Cooking Under Pressure -The Ultimate Electric Pressure Recipe Cookbook and Guide for Electric Pressure Cookers.: Revised Edition #3 - Now Contains 175 Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes. (5 page)

PART THREE

Recipes

Introducti
on to Recipes

Here is a collection of 27 easy recipes (with 100 more later on) to get you started. This is by no means an all-inclusive list of what you can cook in a pressure cooker. I have tried to select recipes that showcase a particular technique, or style of cooking. You can use these as a base to expand your own creations.

I also purposely did not include any real fancy recipes, or anything that would be beyond the skills of an average home cook. No one wants to come home from work, and then try to cook soufflés for a family of 4. These recipes are just simple good food, for real people. For now, we’ll leave the fancy stuff to the 4-star restaurants.

I did include just some desserts because most sweets that are possible to create with a pressure cooker have been listed in countless other books, and on the Internet. However I did add some unique ones. Pie fillings are very easy to make, and most puddings fair out better on the stove top. One exception is cheese cake filling. Pressure cooking enhances the flavor of the filling significantly. There are literally hundreds of pressure cooker cheesecake recipes on the Internet. Pick one and have fun with it. While it is possible to bake in a pressure cooker (sort of), the humid environment of the cooker leaves the finished product something less than ideal on cakes, brownies and breads. This is one technique that the pressure cooker will never replace. Baked goods should be baked, in a good oven.

In the appendix, and in the chapter on Tips and Tricks, there is a lot of information to help you develop your own recipes, and adapt your existing ones. I hope you enjoy exploring the world of pressure cookers as much as I did writing about it.

Sincerely,

Joel C. Brothers

PS. Thanks to the 1000’s of people who have purchased this book since its initial publication and the 100’s of comments and suggestions that we have received. This information has helped us to add an additional 150 recipes. Hope you enjoy and continue to leave your feedback. comments and suggestions!

29 ORIGINAL RECIPES

Barbecue Por
k

There’s nothing like the taste of properly-done barbecue. But it takes a few days of planning, and 12+ hours of smoking to get it right......Well, not anymore. Your pressure cooker will make succulent, mouth-watering barbecue in just 1 hour. The pressure and steam drive the Liquid Smoke flavor right into the meat. It is only distinguishable from the old-fashioned way of cooking in that it is absolutely not dry. Try this recipe, and you may not ever want to use your outside smoker again.

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1 Pork Roast (5-8 pounds)

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24 ounces of your favorite barbecue sauce

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2 cups water

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1 tsp. garlic powder

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1 tsp. Hickory Liquid Smoke

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Salt and pepper to taste

Pour 2 cups water in your cooker. Add the Liquid Smoke to the water. Rub the roast with the garlic, salt and pepper and place it in the cooker (you can use the rack if you want, but it really doesn’t matter).

Set the time for 60 minutes, lock the lid on, move the vent to ‘Seal’, and find something to do for a while.

When the timer is done, allow pressure to reduce naturally. When the pressure is gone, open the lid, and carefully remove the roast to a large mixing bowl. Shred the pork with two forks (or allow it to cool and do it with your clean hands if you have that much patience...). The pork will be so tender that it is often enough just to touch it with the forks, and it will fall apart on its own. Set aside.

Pour the water/juice out of the cooker, but reserve it. Return the pork to the cooker. Add barbecue sauce, and enough of the reserved juice to get the consistency you want. Leave the lid off and set the time for 10 minutes. Allow the pork to simmer a bit in the sauce.

Serve on buns with lots of potato salad and coleslaw.

Black Bean Salad

An outstanding salad with the great taste of Cancún

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4 cups water

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2 pounds black beans

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2 slices salt pork, or ham hock, diced fine

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1-15 oz. can of corn

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1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

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2 tbsp. chili powder

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1 tbsp. cumin

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1/4 onion, diced fine

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2 cloves garlic, crushed

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2 avocados, peeled, and cut into 1” pieces

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4 large green onions, cut into 1/4” thick slices

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4 large fresh tomatoes, cut into 1” chunks

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8 jalapeño peppers, with seeds and veins removed, cut into 1/4” pieces

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2 tbsp. lime juice

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1 tbsp. Extra Virgin olive oil

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1 tsp. sugar

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Salt and pepper to taste

Plug in pressure cooker and set to heat or saute.

Add salt pork to the pot and cook until it makes some oil.

Add the diced onions (not the green ones) and garlic. Sauté until the onions get translucent.

Add water, beans, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, place the lid on the cooker and lock it, seal the

pressure valve and set the timer for 30 minutes.

While the beans are cooking, cut all the other vegetables, except the avocado, and add them to a large mixing bowl. Add the corn to the bowl. Chop the cilantro and add it to the mixing bowl.

When the light goes to ‘WARM”, allow the pressure to reduce on its own (naturally). Place a colander in the sink. When the pressure is gone, open the cooker. Using oven mitts, remove the inner pot, take it to the sink, and carefully pour the beans into the colander and allow to drain. Rinse them with cold water until they are very cool, and add to the mixing bowl.

Peel the avocado, and cut into 1” chunks. Add the avocado to the mixing bowl.

Add the sugar, olive oil and lime juice, salt and pepper, and toss gently until well mixed.

