Pressure Cooker Risotto

I tried polenta this week in the pressure cooker.  It was definitely not as good as slow cooked, constantly stirred polenta, but was better than the cover and sit method.  I may try it again.  I'll let you know if the results turn out better.

So tonight, I tried risotto.  I was pleased with the results.  I am not sure it is any quicker, but it does free up your hands to make the other parts of dinner.

Saute 1 diced onion with 5-6 minced garlic cloves in 1 tbsp olive oil.  Cook for 3-4 minutes, until soft.  Add 8 oz sliced mushrooms.  Cook another couple of minutes.  Add 1 cup risotto, stirring until grains are covered with oil.  Season with pepper.  Turn heat up to med high and add 1/2 cup white wine, stirring.  Then add 2 cups hot chicken broth.  Cover and bring to pressure.  Lower temp to the lowest setting to keep jiggler jiggling.  Cook 7 minutes.  Quick cool under cold water.  Remove lid and put back on med high.  (At this point mine was soupy, but the rice was tender).  Cook stirring constantly until liquid is absorbed and the texture is correct, this took about 5 minutes.    Season with salt and pepper.

Thanksgiving dinner again

Roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sauteed kale

We used the pressure cooker for the potatoes and the kale.  The potatoes were much better this way than the previous blog.  Peel and cut 3 idaho potatoes into chunks.  Put water in the pressure cooker with a steamer basket.  Bring to pressure.  Cook 5 minutes.  Cool quickly.  Mash and add butter, olive oil and milk to taste.  Salt and pepper.

The kale was really good.  Tasted like we had braised slowly for hours.  Saute 2 chopped slices of bacon until crispy.  Remove.  Pour off most of bacon fat.  Saute one chopped onion and 3 garlic cloves, minced.  Add kale and bacon to the pot.  Add 2 cups chicken broth.  Bring to pressure.  Cook 5 minutes.  Cool quickly.

chili with pressure cooker black beans

Roast garlic in a dry hot cast iron skillet until blackened in spots and soft.

Ancho paste:  Stem 8 large dried ancho chilis and remove seeds.  Press flat in the hot skillet for a few seconds on each side and remove.  Place in hot water and let soak 30 minutes.  In a food processor,  put the garlic that was roasted, then peeled, 1 1/2 tsp mexican oregano, 1/8 tsp fresh ground cumin seed, 1/4 tsp freshly ground cloves, 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, 3/4 cup beef broth.  Puree.  Drain and add the chiles and  process until smooth.  Push through a sieve and season with salt.  (from Rick Bayless)

Soak black beans 4 hours.  Drain and rinse.  Put in pressure cooker, add water until beans are just covered.  Pressure cook 3 minutes.  Quickly cool and drain.

Heat 1 tsp bacon fat.  Add 1 1-2 pounds ground beef, 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped zucchini.  Cook until browned.  Drain fat.  (this was grass fed beef, so there was no fat in the pan).  Stir in the ancho paste and cook for a few minutes, stirring.  Add 2 cans tomatoes along with 1 1/2 cans water.  Bring to a simmer.  Simmer partially covered for 1 1/2 hours.  Stir in black beans and heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  This is my new favorite chili.

Pressure cooker marinara with sauted sausage and mushrooms

Tonight's pressure cooker recipe is for marinara.

Saute 1 chopped onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until soft.  Add 3 minced garlic cloves.  Season with 2 tsp oregano, 1 tsp thyme and a couple of tablespoons chopped fresh parsley.  Deglaze pan with red wine.  Add 3 cans of tomatoes.  Puree with an immersion blender.  Season with red chili flakes, salt, pepper and about a tsp of sugar.  Cover pan.  Bring to pressure and cook for 30 minutes.  Cool quickly.  Salt, pepper and fresh parsley to taste.  (I often only cook marinara for about 30-45 minutes on the stovetop.  The pressure cooker gave it a taste and texture like it had been cooked much longer.)

Served with pasta.  Italian sausage cooked in a pan.  When done, remove sausage and pour off all but a thin layer of the grease.  Add a couple of shallots and sliced mushrooms.  Cook 1-2 minutes.  Add fresh parsley and salt.  Cook another minute.  Sam made a salad with greens and a parmesan dressing.  (Parmesan cheese, a dollop of mayo, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a dash of honey and salt and pepper)

