This week with the pressure cooker

I've used the pressure cooker twice this week and I haven't blown up the house.  I am quite relieved!  The first time I cut up a bunch of vegetables and put in a couple cups of white beans (that I soaked overnight) with some chicken in the pressure cooker.  I started by sauteing the onions, then added everything else.  I have a 16 quart cooker and I was afraid I wouldn't have enough in it to make it work without scorching the bottom.  By the time I finished cutting vegetables the cooker was half full.  It took about 25 minutes to bring the pot up to 15 pounds of pressure.  I then cooked it at that pressure for 15 minutes, turned off the heat and let it cool down on it's own, which took another 15-20 minutes.  I was thinking it might have been just as fast in a regular pot.  But when I took the lid off everything was perfectly cooked, even the beans.  (Due to our cleanse, I didn't put any meat in the stew.  It would have been much better with a little bacon.)

Tonight, I did a healthy take on chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.  It was delicious.

Separate 1-2 heads of garlic into individual cloves, do not peel.  Blanch in boiling water for 10 minutes.  Strain and set aside.  Take the skin off of 3 pounds of chicken thighs.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dredge in flour.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in the pressure cooker.  Brown the chicken, then remove from pan.  Add 1 chopped onion and saute for a minute.  Put the chicken back in the cooker.  Add 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1 tsp oregano, the blanched, unpeeled garlic, and 1 bay leaf into the cooker.  Cover and bring to 15 pounds of pressure.  Cook 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and let cool on it's own.  Remove chicken and garlic cloves and reduce sauce.  Pour over chicken.

For the chicken, since the pot had less in it, it only took about 5 minutes to bring it to 15 pounds of pressure.  The cool down took about 5 minutes also.  Much quicker!