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A few of my favourite recipes

Making the most of your pressure cooker

Margaret Earle

When I left home one of the things my parents gave me was their old pressure cooker. I mostly used it to cook beans and pulses, as in those days you couldn’t buy tinned chickpeas or kidney beans. Sometimes I used it to cook corned beef or a stew. The pressure cooker was useful, but a pain because its seals didn’t work properly and it sometimes felt like there was a noisy time bomb on my stove.




In recent years I have discovered the joy of electric pressure cookers. Mine is a combo slow cooker and pressure cooker. I’ve also discovered that you can cook much more than beans, corned beef and stew in a pressure cooker. If you have room for a pressure cooker when you are camping it provides a quick and efficient way to cook. Stove-top pressure cookers come in a range of sizes and if you have access to electricity then you can use a multifunction cooker that has a pressure cooker function.

Here’s a few of my favourite recipes. They are adapted from Lisa Loveday’s book — The New Zealand Pressure Cooker Cookbook. ckw.nz/pressure-cooker

Minestrone Soup

This soup provides a hearty meal for up to 6 people. If you want to make a smaller quantity of soup, then reduce the quantities of each ingredient. Depending on your preferences and what you have available you can leave out or add ingredients. For instance, you can leave out the bacon if you want a vegetarian meal or add peas instead of green beans. 

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

150g streaky bacon, diced

2 large onions, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 celery stalks, sliced

3 Tbsp tomato paste

2 carrots peeled and diced

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

2 bay leaves

A sprig each of fresh parsley, thyme and oregano, tied together with kitchen string (or a mix of dried herbs)

2 litres vegetable or chicken stock (or 4 tsp powered stock in 2 litres of water)

400g tin chickpeas, drained (or 2 cups cooked chickpeas)

400g tin cannellini beans, drained (or 2c cooked cannellini beans)

½ cup small pasta shapes (uncooked)

1 cup of green beans (fresh or frozen)

1 zucchini, diced

Method

◗ Heat pressure cooker. Add oil and fry the bacon until browned. Add onion, garlic and celery. Cook until onion is starting to brown. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add all ingredients, except any frozen vegetables, into the pressure cooker.

◗ Put lid on top of pressure cooker and set to high pressure. Bring the cooker up to pressure and maintain this pressure for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Once the pressure has reduced naturally, open pressure cooker and discard the bundle of fresh herbs. 

◗ If using frozen vegetables add these and put lid back on for 5 minutes. Reopen the pressure cooker. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with fresh bread or toast.

Mushroom Risotto

Since getting an electric pressure cooker I have cooked all my risottos in it. The basic rule of thumb is one cup of arborio (or other risotto) rice to three cups of fluid. This makes a moist risotto that is ready to eat when the pressure cooking is completed. The recipe below serves 6.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp butter

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

300g mushrooms, sliced

2 cups arborio rice

½ tsp dried or fresh thyme

6 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or 2–3 tsps powered stock in 6cups of water)

250 g chopped chicken, ham or bacon

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Method

◗ Heat pressure cooker. Add butter and fry onion and garlic until soft. Add sliced mushrooms. If using chicken or bacon add this as well and fry until the outside colour of the meat changes. Add rice and stir for 2 minutes. Add stock and ham (if using). Fresh peas can be added now but frozen peas are best added after the risotto has been cooked.

◗ Set pressure cooker to high and bring the cooker up to pressure. Maintain this pressure for 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Once the pressure has reduced naturally, open pressure cooker. 

◗ If using frozen beans add these and put lid back on for 5 minutes. Reopen the pressure cooker. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir through the Parmesan cheese and parsley before serving. Parmesan cheese, chopped tomato and/or sprouted mung beans can be sprinkled on the top of each serving.



Spicy casserole with pork or chicken


This recipe is based on the French dish known as cassoulet. It can be served with crusty bread or brown rice. It serves 6 and don’t worry if there are left-overs as these will make a tasty lunch or dinner the next day.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

350g chorizo or other spicy sausages, sliced

500g diced uncooked pork or chicken

150g streaky bacon, sliced

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 celery stalks, sliced

1–2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

2 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)

1 bay leaf

1 sprig rosemary

400g tin chopped tomatoes in juice

½ cup stock or water

1 cup frozen green beans

400g tin cannellini beans (or 2c cooked beans)

Method

◗ Heat pressure cooker. Add oil and brown sliced sausages. Remove sausages from cooker. Add diced meat and bacon and cook until outside changes colour. Remove meat from cooker. Add onion, garlic, celery and carrot and cook for 2–3 minutes. Stir in herbs, tinned tomato in juice and stock. Return sausages, meat and bacon to cooker. Do not add the beans at this stage.

◗ Set pressure cooker to high and bring the cooker up to pressure. Maintain this pressure for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Once the pressure has reduced naturally, open the pressure cooker. 

◗ Add frozen green beans and cannellini beans and put lid back on for 5 minutes. Reopen pressure cooker. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprouted mung beans can be sprinkled on the top of each serving. ◼️

Images: ©2024 Margaret Earle & Graham Leslie. Book cover: © remains with the author/publisher.

9 Spring 2024

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