Chef Stephen La Rosa and Times of Malta are putting on their apron for a series of cooking videos that are generous on tips, tricks and above all, taste.  

For the first video, we're simmering five slow cooker recipes that require minimal investment in prep time - but the returns are delicious.

Thai Butternut Soup 

Equipment

• Knife
• Chopping board
• Immersion blender
• Crockpot Slow Cooker

Ingredients

• 2kg butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 8 spring onions
• 100g ginger
• 50g yellow curry paste
• 2lt coconut milk 
• Coriander
• Chili
• Spring onion to garnish
• Peanuts

Thai Butternut Soup

Method

1. Peel and cut all vegetables
2. Add to the slow cooker along with the curry paste, coconut milk and salt
3. Cook for 3-4 hours on high or until tender
4. Blend the soup and garnish with coriander, chili, spring onion and crushed roasted peanuts

BBQ Pulled Pork

Equipment

• Knife
• Chopping board
• Mixing bowl
• Frying pan
• Crockpot Slow Cooker

Ingredients

• 2kg pork neck
• 2 onions, sliced
• 500ml beer
• 200g BBQ sauce
• 3 tbsp BBQ spice rub
• ½ head of cabbage, sliced
• 1 green apple, sliced
• Chopped coriander to taste
• Lime juice and lime zest, extra virgin olive oil and salt to taste

BBQ Pulled Pork

Method

1. Season the pork with salt and the spice rub
2. Sear the pork in a hot pan
3. Remove the pork and add the sliced onions, cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add everything to a slow cooker along with a can of beer
5. Glaze the pork with BBQ sauce and cook for 5-6 hours on high until tender
6. Shred the pork and coat in BBQ sauce or blended cooking juices
7. Combine slaw ingredients and serve the pulled pork on toasted bread rolls

Perfect pasta sauce 

Equipment

1. Knife
2. Chopping board
3. Frying pan
4. Crockpot slow cooker

Ingredients

• 200g onion, diced
• 150g celery, diced
• 150g carrot, diced
• 1kg beef knuckle
• 2kg beef mince
• 1kg pork mince
• 500g Italian sausage
• 8 sprigs of thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 100g tomato paste
• 2.5 litres of chicken stock
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Olive oil and a neutral oil as needed

Perfect pasta sauce

Method

1. Brown the meat in a frying pan over high heat
2. Remove the meat and add your diced onion, carrot and celery and cook for five minutes over medium heat
3. Add all ingredients to the Crockpot and cook for five hours on high or until everything is tender. Break up the pieces of beef knuckle before storing your sauce and cooking it with your favourite pasta. 

Bonus recipe: chicken stock

Ingredients

• 3kg chicken bones
• 3lt water
• 3 onions, quartered
• 3 carrots, halved
• 3 stalks of celery, halved
• 1 head of garlic, halved
• 8 sprigs thyme
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 4 bay leaves

Method

Add all ingredients to a slow cooker and cook for eight hours on high. 

Vegetarian Tagine

Vegetarian Tagine

Ingredients

• 800g chickpeas
• 1kg butternut squash
• 500g carrot
• 750g new potatoes
• 4 spring onions
• 150g black olive
• 150g dried apricot
• ½ [reserved lemon
• 50g harissa paste
• 1lt canned tomato
• 2 tbsp ras el hanout 

Method

Add all ingredients to the slow cooker and cook on high for six hours, stirring halfway through cooking. 

Chocolaty Dessert

Chocolaty Dessert

Equipment

• Mixing bowls
• Whisk
• 4 ramekins
• Foil
• Twine
• Rubber spatula
• Crockpot Slow Cooker

Ingredients

• 150g plain flour
• 150g butter
• 150g dark chocolate
• 180g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 20ml Creme de Cacao
• 30g cocoa powder
• 100g milk chocolate
• 100ml cream

Method

1. Boil the cream and pour over the broken milk chocolate, stir to combine to make ganache and freeze
2. Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in the microwave or over a double boiler
3. Whisk all the eggs with the sugar and salt until light and airy
4. Add the melted butter and chocolate into the egg mixture and the port
5. Fold in the flour and chill the batter
6. Coat the inside of four ramekins with butter and cocoa powder
7. Pipe in the batter and add a spoonful of milk chocolate ganache in the centre
8. Top up with more batter and seal the ramekins with butter lined foil and twine
9. Place on disks of foil inside the slow cooker and top up with boiling water until the ramekins are half covered
10. Cook on high for 1.5 hours or until cooked through. 

Watch this space for more recipes - but if in the meantime you get hungry, find more of Stephen's recipes here.