Transfer the salad to a container with a lid, and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Black
Bean Soup

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6 cups water or stock

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1 lb. black beans (soaked or not)

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12 oz. Chorizo, unwrapped and crumbled

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1 large onion, chopped

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1 large poblano, or bell pepper, chopped

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3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

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1 tbsp. chili powder

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1 tbsp. dried oregano

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1 tbsp. cumin

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1 tsp. coriander

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1 splash of lime juice, or beer

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Salt and pepper to taste

You can soak the beans in a brine overnight to concentrate the flavor, but you don’t have to. You can use un-soaked beans. Just rinse them good, and check for rocks and bad beans.

Plug in the cooker, and set the timer for 45 minutes.

Add oil to the cooker and allow to heat.

Sauté chorizo, onions, bell pepper and garlic in the oil until the onions are translucent.

Add beans, remaining ingredients, and water. Close and lock the lid, close the vent, and allow to cook for the set time.

When time is up, allow the pressure to reduce naturally.

When pressure is gone, remove lid, and using an immersion blender, or food processor, puree the soup until smooth.

Garnish with fresh cilantro, avocado, sour cream, and serve with lots of hot corn tortillas.

Chicken
and Sausage Cajun Gumbo

The real deal. I’ve used frozen veggies in this recipe for convenience, but you can substitute fresh ones. There are few rules where gumbo is concerned, except for one....there are no tomatoes in real gumbo! If a restaurant tries to serve you gumbo with tomatoes, send it back and go somewhere else. New Orleans tourists, and Creoles may eat tomatoes in their gumbo, but that is an entirely different animal. Few things will make a Cajun angrier. Another thing - do not wimp out and use peanut butter-colored roux. They may serve that light-colored stuff in New Orleans, but real Cajun gumbo uses black, or at least coffee-colored roux. Keep it cooking until you get the right color. It will be worth the extra trouble.

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4 cups water

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2 lb. smoked sausage, sliced

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2 lbs. chicken parts (legs, thighs...whatever)

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1 package frozen gumbo vegetables

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1 cup black, or dk brown roux

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4 cloves garlic, minced

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1 onion, diced

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1 green pepper, diced

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2 ribs celery, sliced

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1 tbsp. oil or butter

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1 tsp. Cayenne pepper

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4-7 drops MciIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce (do not substitute, this is the only real tabasco sauce)

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Salt and pepper to taste

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Cooked white rice

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For the roux:

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1/2 cup flour

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1/4 cup oil

A word about roux: Making quick roux is the most dangerous thing you ever do in your kitchen. It is 500°F and sticks to everything it touches. Restaurants refer to it as Cajun Napalm. When making roux, put the cats and dogs outside, send the children out to play, and get rid of any and all distractions. Let the phone ring. If anyone comes to the door, they can wait... Have all your utensils, and ingredients, especially oven mitts, handy, as well as a box of baking soda, in case of a flame up. Do not use butter, or any oil with a low flash-point. Save your olive oil for fancier dishes. Regular vegetable oil is OK to use. Peanut or cottonseed oil is the best.

Before cooking the gumbo, fire up the cooker and put 4 cups water in the bottom. Add the chicken, close the lid, seal the vent and set the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer is done, release pressure manually, remove the chicken, and liquid from the pot, debone, and remove skin from the chicken. Pull the meat into chunky pieces. Set the liquid aside. Don’t worry about cleaning the pot. Just leave it on. You want the chicken residue in it.

Once you are done with the chicken, set the cooker to heat or sauté, add the oil to the pot and sauté the onions, garlic, peppers and celery until the onions are translucent.

Return the liquid you cooked the chicken in to the pot. Add the chicken, sausage, vegetables, Cayenne, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer while you are making the roux.

On the stove top, in a heavy iron skillet, set the heat to ‘High’, and add 1/4 cup oil to the skillet. Use heavy oven mitts to hold onto the skillet when necessary. Keep the mitts on while making roux, and wear an apron, in case of splashes. If you get hot roux on you, you will sustain damage. Any burns should immediately be treated with ice, and cold water (but be sure to remove the roux from the stove-top, so that it doesn’t catch fire). When the pain eases up a bit, dress the burn with aloe and a light wrapping. Then check your roux, put it back onto the stove and finish the job.

Using a wire whisk, whisk in the flour a little at a time until it is all mixed into a smooth thin gravy. Continue whisking. Do not stop no matter what. As you whisk, the roux will change color gradually, from white, to tan, to brown, to reddish brown, to peanut butter-colored, to milk chocolate, and finally, to coffee-colored. Coffee-colored is what you want. If the color starts changing too quickly, lift the skillet off the burner and continue whisking until you get control of it again. Just before the color is right, carry the whole skillet over to the cooker, and carefully (it will make lots of steam, so don’t put your hands or your face directly over the pot while doing this), pour the roux into the gumbo. Set the skillet in a safe place to cool (in the oven is a good place, so no one will inadvertently grab it, or touch the hot skillet...), and turn off the stove burner. Never run cold water on a hot iron skillet. it will make it warp, and ruin it.

Give the gumbo a good stir, put on the lid, seal the vent, and set the timer to 10 minutes.

When the time is up, let the pressure reduce naturally.

Serve over cooked white rice with lots of fresh cornbread.

Laissez les bon temps roulet !

(Cajun for “Let the good times roll!)