The French Slow Cooker [Paperback]

Michele Scicolone (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 3, 2012

Plug it in and Cook with French Flair

“I’d bet that if French cooks could get their hands on Michele Scicolone’s French Slow Cooker, which is filled with smart, practical, and convenient recipes, they’d never let it go.” — Dorie Greenspan, author of Around My French Table

With a slow cooker, even novices can turn out dishes that taste as though they came straight out of the kitchen of a French grandmère. Provençal vegetable soup. Red-wine braised beef with mushrooms. Chicken with forty cloves of garlic. Even bouillabaisse. With The French Slow Cooker, all of these are as simple as setting the timer and walking away. Michele Scicolone goes far beyond the usual slow-cooker standbys of soups and stews, with Slow-Cooked Salmon with Lemon and Green Olives, Crispy Duck Confit, and Spinach Soufflé. And for dessert, how about Ginger Crème Brûlée? With The French Slow Cooker, the results are always magnifique.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sample Recipe from The French Slow Cooker: Slow-Cooked Salmon with Lemon and Green Olives
Serves 6

Mild green olives are a nice contrast, in both color and flavor, to the richness of salmon. The cooking time will depend on how thick the fish is and whether you prefer it rare or well done. To check for doneness, make a small slit in the thickest part of the salmon and peek inside. For rare, the fish should appear translucent; for well done, it will be opaque and flake easily. Serve this at room temperature on a bed of baby salad greens for a perfect summer meal.

1 large lemon
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup water
1 thick salmon fillet (about 2 pounds), cut into 6 pieces
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped pitted green olives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh fl at-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped rinsed capers

Thinly slice the lemon and remove the seeds. Scatter half of the shallots in a large slow cooker. Add half of the lemon slices and the water.

Rinse the salmon pieces and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the flesh side with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Place the salmon skin side down in the slow cooker. Scatter the remaining lemon slices and shallots on top.

Cover and cook on low for 1 to 1½ hours, or until the salmon is cooked to taste. Check for doneness by making a small slit in the thickest part.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk the oil with the lemon juice, zest, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the olives, parsley, and capers.

With a large spatula, transfer the salmon, lemon, and shallots to dinner plates. Drizzle with the sauce and serve hot or at room temperature.

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Butternut Bisque
Serves 6 to 8

The sunny color and mild, sweet flavor of this soup make it very appealing. Serve it as a first course before a roast chicken, or pour it into mugs to enjoy with a ham sandwich.

1 large butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large sweet apple, such as Fuji or Golden Delicious, peeled, cored, and chopped
6 cups Chicken Broth, , vegetable broth, or water
Salt
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more for garnish
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for garnish
Sliced apples, for garnish

In a large slow cooker, combine the squash, onion, apple, and broth. Add 1 teaspoon salt.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until the vegetables are very soft. Let cool slightly. Transfer the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Add the cream and nutmeg and blend again. Reheat if necessary. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.

Spoon the soup into serving bowls, drizzle each serving with a teaspoon of heavy cream, garnish with the nutmeg and apple slices, and serve hot.

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Review

"Here’s what I know about savvy French home cooks: They love great tasting food. And if making that great tasting food is practical and convenient, they love it even more. I’d bet that if French cooks could get their hands on Michele Scicolone’s French Slow Cooker, which is filled with smart, practical, and convenient recipes, they’d never let it go."
— Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Original edition (January 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547508042
• ISBN-13: 978-0547508047
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Meals > Soups & Stews
  • #43 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > French

More About the Author

MICHELE SCICOLONE

Michele Scicolone is an award winning food writer and the author of 18 cookbooks. Her latest book, THE MEDITERRANEAN SLOW COOKER, was published in January 2013. It is a collection of 125 recipes inspired by the food of the countries around the Mediterranean including Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Morocco and several others.

THE FRENCH SLOW COOKER was published in January 2012. It is a collection of classic French recipes adapted for use in the electric slow cooker (Crock Pot). Dorie Greenspan, author of Around My French Table wrote, "I'd bet that if French cooks could get their hands on Michele Scicolone's FRENCH SLOW COOKER, which is filled with smart, practical and convenient recipes, they'd never let it go."

Michele's previous book THE ITALIAN SLOW COOKER, was published in January 2010 and immediately became a bestseller. She was also one of the editors of the 75th Anniversary edition of the classic, Joy of Cooking, and writes about food, wine, and travel for many publications, including Every Day with Rachael Ray, Prevention, The Washington Post, The Wine Spectator, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit. Previous books include The BLT Cookbook with Chef Laurent Tourondel, The Sopranos Family Cookbook, a #1 New York Times Best Seller that was published in 9 languages and a sequel, Entertaining with the Sopranos, both co-authored with Allen Rucker. She has also written 1000 Italian Recipes, and Pizza--Anyway You Slice It!, co-authored with her husband Charles Scicolone, an Italian wine (and pizza) authority.

Michele's television appearances include Emeril Live, The CBS Morning Show, Good Morning America, and Cooking Live with Sara Moulton, as well as many local television and radio programs She teaches cooking at schools around the country including De Gustibus at Macy's, Sur la Table, and the Institute for Culinary Education and is a consultant to many restaurants. Michele has been a spokesperson for the Italian Trade Commission and Williams Sonoma, and lecturer on Italian culture and cuisine at Hofstra and Henderson State Universities, and The Smithsonian Institute. Michele is also a consultant for several restaurants and food companies.

