A Soup Of Black-Eyed Peas

A Soup Of Black-Eyed Peas

and Collard Greens in Ham Broth

Soup is comfort food, and we can produce some really rich, full bodied and marvelously delicious soups in just minutes using a pressure cooker. Every household has a favorite recipe, and in the Southern states of the US, some of the best soups feature local ingredients like black-eyed peas and collard greens. This well known combination is steeped in history and has become a popular dish throughout the country.

For more interesting factoids about American traditions that are centered on Black-eyed Peas, see my article on the website. You might even get a smile or two about what some of my opinionated elderly kinfolk had to say about the quaint old Southern custom of eating black-eyed peas as a lucky New Year dish.

Oh yeah, and there's even another pressure cooker recipe featuring more black-eyed peas, too. A soup made in the pressure cooker can be cooked in minutes, but still taste like it has simmered all day. The foundation for any soup is a well seasoned broth or stock that compliments and enhances the flavors of all the ingredients.

So lets begin this soup with a ham broth. I always save the meaty ham bone and the pieces of the smoky outer rind in the freezer for making soup broth. I'm adding aromatics like onions, garlic and cilantro, and my seasoning are simple bay leaves and rosemary.

Oh, but the aroma... I wish you could smell how delicious this is as the scent fills my kitchen. It always reminds me of sitting around my grandma's big old farmhouse table as she ladled her homemade soup into those big old fashioned soup plates.

Did you know that our grandparents scrimped in hard times as well as good times, and all cooks were frugal in those bygone days so there was very little kitchen waste. Quite literally, what we so casually toss in the garbage today, was routinely 'recycled' and every sort of vegetable and meat scrap was boiled down for the best tasting stocks and broth to make those wonderful soups we all remember. Another big side benefit, was getting a big meal of soup that was practically free. So, plan ahead and freeze those scraps for your next pot of soup.

Ready?

Mexican Steak Sandwiches

If you're a foodie, you love a well stocked supermarket, and I could spend the whole day just browsing around the large and boldly colorful, sparkling clean Mexican Mercado (supermarket) in my California town. For those who are accustomed to the typical American grocery, the Tortilleria (the tortilla factory), the Taqueria (the food court) and Panaderia (the bakery) are a terrific bonus, but the Carnicería (the meat dept) where meat does not come in plastic trays, is my first stop.

With so much to see, it can be somewhat confusing to a gringa like me. The courteous and helpful Mexican Carnicero (butcher) offers a huge selection of every sort of fresh USDA meat imaginable, all displayed in a gleaming meat case that must be a hundred feet in length. The customers cue up to select from a dizzying variety of cuts that will be wrapped up in butcher's paper for you. Even the cuts of meat may look unfamiliar because it is usually cut along the muscle groups, so there is less bone included... more bang for the buck! American butchers cut cross several muscle groups and take a crosscut section of bones along with the meat, which of course adds to the overall cost we pay.The first thing you'll notice is that Mexican Carne De Res (beef) is generally cut very thin, and its only about 1/4 inch thick. While you may not see large roasts or thick, juicy American style steaks, you can certainly ask the Jefe de Carniceros (Chief Butcher) for any special cut you'd like or preorder in advance.

Mexican cuts are thinner for two reasons; first, like most other countries, meat is not consumed as a high percentage of the diet in Latin America. Secondly, the wonderfully complex flavors of Mexican cuisine make the most of thin cuts of meat to stretch the food budget with traditional recipes that add delicious combinations of robust ingredients and piquant seasonings.

Another thing that you will notice in the Carnicería is that the beef also looks leaner and less marbled than its fatty, corn fed American cousin, and the meat is not generally aged so its very bright red in color. The fat may have a yellow tint due to the vitamin A in grass from cattle that are raised on pasture rather than feedlots. Not only does the Carnicero do a painstaking job of removing most of the fat, but a leaner beef carcass is preferred... a plus if you're trying to eat healthier meals.

