The New Fast Food & How to Use a Pressure Cooker

Cooking Tool of the Month – Pressure Cooker

 

Today I will show you how to use a pressure cooker and a delicious recipe from Jill Nussinow’s new book, The New Fast Food. Watch the video for the low down (and please ignore my father’s horrid green kitchen).

My favorite brand of pressure cooker is Fagor. I would love it if you bought it on Amazon using the search function in the left sidebar on my homepage. That will contribute a few cents to running this blog feature and to my east coast book tour in March. People always ask me should I get the small 6 quart one or a larger one? I say go for the 8 quart one. It still works for a small amount like 1 cup of rice, but works great for batch cooking. Might as well make a big pot of brown rice to use for different things throughout the week (i.e. sushi, rice salad, morning porridge, rice/bean burgers, rice pudding). Or make a big batch of beans and freeze them so you always have fresh cooked beans available.

Jill’s book, The New Fast Food, is a combination of very easy recipes or some more gourmet. It has extensive charts showing the cooking times for every grain and bean imaginable and makes cooking with a pressure cooker a snap.

The modern pressure cookers of today are full-proof and not scary like the one’s our grandmothers had! So don’t be skerrrd! If you have a busy life or you just don’t like spending hours in the kitchen, the pressure cooker is your new best friend! Enjoy this recipe and get your copy today!

Mediterranean Vegetable Stew with Olives 

Makes 6 servings

6 minutes high pressure; natural release;

3 minutes high pressure; natural pressure release

2 tablespoons olive oil (I used 1/2 cup vegetable broth)

1 yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced (I used garlic powder)

1 red bell pepper, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 2 cups)

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (I used anise seeds)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (didn’t use)

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup dry cannellini or other white beans, presoaked or quick soaked

1/4 cup dry white or red wine

1 cup vegetable broth

1 eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 31/2 cups)

1 (28- ounce) can crushed tomatoes or 3 cups peeled, seeded and diced fresh tomatoes

1/4 cup coarsely chopped Kalamata or green salty olives (I left the olives out)

Zest of 1/2 lemon (about 1 teaspoon)

1/4 teaspoon salt, if desired

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over medium heat. Add onions, and sauté until just transparent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, bell pepper, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper and rosemary and sauté another minute. Add the beans, wine and broth and lock the lid on the cooker. Turn the heat to high and bring to high pressure over high heat. Lower the heat to maintain high pressure for 6 minutes. Let the pressure come down naturally. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you. Add eggplant, tomatoes and olives. Do NOT stir. Bring the cooker back to high pressure for another 2 minutes. Let the pressure come down naturally. Remove the lid and add the lemon zest and salt, if using. Stir in the parsley.

Printed with permission from Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, The New Fast Food™

So are you convinced yet? Are you going to run out and buy a pressure cooker? Or do you have one already and you are in love with it just like us?