Together with her husband, Michele hosts culinary tours to Italy several times a year. Visit her website at www.MicheleScicolone.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 125 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not exceptional December 9, 2011

By Maine Colonial TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I love French food and I've been exploring recipes for my slow cooker, so I was eager to check out this new cookbook. It covers soups, poultry, meat, seafood, egg dishes, vegetables, legumes and grains, and desserts, and includes chapters on using your slow cooker, the French pantry, and basic recipes that don't require a slow cooker but complement the recipes in the book. There are many mouth-watering photographs that will tempt you to try quite a few of the recipes.

The book is well organized and Scicolone writes clear directions, except that she's a little close-mouthed in some cases about exactly how to remove some of the food from the slow cooker. When presentation is important for a dish, you really want some detailed direction on that point.

I was pleased to see recipes from many different regions of France, such as Alsation Lentil Soup with Bratwurst, Provencal Vegetable Soup with Pesto, Basque Chicken, Normandy Pork with Apples and many more. Many of your classic French favorites are in the book, but also some more unusual recipes, like Spicy Curried Pork, and Rillettes (spiced potted pork).

The slow cooker method will save time and avoid quite such a huge mess when you make Cassoulet or Boeuf en Daube. That's a bonus for me, since I still have huge stains on another cookbook from the last time I made Boeuf en Daube and it was such an ordeal I haven't made it in a couple of years.

On the other hand, I did think there were quite a few recipes in the book for which I can't see the point of using a slow cooker, like quiche, soufflés, pain perdu, clafoutis, and a couple of the vegetable recipes.

This is a good, but not great, cookbook.... I'd say this is a good addition to your cookbook collection if you have particular interest in French food and slow cooker recipes. Read more ›

93 of 97 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An easier approach to French cooking November 27, 2011

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Michele Scicolone has written her 2nd slow cooker book which, as she explains in her introduction makes French cooking less intimidating. This book is not presented as easy recipes; but actually this does make French cooking easier. French cooking has a reputation for being difficult with slow simmering. The slow cooker solves this `problem', which makes it much more trouble-free. Instead of spending hours with dishes simmering over a stove they are prepared in a slow cooker. There is some preparation needed for some dishes, such as browning meat or onions, but for the majority of the dishes, with the exception of soups, the cooking and preparation is in the slow cooker.

The ingredients are common ones from the supermarket. There are tips and techniques for cooking and equipment use. A description of what should be in the French pantry is included. Recipes in the book are; soups, chicken, turkey and duck, meats, seafood, soufflés, quiches and egg dishes, vegetables, legumes and grains, desserts and basics.

Most of the soups do require being put through a sieve, a blender or a food mill. We did not have much luck with cutting the quiche we tried into wedges - getting it out of the slow cooker was a bit awkward and did not make for good looking wedges, and the taste of crustless quiches does not quite suit our family's taste. There are also suggestions to cook potatoes for a potato salad. This takes 3 hours in the slow cooker, when in most instances cooking them on the stove top or in an oven seems much more practical.
When I received this book, we had a large number of guests in our house and it was quickly put to use. We were very successful with, and everyone enjoyed the spinach and egg bouillabaisse and the Bargemen's beef stew....

This book does give good ideas for preparing dishes with a French flavor and has some ideas such as making a rolled aluminum stand for a rack to make some of the dishes. There are some good concepts in here and it would be perfect for those who wish to make some improved slow cooker recipes. Read more ›

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars No Canned Mushroom Soup Allowed December 5, 2011

By Canthespam VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I received this excellent slow cooker book from VINE to review. Normally I would try more than two recipes before reviewing a cook book, but based on the two that I have made so far, the Bargeman's Beef Stew and the Pork Ribs Hunter's Style, I am now a big fan of Michele Sciolone and will be buying her Italian Slower Cooker book. I like her ingredients and the straight forward way she writes. Both of these recipes were easy to make and the results were even better than I had expected. I love that numerous and varied spices and seasonings are used and I didn't have to improvise once they were done. My butcher didn't have country ribs on the bone, so I got the boneless and cut them in half. They worked very well. The recipe called for 8 hours of cooking time, but mine were done in a little over four. I guess because I browned them well and using relatively smaller pieces would account for that.

I know that you aren't suppose to 'peek' during cooking, but about about half way through most recipes, I feel an overwhelming need to stir. I am a long time and regular stove top maker of numerous slow cooked dishes and soups, it goes against my nature to 'set and forget'. So maybe it adds a few more minutes to the cooking time, but I am in no hurry.

These recipes do require advance prep, sauteing onions, etc and browning the meat, but I love to cook, so I don't mind doing the prep work.

I do not serve slow cooker or stove top slow cooked food the same day as I make them. I refrigerate them overnight, skim the fat, and then serve. Makes a world of difference flavor wise - including the two dishes above, from this book....

The copy that I received is a black and white proof, but judging from the excellent pictures, when it is released with colored pictures, it will be a stunning book, suitable for yourself or for gift giving.

I had no problem with the ingredients in the above dishes that I made. Aside from the meat and mushrooms, I had everything else in my pantry. I have been reading through the other recipes, desserts, fish, meat, poultry etc.. look equally good, judging by the spices and ingredients. My next will be her Garlic Soup and one of her salmon recipes. I have never cooked fish in my slow cooker, but these recipes look too good to pass up.

There are numerous tips, hints, etc.. at the beginning of the book, including what to look for when you purchase a slow cooker. The book is laid out in a clear and easy to follow format.

I have read through it and am anxious to make many of the recipes. My husband who really really dislikes most slow cooked food, saying that the meats are mushy with no flavor - had two helpings of the pork ribs, proclaiming them the best things I have made in my slow cooker. Now, that is a compliment.

When this book is published in January, I am buying a few copies as gifts. Read more ›