Corned beef in a crock-pot or slow-cooker.

I just loved a well-flavoured corned beef or silverside cooked in a crock-pot or slow-cooker. Here’s a recipe that uses up those remnants of bottles of various success you have in the fridge----you know the one’s that you get from the food shows and others you have only used a few times. It is so easy to have a fridge-full of them. Out I say--- out with them (so you can buy more!). This recipe is therefor quite cheap.

Buy your corned beef. I always wait until there’s a sale. Make sure it’s not too big for your pot. Place the corned beef in the sink and pour a large kettle of boiling water over it. This gets that yucky fat off and makes for a cleaner finish to the meat.

Boil the kettle again. That cuts down the cooking time if you wish. Chop an onion (don’t peel it) and any other veggies in your fridge, like celery and carrots. You are not going to eat them so just use up the oldies. Now, go explore your fridge for any of those sauces and bottles. Mix them up. I used a Moroccan sauce with lemon, pepper and cumin. I didn’t like it on chicken, but I loved the end result this time. If you have anything with chilli in it, go for it, but watch the heat for the kids. Almost anything works, because you dilute it when you add the second kettle of boiling water. Just cover the meat.

Turn the temperature to high and turn it down once it is simmering. I cooked mine for about 6 hours. You can tell when it’s cooked when a knife goes easily into the meat.

Once cooked, take it out and wrap in tinfoil to ‘rest.’

Yummy with a mash of potatoes with carrots and butter, salt and pepper. Any green works too.

Enjoy and the next day it tastes even better.

When Perdy says, 'NO!' I know it's a crap of a day.

I know Perdy is growing up when even she says, ‘No!—I ain’t going out in that. I cannot remember the last time Perdy decided to head on back to the car and actually wait for me to open the door so she could get out of the rain. I often tell my mates that I take Perdy out, come rain, shine, hail and snow (OK it doesn’t snow in Auckland---despite some wannabe will tell you) or I suffer the consequences. Off we go, to our favourite haunt, the location of my book ‘Talk To Me,’ the Onehunga Lagoon, Bay; I seem to be quite loose in my description, and even though her enthusiastic whimperings drove me nuts as usual, I let her out and off she went. Her little bum receded into the distance as she bounced along the sand and rocks.

I threw the ball and she then did her usual. She dropped it; I took note, because I am sick of replacing them just because she forgets where she placed them while she attends to more ‘important’ business. Perdy’s a shy girl when she does her business. I love those little glances she sends my way as if to say---‘well you don’t let me watch you!’ Course not, silly girl. You are not allowed done the hall way.

Once her duties are complete, she gives that little kick of her back legs and I go to try and find the doings. (OMG----too much information?) I call her, reminding her to ‘Get the ball!’ She complies and dolphins her way back to where I am standing, trying to ignore the looks that a group of runners shoot at me. I know they are thinking something like---‘Run yourself, you fat bastard and you wouldn’t’ be.’ Well, I never---how dare them-----Ooops, assumptions made on the hoof can be misleading. They were probably just thinking that Perdy and I were mad, because the rain was starting to right on piss down. My ‘water-proof’ jacket was not living up to its name. Damn it--- I could feel seepage.

Perdy looked up at me. She was drenched and it was feeling like winter all over again. I said, ‘Car?’ She said with her feet what I wanted to do. She ran back to the car and was waiting while I plodded on over. I opened the door and all I need to say is ‘Bloody perfect girl; we are on the same wavelength, finally.’