This makes Mexican beef an excellent choice for the pressure cooker where it benefits from moist heat cooking methods like braising, steam-roasting, poaching, or stewing. For this recipe, the cut of beef I bought at my local Mexican Mercado, was a Clod Steak. This is just one of the many different names for a Boneless Shoulder Steak, which can also be labeled as an English Steak, a London Broil, or Swiss Steak. It's a fairly cheap cut of beef from the chuck, that's the shoulder section of the steer between the ribs and the front chest (brisket). Because the big muscle groups in the chuck are heavily exercised and contain a lot of connective tissue, they are naturally very flavorful, but less marbled and tend toward toughness… perfect for the pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker, with its thick base does a very good job in caramelization, an important cooking trick that not only adds color, but also flavor, to many foods. Caramelizing onions is just cooking them for 10 to 20 minutes to get a nice caramel brown color which develops a rich, sweet flavor as the natural sugars within the onion begin turning to caramel. It's important to have all the onion pieces roughly the same size and shape so they cook evenly otherwise the smaller pieces will start to burn before the larger pieces can caramelize.

The onions will lose as much as two-thirds of their volume as the water within them evaporates. Stir them often as they begin to brown, and watch closely as they'll quickly go from light tan, to golden. The deeper the color; the richer the flavor, and with care, you can get a deep mahogany brown, but the danger of burning is high, so I'm happy with the golden brown.

Lightly brown the strips of beef in hot oil and then toss in the green stuff. If you are shopping at the local mercado, buy a mild Mexican chile pepper to add a zesty piquant flavor without too much heat, and you'll also need some peppery cilantro leaves add to the unique Mexican taste. Add other hot peppers if they appeal to your taste buds, or just stick with an assortment of colorful bell peppers if you're more timid.

The peppers will loose a lot of water during cooking, but that ads to the flavor of the au jus dipping sauce. When you remove the lid, divide the meat mixture between the sandwich rolls and top with a slice of Jack cheese while its still hot.

Taste the dipping sauce and adjust the flavors to your taste. I added more salt and a big splash of Mexican style jalapeno hot sauce before spooning it into small ramekins on each serving plate.

Honey Glazed Herbed Carrots

Don't use your Pressure Cooker to boil veggies;

STEAM them!

Vegetables are a great match for the pressure cooker. Since they are steamed, not boiled, they retain more nutrients and the faster release methods keep the bright colors and texture. All that translates into wonderful taste and flavor, and as a bonus, of course, they only take a few minutes to cook.

I like to cook vegetables in the smallest size pressure cooker possible because it will pressurize and depressurize much faster. Also, the newer brands that only need a 1/2 cup of liquid will really speed the process, and the less time foods are exposed to heat, the better. This is always an important consideration when cooking vegetables. If you have a 4qt pressure, which is often sold as part of a set, now is the time to use it.

Steamed baby carrots in a handy accessory pan included with most pressure cookers.
A perforated steaming tray is included with most pressure cookers, and it's a very valuable accessory to have in your cupboard. Test the carrots for doneness; they should be tender, but not soft or mushy. Pour out the water and wipe the inside of the pressure cooker dry. You'll want to use real butter for this dish because margarine contains water that will prevent the honey and herbs from sticking and coating the carrots.

I use a medium high heat to get a nice glaze on the carrots as they get well coated by the honey mixture. Stir frequently, gently moving the carrots around to get them completely covered with the glaze. Keep stirring as the glaze thickens and the little bits of herbs start sticking to the carrots. When it begins to look like there is less glaze in the pan and you can see the bare metal, then the glaze is set. When you dish the carrots, pour any remaining honey mixture over the top.
Sweet and tender enough to appeal to children, the scent of herbs and flavors will tempt adults as well.

Honey Glazed Herbed Carrots

A quick and tantalizingly sweet way to serve carrots with just a hint of dill. It's sweet and savory at the same time, and the aroma of thyme and dill will tickle your taste buds.