Pressure cooker enchiladas and beans

Chicken and poblano enchiladas.   Chicken:   Brown one full chicken breast in a tbsp oil.  Add 2 cups water.  Cover and bring to pressure.  Cook 12 minutes.  Cool quickly.  Save broth.   Poblanos:  Roast 2 large poblanos under broiler until blackened.  Place in bag.  Peel and dice.  Sauce:  Roast 1 large tomato and 2 serrano peppers under broiler.  Add to food processor.  In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil.  Cook 1 chopped onion until softened.  Add 2 minced garlic cloves.  Add onions and garlic to tomato and puree.  In pan, heat 1 tbsp oil.  When hot, add tomato puree all at once.  Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add 1 cup chicken broth.  Simmer until thickened slightly, about 10-15 minutes.  Stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro.  Pull chicken off bone.  Add the poblanos, some cilantro and enough sauce to moisten.    Dip corn tortillas into sauce.  Fill with chicken mixture.  Put in casserole dish.  Cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Top with shredded cheese and cook until melted.

These refried beans are a result of overcooked adzuki beans.  I originally pressure cooked the soaked adzuki beans for 3 minutes.  They were still a little tough.  I pressure cooked them another 3 minutes and let it cool on its own.  This was too long.  They were pretty much mush.  Next time I would only cook another 1 minutes, then cool at once.  To make them refried beans I cooked 1/2 cup chorizo.  Add 1 chopped onion and a couple of minced garlic cloves.  Season with cumin, salt and ancho chili powder, a little oregano.  Add beans and cook for about 30 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to make smooth.

More pressure cooking

Ribollita:  I made this once before out of Saveur magazine.  It took a long time, and I didn't really like it.  I'm not sure why, since it sounds delicious.  This time I adapted a recipe from the Silver Spoon.  It was much better, although I am sure some sausage would make it even better, and definitely some garlic.  Here's the recipe:

   Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in the pressure cooker.  Add 1 chopped onion, celery stalk and 1 chopped and peeled carrot stick.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Add 1 can of tomatoes, 1 tsp dried thyme, and 2 peeled and coarsely chopped potatoes.  Cook another minute.  A 1 bunch shredded kale and 1/2 cup dried navy beans (soaked for at least 4 hours).  Add enough water to cover.  Close pressure cooker, bring to pressure and cook 15 minutes.  Let cool on it's own.  (Here the recipe calls for taking 4 slices of country style bread and putting it in the bottom of a casserole dish.  Pour the soup over the top.  Cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  This sounds good, but I wanted to be able to take it to work and heat it up in the microwave.  So I made croutons out of a baguette and olive oil to dip in the reheated soup.)

Jack decided this week would be taco week.  We can't quite leave the concept of one month at a time!  So I have tried a few ingredients in the pressure cooker.  Even had two pressure cookers going at one time.  I feel quite daring.

I pressure cooked 4 pounds of chicken quarters with a chopped carrot, celery stalk, onion and bay leaf and thyme, filled with enough water to almost cover.  I cooked it at 15 pounds pressure for 10 minutes, letting it cool on it's own.  Again, the chicken turned out incredibly tender and the broth is great.  I then cooked it in a pan with a chipotle-tomato salsa.  (Put 2 large tomatoes and 3 garlic cloves under the broiler til charred, about 6 minutes on each side.  Place in cuisinart.  Add 2-3 chopped chipotles in adobo.  Blend.  Add 1 scant tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar and stir.)  Another night I add a fresh salsa to the chicken for a less smoky flavor. (Salsa:  Put 2 large tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves, and 3 serrano peppers under the broiler and cook until charred on both sides.  Put all in cuisinart and blend.    Add 1/2 chopped white onion that has been run under cold water, along with 1/4 chopped cilantro, 1 tsp each salt and sugar.  Stir.)


Black Beans:  Soak 2 cups for 4 hours.  Cook 2 slices chopped bacon.  Add 1 chopped onion and cook 3-4 minutes.  Add 4 garlic cloves, minced.  Season with ancho chili powder.  Add drained black beans and enough water to cover beans.   Heat over high heat til 15 pounds pressure.  Cook 4 minutes.  Allow to cool on it's own.  I was shocked how creamy these beans were.


Brown rice:  There are a ton of different recipes for rice.  Some say to put them in a bowl and cover them with water in the pan, a few others say to just cook them in the pan.  Placing them in a separate bowl seems like a pain so I didn't follow those directions.  Instead I did it this way:  Heat 1 tbsp oil in the cooker.  Add 1 chopped onion and saute.  Add 2 cups brown rice along with 3 cups water.  Cover and heat to pressure.  Cook 12 minutes.  Allow to cool on it's own.  I think I will try 13 minutes the next time.  Seemed like it could go just a bit longer.

