Seafood Stew Crock Pot

SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW

Steps:

• Toss the beef with the paprika, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Coat in flour and shake off any excess. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook undisturbed until it begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Continue to cook, turning the beef as needed, until mostly browned, about 3 minutes more. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the beef to the insert of a 6-quart slow cooker; add the potatoes, mushrooms, carrots and onions and stir to combine.
• Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the tomato paste and stir until the oil begins to turn brick-red, about 1 minute. Add the flour and wine and whisk until thick (it's OK if there are some lumps). Add the beef broth, thyme, caraway if using, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper and bring to a simmer, whisking; continue simmering and whisking until the gravy is smooth and thick, about 4 minutes.
• Pour the gravy into the slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 8 hours. The meat and vegetables should be tender.
• Season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley. Serve the stew in bowls with dollops of sour cream and a sprinkle of paprika.

SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW I

Steps:

• Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.
• Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

SLOW-COOKED FISH STEW

Steps:

• In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the first 15 ingredients. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until potatoes are tender., Remove bay leaf. Stir in cod, tomatoes and milk; cook, covered, 30-35 minutes longer or until fish just begins to flake easily with a fork.

SLOW-COOKER CAJUN STEW

Steps:

• In a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker, place sausage, onion, garlic, celery, and bell pepper. Sprinkle with flour and toss to coat. Add tomatoes and their liquid, 1/2 cup water, and cayenne; season with salt. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender, 3 1/2 hours on high (or 7 hours on low). Add shrimp and okra, cover, and cook until shrimp are opaque throughout, 30 minutes (or 1 hour on low).

SEAFOOD STEW (CROCK POT)

Steps:

• In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and celery and cook stirring for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Add garlic, oregano, peppercorns and cook stirring for another minute.
• Stir in tomato paste and flour and cook another minute.
• Add vegetable broth (or chicken broth), tomatoes and tomato juice and bring to a boil. Continue to cook for about 3-5 more minutes. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to crock pot.
• Add chicken and stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
• Stir in shrimp, clams, peppers, and parsley. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile in a baggie combine chili powder and cayenne. Add scallops and toss to coat.
• In a skillet over medium heat melt butter and add scallops and cook, stirring for 3-5 minutes or until scallops are opaque.
• Add scallops to crock pot, stirring in well.
• Spoon soup in bowls and serve with hot pepper sauce if desired. I thought this was spicy enough without the Tabasco sauce - but my son added a lot to his serving.

SLOW-COOKER SEAFOOD STEW

Steps:

• In 5 to 6-quart slow cooker, combine onions, celery, garlic, tomatoes, clam juice, tomato paste, wine, vinegar, oil, Italian seasoning, sugar, pepper flakes and bay leaf; mix well.
• Cover; cook on High setting for 4 hours.
• Stir fish, shrimp, clams with juice and crabmeat into stew. Reduce heat setting to Low; cover and cook an additional 30 to 45 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork.
• Just before serving, remove and discard bay leaf. Stir in parsley.

SLOW COOKER VEGETARIAN STEW

Steps:

• Heat oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Saute onions and garlic in the hot oil until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in cumin and cook for 1 minute more. Place mixture in the bottom of a slow cooker and add chickpeas, diced tomatoes, tomato puree, mushrooms, vegetable stock, red wine, carrot, chile pepper, and oregano.
• Cover and cook on Low until vegetables are tender and flavors have melded, about 3 hours. Stir well. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.

CROCK POT CIOPPINO (FISHERMAN'S STEW)

Steps:

• Place all ingredients except seafood in crock pot. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
• About 30 minutes before serving, add seafood. Turn crock pot on high and stir gently once or twice.
• Serve with sourdough bread.
• Water can be added to thin the stew, but I leave it thick.
• Special notes:
• We doubled the recipe to feed about 6-7 adults + 1 child.
• We used a 5-6 quart Crockpot and it was very full.
• We used 1lb of bagged frozen shrimp, thawed. (Costco)
• 1lb. bagged frozen scallops, thawed. (Costco)
• I can't remember what fish we used, a hearty one that will hold up.
• We bought our mussels at price chopper because Costco only sells them in 4lb bags.
• We omitted the clams
• Cooking note: the seafood cooled down the sauce significantly when added at the end. I remember it took quite a bit longer than 30 minutes to cook the seafood and we even ended up turning it up, so I would allow more time and put it in earlier.