1 lb fresh baby carrots, or carrots cut to a similar 2 inches x 1/2 inch thickness
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons butter, not margarine

Add 1/2 cup water to the pressure cooker. Wash the carrots and place them in a steamer tray. Place the tray in the cooker, using a cooking rack if needed to elevate it above the water level. Lock the lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 3 minutes. Remove from heat and use the quick release method before opening the lid. Pour off the water and wipe the pressure cooker dry. Melt the butter in the pressure cooker over medium heat. Add the dill and fry a couple of minutes or until the aroma if released. Add salt and honey, stirring to blend. Add the cooked carrots and saute, turning gently until they are well coated with the honey mixture and heated through. Serve hot, spooning any remaining honey butter over the carrots.


Try this dish and let me know how you like it.

Nutritional Egg Custard

Well, if you've missed me, here's the thing... My appendix ruptured, I had some post-op problems and was hospitalized until just a few days ago. I am finally home and slowly recuperating, but still weak as can be, so this is just a short post.

I've been restricted to a liquid diet for nearly two weeks now -- now there's a boring meal -- but truthfully, I'm not up to anything else. Fortunately the freezer is well supplied with broth and stock, so at least I have a welcomed change from fruit juice and Jello.

In a couple of days I'll move on to "soft foods", so I thought I share my first planned meal, an easily digested, protein rich, Nutritional Egg Custard. This particular recipe was handed down from my grandmother who worked as a practical nurse after WWII, and she prepared this simple food for her patients.

As a young child, I remember helping her feed this plain custard to my ailing grandfather, a victim of Mustard Gas in WWI. Fifty years later I made it for my own father who was suffering with terminal cancer. For any of my readers who are caregivers, you may want to try this recipe if the ingredients are suitable for your loved one. This is also an excellent food for fussy or teething babies, and sick kids as well. It's well tolerated by most people with a tender mouth following dental work or braces, and those who have an upset tummy or digestion problems.

Nutritional Egg Custard

The silky texture and mild taste of this custard provides a simple, easily digested, eggy lusciousness. With only a trace of vanilla and minimum of sugar, a spoonful of this custard will slide easily across the tongue and not disturb a sensitive tummy.

2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
In a small bowl, whisk all ingredients until smoothly blended. Pour into individual ramekins and cover tightly with foil. Pour 1/2 water in the pressure cooker and place a steamer tray on the bottom. Arrange the filled ramekins in the tray, stacking a second layer as needed. Lock the lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 4 minutes. Remove from heat and use the natural release method before opening the lid. The custard may be served warn, but for the best taste and consistancy, refrigerate for several hours or until the custard is well chilled and firmly set.

While this recipe is not sweet enough to really be called a dessert, you can easily make it so by using more sugar. Depending on the sweetness desired, use 1/2 to 2/3 cup white or brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla to make this into a real old-fashioned custard dessert. You can also include additional flavors like real maple syrup or molasses, and spices like cinnamon or nutmeg. Some of those little chocolate sprinkles on top wouldn't hurt...

Pork Chops and Baked Potatoes with Salsa Sauce

Costco. I love it... I hate it; don't you?

I try not to go too often, and the fact that the huge warehouse store is located w-a-a-a-y over on the other side of town, keeps my trips down to about once a month. All right, truth be told, I'm a Costco addict and when the urge strikes a pack of saber-toothed tigers couldn't keep me away!

There, happy now?

Back to my trek through the hallowed aisles of the mega-giant store where I joined the milling masses of wide-eyed shoppers eager to part with cash, checks and credit cards. There I was, weaving my way past shelves that were just chock full of everything from the mundane and practical, the strange and the wonderfully bizarre. I'm on a mission, so I passed by everything with great determination not the browse... I want FOOD!

My destination is the meat section, where the mad butchers of Costco have gleefully laid out their bloody trays of raw flesh to tempt carnivores and cooks of every sort. Ah-ha! There's what I want... that huge, battalion-sized flat of extra thick, boneless, center loin pork chops. Mine... all mine!