Chorizo with potatoes:  I cooked the potatoes as in the previous post.  Peeled and diced.  Put 1 cup water in bottom of cooker.  Put potatoes in a steamer in the pot.  Cover and bring to pressure.  Cook 3 minutes.  Cool at once under cold water.  In a frying pan, cook about 1/2 cup chorizo.  If there is a lot of oil in the pan, drain.  Mine had hardly any oil so I added a little canola oil.  Put the potatoes in with the sausage and cook until browned.

Perfect Potatoes

Ok, so I might be going a little nuts with this pressure cooker.  I bought another one, smaller, so I have more options.  This morning I decided to pressure cook some potatoes. Here's what I did:

Wash and chop 3 medium sized red potatoes.  Put one cup water in the pressure cooker.  Place steamer basket in the cooker and put the potatoes in it.  Close the lid.  Turn heat to high.  When the regulator starts to rock, adjust the heat to keep it rocking steadily and set the timer for 3 minutes.  Place cooker in the sink and run cold water over until the pressure drops.  (This took about 30 sec.  At this point the potatoes are completely cooked.  The texture would be perfect to let them cool and make potato salad.)  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan.  Add the potatoes with salt, pepper, and parsley.  Let the potatoes brown.  These are the best potatoes I have ever made!

More tacos, pressure cooker chicken.

I love this pressure cooker.  It feels like magic every time I use it.

First make the chicken and broth.  Skin 4 chicken thighs and dredge in flour.  Brown in 1 tbsp olive oil in pressure cooker.  Add one chopped onion, 2 peeled and sliced carrots, 2 chopped celery stalks, 1 bay leaf, a little salt and thyme.  Add 1 quart water.  Bring to pressure and cook 10 minutes.  Let cool on its own.  Strain and save broth.  Shred chicken and set aside.

Now broil 6 tomatillos with 2 serranos until charred.  Put in food processor.   Saute 1 chopped onion in 1 tbsp oil for 10 min. Add 2 chopped garlic cloves and saute 1 minute.  Add to food processor and process.  Heat 1/2 tbsp oil.  Add tomatillo mixture and saute 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup chicken broth.  Stir and simmer, partially covered for 10 minutes.  Season with 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and salt.  Add 2 cups shredded kale and cook for about 10-15 minutes.  Add the shredded chicken and cook about 10 minutes longer.  Serve with corn tortillas and queso fresco.

Chicken Noodle Soup

The boys were home sick today from school, so I made chicken soup.  With the pressure cooker and the pasta roller it took about an hour.

Chicken Soup

First, prepare the pasta dough.  Put 1 1/4 cup flour in a pile in a bowl.  Made a well and add 1/8 tsp salt, 2 eggs, and 1/2 tsp olive oil.  Mix from center.  (I did this in the kitchenaid bowl)  Then put in in the kitchen aid with a dough hook and knead for 6 minutes.  Allow the dough to rest.

Remove the skin from 3 chicken thighs.  Dredge in flour.  Heat the pressure cooker, add 1 tbsp olive oil.  Brown the chicken on both sides.  Remove chicken.  Add whatever vegetables you have, chopped.  I used an onion, 2 celery stalks, 1 large zucchini, 3 peeled carrots and about 5 cloves of garlic.  Salt and let cook for a minute or two.  Add chicken stock.  (I used a large ziplock full of turkey stock that was frozen after Thanksgiving).  Add the chicken back to the pot.  Bring to 15# pressure and cook for 10 minutes.  Let cool on it's own.

While the chicken is cooking, roll out the pasta.  I used the pasta roller.  I only went to #5.  This dough didn't want to go any thinner.  Then cut into ribbons.  Let dry a little.  When the lid comes off the pressure cooker, remove the chicken.  Bring back to a boil and add the noodles.  Shred the chicken and return to the pot.

Brisket tacos

Tonight I tried a brisket in the pressure cooker.  It wasn't all the way thawed, so I added 15 more minutes to the cooking time.

I seasoned the brisket with salt and pepper and seared it in the pressure cooker in a couple of tablespoons canola oil.  Then I added 2 cups tomato sauce, 1 cup beef broth, 2 tsp oregano, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tbsp ancho chili powder, 1 tsp chipotle chili powder, 2 tbsp regular chili powder, 1 diced onion, a couple of minced garlic cloves and heated the pressure cooker until it reached 15 pounds of pressure.  I cooked it at that pressure for an hour and 15 minutes.  Let it cool on it's own.  Serve with diced tomato, onion, cilantro, queso fresco, and corn tortillas.

The brisket was tender, although a little dry.  The sauce ended up cooking too long.  If I did this again I would marinate the brisket first.  I would omit the tomato sauce and substitute a can of tomatoes.  I would increase the amount of beef broth to 2 cups.

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!