Slow Cooker Greek Lamb

As promised (albiet a little while ago), here's something yummy and easy peasy for the slow cooker - and coming into Spring, it's actually pretty perfect. Last weekend, we were pretty lucky to have a beautiful sunny weekend here in Wellington, so it's starting to feel like winter might finally be over. Which also means I probably won't be using my slow cooker quite as much any more, so best to get in a few final meals. I put this on last Sunday morning, before heading out to a baby shower and to visit some other friends, and it was lovely to come home to the house smelling like a good roast - with hardly any effort.

Sometimes I struggle to find interesting things, beyond the standard stews and the like, to make in the slow cooker - if you know any good links, please let me know. This recipe is courtesy of www.kidspot.co.nz, a good website for kid-friendly recipes but also if you're not very experienced in the kitchen. I've found a few good, simple recipes on there - even one or two my partner was willing to have a go at!


3 tablespoons olive oil
1kg rolled lamb loin - I actually used a bone-in roast, because it was about half the price of a rolled and stuffed lamb loin, so this is ok too. Mine was about 1.2kgs.
1kg potatoes
1 bunch rosemary
1 head garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup lemon juice


Peel and cut the potatoes into eighths. Place these at the bottom of the slow cooker and put 2 sprigs of rosemary on top. Peel 6 cloves of garlic and slice. I had some large home grown bulbs a friend gave me which have a really strong flavour, so I used 4. Poke holes in the skin of the lamb with the point of a knife and push the garlic into the holes. Heat the oil in a pan on the stove and brown the lamb all over. Place the lamb on top of the potatoes in the slow cooker and push sprigs of rosemary into the holes you put the garlic into earlier. I had some leftover sliced garlic so I put that into the slow cooker too. You can also put your squeezed lemons in there as well. Pour over the wine and lemon juice and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours - a little less if you like your meat rarer.

The meat was lovely and tender and the potatoes were really soft. I took them out of the slow cooker and fried them, to make them a wee bit crispy.I didn't need to use any extra oil either, as they had some of the fat from the meat on them. Be warned though - the potatoes can have a little bit of a tart flavour from the lemon and wine, which didn't bother me but my partner thought the flavour was a bit too strong. If you didn't want to fry them, you could always roughly mash them with some feta cheese, fresh parsley and cracked pepper. I served the lamb with mint sauce but there was leftover liquid in the bottom of the slow cooker that could've made a nice gravy if I hadn't been feeling so lazy (or hungry). And there's always leftovers for sandwiches - which I'm sure everyone agrees is pretty much the best part about a Sunday roast.

Smokey BBQ Pulled Pork

Woo hoo, my very first recipe blog. And what better way to start than with MEAT!

Why did I make it? I made pulled pork a while back in the slow cooker, and it turned out...ok. It wasn't quite as flavoursome as I'd hoped, but that was probably because it was a 'healthy' recipe. I also had everything I needed to make it from this recipe, except the bbq sauce and pork (so yeah, the main ingredients). Also, pulled pork is just awesome and this recipe is nice and simple.
Where did this recipe come from? From one of those free recipe cards you get at the supermarket - so housewifey
What's it good for? Feeding lots of people or just at the weekend when you've got some time to wait for dinner to cook.
How many people can eat it? This recipe made 6 serves (a dinner and two lunches for two people)
What do I serve it with? I made a coleslaw with red and green cabbage, spring onions, coriander (super quick in the food processor) and chipotle aioli, and put it into some nice fresh bread rolls.

What do I need?

3/4 cup BBQ sauce. I used Wattie's Bit on the Side Smokey BBQ sauce because the people who wrote the recipe card get paid to put that in the recipe I guess, but I reckon you could use any sauce, but in my opinion, make sure it's a smokey one
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard. I used wholegrain
1 tsp dried thyme. I used fresh as I had some in my garden
1.2 kg boneless pork shoulder, rind removed and fat trimmed. y piece was just over 2 kgs and it had a bone, but it was all good - I just adjusted the cooking time.
1 onion chopped (I used a red onion, just because I pretty much always do.
4 cloves of garlic crushed. I used already-crushed-in-a-jar garlic because my garlic disintegrated into a cloud of dust when I went to crush it.

How do I make it?

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Mix the bbq sauce, cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, mustard and thyme in a bowl. Put the onion, garlic and pork in a casserole dish. Pour over the sauce, cover and out in the over for 2 1/2 hours or until the pork is really tender. I cooked it for 3 hours, as it was a bit bigger and had a bone in it. I turned the pork once half way through cooking and poured some of the sauce back over it.

Once cooked, take it out and shred it with two forks. Put it back in the casserole dish with the sauce and stir it up. Serve it with coleslaw in bread rolls. Nom nom nom!

Tip: If you're making coleslaw, make it as you need it, or make it without the aioli and add that as you need it.