Since many of my readers have been asking for recipes that only serve one or two portions, I decided that would be the goal of today's recipe. You can easily double the quantity or even substitute another cut of pork chops as long it is similar in thickness, which would be about 1 1/2 inches.
Okay, let's get cookin'! Here's our ingredients,
all prepped and measured -- a good thing todo so you don't leave out anything -- now we're ready to go. Oh boy, just look at those thick, yummy pork chops!
Not too complicated in the prep department, just some herbs and spices for a flavor boost, and some prepared salsa... c'mon, you can do this, so let's get cookin'!

Here's my lovely thick chops, well seasoned and nicely browned. The pile of caramelized onions and herbs that will form the base of the flavorful sauce. Oh, did I mention the flavor!

You can find out more about how to do browning and sauteing on the website.
Add all the ingredients all the ingredients exept the potatoes to the pressure cooker so the chops are nestled all comfy like in the flavorful sauce. This is a good example of how to use the Infusion Cooking method to make a rich and flavorful braise in the pressure cooker. To braise the chops the salsa, onions and the herb screate a delicious, flavorful and aromatic sauce using the Infusion Cooking method.

You can find out more about how to do all the different pressure cooking techniques used in this recipe, as well as other advanced pressure
cooking methods on the website.

This recipe also uses Tiered Cooking technique, stacking several foods so they cook separately to make a complete meal that cooks in one pot with no stirring. I'm placing the cooking rack on TOP of the chops to form a platform for the potatoes because I want them steam roasted, not braised. What... you thought the rack only works on the bottom?
See how the Tiered Cooking method is used in this recipe to allow me to use two different cooking techniques at the same time and in the same pot: I'm also using Steam Roasting to bake the potatoes.

Hungry? All right, here's my plate... where's yours?


Pork Chops and Baked Potatoes with Salsa Sauce

1 T olive oil

salt and coarse ground black pepper

2 extra thick cut boneless pork chops

1/3 c chopped cilantro

1/2 c chopped onions

2 T minced garlic

1 T dried oregano

1 cup chunky salsa

4 medium potatoes

1/2 c water

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Rub salt and pepper into the chops and brown them on both sides. Saute the onions and garlic until soft and caramelized to a golden brown. Set aside. Add the water to the not cooker and deglaze, scraping up any stuck-on browned bits. Stir in the salsa, cilantro and oregano, and place the chops in the sauce. Place a rack or steamer tray on top of the chops and arrange the potatoes. Lock the
lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 12
minutes. Remove from heat and use the natural release method before opening the lid. Transfer the chops to individual serving plates. Make 2-3 cuts in each potato to open them up and spoon some of that spicy salsa sauce over the top.

Mexican Pork Stew with Tomatillos

Guisado de Puerco con Tomatillos (Mexican Pork Stew with Tomatillos)

Use your food processor to cut the prep time and serve this popular Mexican dish to the hungry crowd at your house. This is a good opportunity to try the interesting additions of tomatillos, and some mild Mexican chili peppers that will add flavor but only a touch of heat.

2 1/2 lb boneless pork, cut into large 2 inch cubes
2 tablespoons oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (16 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
6 tomatillos, chopped
2 mild chili peppers (Anaheim, poblano, pasilla), seeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer
1 (16-ounce) container salsa,
Heat the oil in the pressure cooker, brown the meat on all sides in small batches over medium-high heat. Once each batch is browned, set aside in a bowl to reserve the drippings. Saute onion, stirring until soft, add the tomatillos and peppers. Add the beer to the cooker to deglaze the pot, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Return meat to pan and stir in the salsa, garlic, cilantro, chili powder. Lock the lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and use the natural release method before opening the lid. Serve over mashed potatoes, cooked egg-noodles, fluffy white rice, or try is spooned over crushed corn chips. As a garnish, I like a spoonful of sour cream and some extra salsa. Makes about 4-5 servings.

Did you try it?