly food every day with these simple slow cooker recipes from Nathan Anthony, writes Lauren Taylor

These recpes will transform your weeknight cooking (Dan Jones/PA)

“Being Irish, it won’t be a surprise that I love Guinness or that I love pies,” says Nathan Anthony. “Traditionally made pies can be a bit of a labour of love, but this is the easiest pie recipe you’ll ever make – just throw it in, let it cook away during the day, add a pastry lid and serve. It’s honestly that easy.”

Slow cooker steak and Guinness pie

This rich pie is perfect on a cold day (Dan Jones/PA)

Serves:

Ingredients:

800g beef steak or rump (or 1kg brisket), chopped

440ml can of Guinness

200ml beef stock

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 carrots, roughly chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 celery stick, chopped

1 heaped tbsp cornflour

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry

1 egg, beaten, to glaze the pastry

Salt and pepper, to taste

Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, to serve (optional)

Method:

1. Throw all the ingredients, except the pastry and egg, in the slow cooker.

2. Cook on high for four hours or low for seven to eight hours. Discard the bay leaf.

3 Preheat the oven to 200C. Top the beef filling with the puff pastry, tuck it round the pie, then brush with the beaten egg.

4. Pop the ovenproof slow-cooker pot (without the lid) into the oven for 25 minutes until golden and crisp. If your slow-cooker pot isn’t oven-safe, decant the filling into an ovenproof pot, cover with the pastry, brush with the egg and bake as above.

5. Serve with Tenderstem broccoli, and carrot and parsnip mash, if you like.

Tip: To get the pastry the right size, put your slow cooker lid on top of your puff pastry sheet and cut round it before adding to the slow cooker.

Carrot cake overnight oats

Overnight oats are a great way to get ahead for the next day (Dan Jones/PA)

Usually served cold out of the fridge, this warm version of overnight oats made in the slow cooker is next level,” says Anthony. “[It’s] a sneaky way to get veggies in at breakfast, while at the same time tasting of carrot cake.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500ml skimmed milk

150g porridge oats

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

Handful of dried fruit (around 50g), chopped

200g Greek yoghurt

2 large carrots, grated

To serve:

25g chopped walnuts

Zest of 1 orange

4 tbsp honey

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients, except the walnuts, orange and honey, in your slow cooker. Cook on low for eight hours. If you’re an early riser, throw it all in and cook on high for three hours.

2. Serve with the chopped walnuts, orange zest and a drizzle of honey.

Tip: If it looks a little dry at any point, add a splash more milk. If cooking overnight, add a few extra splashes at the start so it doesn’t dry out.

Red pepper bruschetta pasta

A mash up of two classics (Dan Jones/PA)

This is the recipe Anthony came up with when trying to decide between two favourite dishes: bruschetta and pasta.

“The result is this soft pasta with lots of flavour, crunchy croutons and a drizzle of balsamic: stunning. I do enjoy making my own sourdough croutons in the air fryer or the oven, but shop-bought croutons work very well if you don’t have the time,” he says.

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

2 x 300g jars of roasted red peppers, chopped

15 cherry tomatoes, quartered

700g passata

1 tsp dried oregano

4 garlic cloves, grated

Generous handful of fresh basil

250g fresh lasagne sheets, cut into thick strands

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 tsp balsamic vinegar

Croutons

50g grated vegetarian parmesan cheese, to serve

Method:

1. Add the peppers, tomatoes, passata, oregano, grated garlic, salt and pepper and most of the basil to the slow cooker. Cook on high for two hours or low for four hours.

2. Add the lasagne strands and cook for a further 20-25 minutes (if cooking on low, you may need slightly longer).

3. Plate up and top the pasta with the balsamic vinegar, croutons, Parmesan and remaining fresh basil.

Tip: To make your own sourdough croutons, cube a couple of slices of bread, toss them in olive oil and put in the air fryer at 200C for six minutes, or on a baking tray in a 200C oven for 10-12 minutes.

‘Bored Of Lunch: Healthy Slow Cooker Even Easier’ by Nathan Anthony (Ebury Press, £20).