Gosh msolga, I've been away for a while and it looks like you are no longer a novice at this pressure cooking. As you now know, it's a trial and error thing. You put in meat, add a little of this and that voila you have dinner.
I make a quick Chicken dinner this way, but it doesn't have a name.
I'll try to explain my version of this recipe as best as I can.
I take a small whole cleaned chicken and skin it. Put it in the pressure cooker with salt and pepper, onion, garlic, Italian seasonings and lots of chopped green pepper. I then add a jar of readymade spaghetti sauce and fresh mushrooms if I have them. If the sauce seems a little too thick add water (I usually add about a cup and a half of water). Once the pressure cooker builds up a good pressure, time the chicken for 12-15 minutes. The chicken will fall apart and is very tasty. Serve this with pasta, or rice or whatever.
Welcome back!
Yes, I've definitely kicked on, colorbook. But still worry (just a little) about the vent thing! :wink:
Actually, if you left out the spaghetti sauce, I cooked a very similar dish to yours a couple of days ago. Who knows, I may be writing a book called
Pressure Cooking: Expert Advice! before too long!
Yum, you guys are making me very hungry.
I just inherited my Grandmother's OLD (like 30ish years) pressure cooker. I grew up on Beef stew with dumplings that she used to make in it. I used to help her cook when I was a kid but I haven't seen the thing in about 10 yrs. I'm trying it out this week, hope I can remember how long to cook the stew....
Wish me luck. If it goes well I might just try that chicken recipe from colorbook.
Hello ocelot & welcome!
Why not try boiling a couple of cups of water in it first, to see if it's still functional? And make sure you check the rubber thingy that seals the food in! If it's old & worn there could be a problem.
Good luck & let us know how it turns out!
I just found your recipe, colorbook. Hey, that looks good! AND easy! I'm gonna try it!
Phoenix32890 wrote:
About a week later, he asked me to make some again. For the life of me, I didn't have the foggiest idea of exactly what I had put in it! 
About ten years ago I was experimenting with different spices to make Indian kebabs, I'd done about ten lots none of which were particularly successful, and then Eureka I found the PERFECT combination, they were absolutely wonderful beyond belief.
I did a batch of about 50 and instead of having them as a starter they were so good I used to eat them as a main course.
When I came to do some more I found that I had kept the wrong recipe and thrown the "magic" one away.
To this day I have never been able to recreate that dish.
Ah, but Gautam could help on that. He is quite a connoisseur of indian food..
@Phoenix32890,
And you'll eventually have to buy a bigger one as well, Phoenix! You're hooked!
By the way, Phoenix (& anyone else with an interest), it would be wonderful to have some new, grand-spanking pressure cooking recipes! I haven't used mine for ages!
@msolga,
Olga, I just got a pressure cooker, my first ever. I just made a big pot of brown rice that cooked in 20 minutes. I'm planning to use it to make big vats of stuff that I can divide up into single serinvgs for lunches. I was going to start my own thread, but since this one was already there, why not use it?
I haven't got any recipes yet, except the ones in the book that came with it. I'm looking for more ways to use it. Any ideas?
@Swimpy,
Hooray, Swimpy!
You've revived this old thread, just in time for me to to start thinking about winter cooking! (well not quite. Stinking hot & sticky here. A bit like being
inside a pressure cooker!
) But soon, soon ...
You know, I got so carried away with my slow cooker last year, my pressure cooker was left in the cupboard, most of the time.
It'd be great for all of us to share some fresh recipes. I'm going to start looking!
Speaking of pressure cookers, do any of you pressure cooker experts know the difference between a pressure canner and a pressure cooker? As long as the pressure cooker has a rack in the bottom to keep the glass jars from touching the bottom and it is deep enough to cover the jars in hot water, is the pressure cooker interchangeable with the pressure canner?
With the vegetable gardening I'm going to be doing this summer, I'm thinking I'm going to need a way to preserve/can/freeze massive amounts of veggies. We have a pressure cooker and I'm hoping I can use it for canning rather than need to buy something else.
@Butrflynet,
My cooker includes directions for canning, but you do need a rack. That wasn't included. My pressure cooker is only a 6-qt. It wouldn't hold very many canning jars.
Do you still have the user's manual? It should have directions. If you don't have it, maybe you could find it online.
@Swimpy,
There is probably a manual around here somewhere...nothing gets thrown out. I'll search for it and see what it has to say.
How's this one for starters, Swimpy? It's from a recipe book I have, but I haven't actually made it myself yet (in the pressure cooker). It looks like it would work pretty well to me. I don't know whether I'd bother with the kitchen twine, though. :
OSSO BUCO PRESTO
(makes 4 servings)
Ingredients:
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 meaty veal shanks )3 ½ pounds), cross-cut 1 ½ inches thick, tied with kitchen twine
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, cut into ½ inch dice
• 1 medium celery rib, cut in ½ inch dices
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup dry white wine
• One 15 ounce can tomatoes in juice, drained & chopped, ½ tomato juice reserved
• ½ teaspoon dried basil.
• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
Gremolata:
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 1 garlic clove, minced
To Make:
• In a 5 to 7 quart pressure cooker, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the shanks & lightly brown, turning occasionally as you go.
• Transfer the meat to a platter & season with salt & pepper.
• Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pressure cooker & heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery & garlic & cook, stirring occasionally until softened. ( about 3 minutes)
• Stir in the wine & cook till almost evaporated.
• Add the tomatoes & the ½ cup of tomato juice, basil & rosemary.
• Return meat to the pressure cooker.
• Lock the lid into place. Bring to high pressure over high heat.
• Adjust the heat to maintain the pressure.
• Cook for 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile make the gremolata. Mix all the gremolata ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Remove the pressure cooker from the heat.
• Open the lid, tilting away from you, to release the pressure.
• Arrange the meat on a serving platter.
• Pour the tomato sauce over the meat.
• Sprinkle with the gremolata & serve.
`
@msolga,
It's this bit, of course, which is the scary part:
Quote:• Remove the pressure cooker from the heat.
• Open the lid, tilting away from you, to release the pressure.
Perhaps a good idea to have a friend on hand, just in case, the first time you attempt it?
@Butrflynet,
Butrflynet wrote: is the pressure cooker interchangeable with the pressure canner?
I don't believe they are, Butrflynet. The canners come with different weights (which determine how many pounds of pressure) OR a pressure gauge which is needed to determine pounds of pressure for safe canning. While a pressure canner is useful for higher acidic foods like fruit or tomatoes as it's faster, it's imperative for low acid foods (green beans are especially deadly) and meat to make sure botulism spores (?) are killed. You have to use the right amount of pressure for the right amount of time to be safe. (Says the non-expert who is only parroting what she's read on a canning forum. In the interests of full disclosure I do not own a pressure canner...yet.)
@msolga,
Ossobuco sounds yummy. My cooker has a valve to quickly release pressure. I wouldn't want to try taking the lid off. I'm a-scared enough of the dern thing.
I’m watching an infomercial about pressure cookers as I’m typing this. I’m always a little cautious about infomercials but it sounds pretty neat. I may have to do some shopping today.
