Slow-Cooked American Recipes
Healthy, slow-cooked, early American dishes.
January/February 2007
By Lynn Alley
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Atwist on the traditional, this warming American Apple Pie Soup is a unique dessert or first course.
Photos by Povy Kendal Atchsion
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Nothing beats cold weather better than a bowl of something hot, yummy, healthy-and easy. Our recipes reflect the flavors and the long, slow-cooking techniques used by Colonial Americans, adapted to the convenience of the modern slow cooker.
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American apple pie soup
Serves 6 to 8
European settlers brought apples to this continent. In a delightful twist, they're used in this "all-American" recipe that makes a spicy dessert or first course.
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
6 whole cloves
6 allspice berries
6 cups water or apple cider
4 large Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced
2/3 cup raisins
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup low-fat or nonfat yogurt (for garnish)
1. Combine cinnamon, cloves and allspice in a mortar or coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder.
2. Combine water or cider, apples, raisins, nutmeg and ground spice mixture in the crock of a slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours, until apples are soft and falling apart. Just before serving, stir in lemon juice.
4. Ladle into soup bowls and top with a dollop of yogurt. Serve immediately.
Boston baked beans
Serves 6 to 8
Some say early Colonial Americans learned to cook beans from their indigenous neighbors, who combined maple syrup, beans and bear fat and cooked it for hours in pits filled with hot rocks. The colonists started baking the recipe in brick ovens or on the hearth over an open fire. Today, Boston Baked Beans lend themselves perfectly to long, leisurely cooking in an electric slow cooker. The addition of bacon or pork is entirely optional.
2 cups dried white beans, thoroughly rinsed
4 cups water
2 cups apple cider or hard apple cider
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch ground ginger
2 strips lean, hickory-smoked bacon or smoked pork chop (optional)
Salt to taste