Ross says: “Mushrooms can be partnered with pretty much the same ingredients as beef: tomatoes, red wine and strong-flavoured herbs spring to mind. I would probably avoid more delicate mushroom varieties like oyster and enoki here, as they won’t benefit from slow cooking as much as the more robust button mushrooms and Swiss browns. For a gluten-free meal, simply serve with some mashed potato or polenta instead of the pasta.”

Serves 4

Prep: 20 minutes

Cooking: about 2½ hours

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 400g (14oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (concentrated purée)
• 2 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
• small handful tarragon leaves
• large handful finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 cups (180g) small button mushrooms
• 2 cups (180g) quartered Swiss brown mushrooms
• ¼ cup (10g) chopped dried porcini mushrooms
• ½ cup (125g) light sour cream
• 300g (10½oz) wholemeal spaghetti
• ½ cup (50g) finely grated parmesan, to serve

Method

Heat your slow cooker to high.

Put the olive oil into a large frying pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic and fry for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, stock powder, cornflour, soy sauce, tarragon, most of the parsley (reserving a little to scatter over the finished dish) and ¼ cup (60ml) water. Season generously with salt and pepper, then tip the lot into the bowl of the slow cooker.

Add the mushrooms and give everything a good stir. Cover and cook for 2 hours, until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce is thick and rich.

Working quickly to avoid losing too much heat, stir through the sour cream. Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Towards the end of the cooking time, cook the spaghetti in boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain well.

Serve the mushroom ragu with the spaghetti, scattered with the parmesan and the reserved parsley.

Ross says: “Lime (or mango) pickle is one of the tastiest things to have on hand. Not only is it a spicy and sweet condiment to serve with curries, it’s pretty good with crackers and cheddar too! And a few tablespoons of chopped lime pickle stirred through a soup really make it dance with zesty flavour.”

Serves 4

Prep: 20 minutes

Cooking: about 4 hours

Ingredients

• 1½ cups (305 g) split red lentils
• 6 cups (1.5 litres) salt-reduced vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons chopped Indian lime pickle
• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 large tomato, finely chopped
• handful mint leaves
• handful dill sprigs

Method

Heat your slow cooker to high.

Combine the lentils, stock and lime pickle in the bowl of the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 2 hours.

Working quickly to avoid losing too much heat, stir through the pumpkin and season generously with salt. Cover and cook for a further 2 hours, until both the lentils and pumpkin are soft. Turn the slow cooker down to Low and keep covered.

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and cook for 8–10 minutes, until golden. Stir in the cumin seeds and cook for 1 minute, until the cumin pops and sizzles. Tip the spicy onions into the soup and stir through, along with the chopped tomato. Add pepper to taste – and a little more salt, if needed.

Serve the soup in small bowls, garnished with the herbs.

Ross says: “This gentle curry makes you feel better with every mouthful. Like frozen peas, frozen spinach is a truly healthy convenience food, and it seems to have been just made for the slow cooker. It can come in little frozen blocks or loosely packed. Either variety is fine. This recipe is bursting with green goodness, and comes in three easy parts: slow cook the spinach, add the curry spices, then whiz it all up and serve it with pan-fried golden paneer. For texture, I like to leave the peas a tad chunky.”

Serves 4

Prep: 15 minutes

Cooking: about 3 hours

Ingredients

• 750g (1lb 10oz) frozen spinach
• 1 cup (140g) frozen peas
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 150g (5½oz) baby spinach leaves
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 400g (14oz) paneer, cubed 
• brown basmati rice, to serve

Method

Heat your slow cooker to high.

Combine the frozen spinach and half of the peas in the bowl of the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 2 hours, giving it a stir halfway through.

Heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger to the pan and cook for 8–10 minutes, until golden. Stir in the spices, then scrape into the slow cooker. Add the salt, fresh spinach and remaining peas, then cover and cook for 30 minutes, until the fresh spinach has wilted and is tender.

Use a stick blender to blitz the curry – I like to keep it slightly chunky in texture. Alternatively, transfer in batches to a food processor and process until chunky and thick, then return to the slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker down to Low and leave covered while you fry the paneer.

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat.

Add the paneer and cook for 1 minute each side until golden.

Serve the spinach and pea curry on a bed of rice, with the golden paneer on the side.

The Healthy Slow Cooker by Ross Dobson (Murdoch Books, £18.99) is out now