Review and discount: Morphy Richards Slow Cooker and lazy red wine beef stew recipe

Disclaimer: I was sent this slow cooker to review as part of the Morphy Richards Innovater scheme. I was not required to write a positive review.

I have never owned a slow cooker and have always thought that it would take up too much precious counter space in my little flat. I have heard friends talk about loading up the slow cooker in the morning and coming home to a lovely smelling house and a dinner already made. 

As the dark cold wintery nights draw in, the idea of coming home to a warm, hearty stew or casserole was becoming more appealing. I have a super busy schedule - I work full time, blog and go to the gym most nights and I often find that I get in starving but with nothing for dinner. When Morphy Richards offered me the chance to review a slow cooker I was very pleased.

I was sent the 6L partitioned slow cooker -probably a little too big for my needs as a two person household, but I have set to using it with gusto. I have been reading up on all the different things you can make in a slow cooker. According to the internet the slow cooker not only produces amazing stews and casseroles but can also make mulled wine, candles and brownies.

I have just stuck with stews and casseroles and have been very pleased. The idea of the partition is that you could cook two meals at the same time. This works really well if you are bulk cooking or adapting things for vegetarians or kids.  However the cooker does not allow you to cook two completely different flavoured dishes or something sweet and savoury at the same time as the steam escapes into both parts of the cooker.

The meat is so succulent and tender when using a slow cooker. Up until now we have been having a lot of casseroles with chewy meat! Another thing to note when using a slow cooker is that you don't need to add much liquid at all as non of the steam can escape. The slowcooker has definitely become one of my favourite appliances.

My favourite meal that we have had so far is a beef red wine stew in one side of the slow cooker, with potato dauphinoise in the other side. A complete meal in one slow cooker. It was lovely!

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After testing the slow cooker for a month or so I have a few pros and cons.
Pros:

• Lovely melt in the mouth tender meat.
• Makes the flat smell lovely when you get home and it is great to come home to a cooked, warm dinner.
• I believe it uses less energy than making a stove top casserole.
• Very non stick and therefore easy to clean.
• Packaged well and sent quickly.
• Comes with a recipe booklet which focuses on pairing dishes so you can cook two at the same time.
• This slowcooker is great for batch cooking.

Cons:

• This is a 6 Litre slow cooker and so is rather large and very heavy, however Morphy Richards have a variety of slow cookers to choose from.
• It can be quite hard to get all the stew and juice out of each side, especially if you don't want to tip it up because you have something different in the other partitioned side. My ladle doesn't fit into the partitioned sides. It would be nice if it came with a specially shaped ladle or the ability to lift one side at a time out.

If you would like to purchase a slowcooker for yourself or as a Christmas gift here is a 30% discount code for the Partitioned Slow Cooker - Model 48762. Go to www.morphyrichards.co.uk and use the SC62BLOG 

Lazy slow cooker red wine beef stew

All the recipe books encourage you to cook your onions, garlic and seal your meat before putting into the slow cooker but as I say this is a lazy version and I found it worked perfectly fine. There are probably a bunch of reasons why this is not acceptable in the foodie world but it was a very quick way for me to have my dinner when I get home!

Serves 4 
2 braising steaks
2 onions
4 bulbs of garlic
root vegetable
2 glasses of red wine
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
Mixed herbs, salt and pepper to taste
1 stock cube
Other vegetables

1. Cube the beef and place evenly between the two partitions.
2. Add the chopped onions, garlic and chopped root vegetables.
3. Share the stock cube between each side.
4. Add a glass of wine to each side together with tomato puree, mixed herbs, salt and pepper.
5. Cook on slow, medium or high depending on when you want the stew to be ready.
6. Add any other vegetables such as mushrooms, broccoli etc near the end so they don't go mushy.
7. Serve with rice.

This is great for batch cooking for two. As I say I am no slowcooker expert so I direct you to my pinterest slowcooker board where I have collated recipes from the experts!

Thank you to Morphy Richards for the slowcooker.