The Ultimate Pressure Cooker Cookbook: More Than 85 Foolproof Irresistible Recipes Tested in All the Most Popular Models - Hardcover

Lacalamita, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684824965 ISBN 13: 9780684824963

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1997

Synopsis

Pressure cookers have changed a lot since your grandmother's day. They were once noisy, risky, and ineffective, but today's new machines are safe and sleek, and make cooking fabulous meals in no time a snap. In The Ultimate Pressure Cooker Cookbook, Tom Lacalamita's expert advice will guide you through buying and caring for your pressure cooker, and his delicious foolproof recipes are your keys to success. By cooking with high temperature and steam pressure, a pressure cooker seals in flavor and prepares in minutes what takes hours with conventional methods. Besides being an incredible time saver, a pressure cooker is capable of producing delicious, intensely flavored food that is also low in fat. Imagine being able to produce healthy nutritious home-cooked meals any night of the week. With The Ultimate Pressure Cooker Cookbook as your companion, it is all possible. Just pile the ingredients into a pot, lock the lid, and bring to full pressure, and in 20 minutes you can have rich homemade soup that tastes as if it had been simmering on the stove for hours. Perhaps you feel like a taste of Italy...how does perfect creamy risotto in 10 minutes sound? Delicious meals that taste as though you spent the day in the kitchen are at your fingertips when you use a pressure cooker. With the same thoroughness used in his three previous books in the Ultimate Cookbook series, Lacalamita begins by methodically examining all the types of pressure cookers available, giving careful instructions and expert advice on their use and maintenance. In over 85 triple-tested recipes derived from the Mediterranean tradition, he then shows how pressure cookers are great tools for today's cooks. Step-by-step instructions guide you through these tasty and healthy pressure-cooker recipes -- from rich Vegetable Soup with Basil or hearty Turkish Bean Stew to Mussels h la Cataplana and Loin of Pork with Bitter-Orange Sauce. In addition to nutritional analysis for each recipe, charts of basic cooking times and conversion formulas are provided so that favorite home recipes can also be adapted to cooking in the pressure cooker. In The Ultimate Pressure Cooker Cookbook, Tom Lacalamita is your guide to the world of fast, fabulous cooking.

About this title

About the Author:

Tom Lacalamita is the author of The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook, The Ultimate Pasta Machine Cookbook, and The Ultimate Espresso Machine Cookbook and works professionally in the world of specialty foods and kitchen appliances. On home-shopping television networks, he has been responsible for over $9 million in sales of housewares and cookbooks; he was also the kitchen expert on "Can We Shop?" with Joan Rivers. Lacalamita has taught classes at the James Beard House and works as a consultant for many leading housewares and food companies. A frequent contributor to industry publications, Tom lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife and daughter.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Chapter 1

Stocks And Soups

Stock is a wonderful base for preparing flavorful and rich soups and sauces. Stock is traditionally simmered for hours in order to extract maximum flavor from the different ingredients, but stock prepared in a pressure cooker takes up to 70 percent less cooking time. Since stock freezes well, it makes sense to have a few batches on hand to take out whenever the urge strikes for a bowl of homemade soup or when stock is called for in a recipe.

The four recipes that immediately follow are for the most commonly used stocks, made from vegetables, chicken, beef, or fish.

Rich Vegetable Stock

1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large leek, trimmed and washed, green and white parts chopped
4 unpeeled cloves garlic, crushed
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
1 medium turnip, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large vine-ripened tomato, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped, or 2 canned plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
6 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
9 cups water

Place all the ingredients in the pressure cooker. Position the lid and lock in place. Place over high heat and bring to high pressure. Adjust heat to stabilize pressure, and cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure drop naturally. Once pressure has been released, open the pressure cooker. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing as much liquid from the vegetables as possible before discarding them. Season with salt, if desired.

APPROXIMATELY 8 CUPS

APPROXIMATE NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS PER 8-OUNCE CUP

39 calories, 1g protein, 9g carbohydrates, 0g fat, Omg cholesterol, 36mg sodium

Rich Chicken Stock

2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken bones with meat, including backs, wings, and necks, all visible fat and skin removed
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 large leeks, trimmed, washed well, and chopped
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 sprigs celery leaves
1 large vine-ripened tomato, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped, or 2 canned plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 1/4-inch-thick slices of peeled gingerroot
4 sprigs parsley
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
9 cups water

Rinse the chicken under running water. Place the chicken and the remaining ingredients in the pressure cooker. Position the lid and lock in place. Place over high heat and bring to high pressure. Adjust heat to stabilize pressure and cook 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure drop naturally. Once the pressure has dropped, open the pressure cooker. Remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and discard. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing as much liquid from the vegetables as possible before discarding them. Season with salt, if desired.

APPROXIMATELY 8 CUPS

APPROXIMATE NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS PER 8-OUNCE CUP

206 calories, 21g protein, 5g carbohydrates, 1g fat, 65mg cholesterol, 88mg sodium

Rich Beef Stock

3 pounds beef bones
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 carrots, coarsely chopped
3 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
3 sprigs celery leaves
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped, or 3 canned plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
9 cups water

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Rinse the beef bones under running water and pat dry. Place the bones in a single layer in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with the oil and toss to coat. Roast approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until deep golden brown. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, allowing all the grease and oil to drip off.

Place the roasted bones, along with the remaining ingredients, in the pressure cooker. Position the lid and lock in place. Place over high heat and bring to high pressure. Adjust heat to stabilize pressure and cook 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure drop naturally. Once the pressure has dropped, open the pressure cooker. Remove the bones with a slotted spoon and discard. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing as much liquid from the vegetables as possible before discarding them. Season with salt, if desired.

APPROXIMATELY 8 CUPS

APPROXIMATE NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS PER 8 OUNCE CUP

307 calories, 13g protein, 3g carbohydrates, 27g fat, 54mg cholesterol, 44mg sodium

Rich Fish Stock

2 pounds fish skeletons with heads (use white fish for best results)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 cloves
1/2 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
9 cups water

Rinse the fish bones and heads under running water. Place the fish and the remaining ingredients in the pressure cooker. Position the lid and lock in place. Place over high heat and bring to high pressure. Adjust heat to stabilize pressure and cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure drop naturally. Once the pressure has dropped, open the pressure cooker. Remove the bones and heads with a slotted spoon and discard. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing as much liquid from the vegetables as possible before discarding. Season with salt, if desired.

APPROXIMATELY 8 CUPS

APPROXIMATE NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS PER 8-OUNCE CUP

210 calories, 28g protein, 3g carbohydrates, 9g fat, 87mg cholesterol, 99mg sodium

Chicken Soup with Lemon and Mint
Canja

PORTUGAL

Lemon juice is a favorite addition to chicken soup in the Mediterranean region. Canja, a soup enjoyed throughout Portugal, is a fine example of this. The mint in this recipe adds a refreshing taste to this favorite.

1 split chicken breast with bone,about 3/4 to 1 pound
1 large onion, peeled
1 2-inch strip of lemon zest
1 sprig fresh mint
8 cups water
3 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup long-grain rice
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
8 fresh mint leaves

Place the chicken breast, onion, lemon zest, mint sprig, water, and salt in the pressure cooker. Position the lid and lock in place. Place over high heat and bring to high pressure. Adjust heat to stabilize pressure and cook 20 minutes. Remove from heat and lower pressure using the cold-water-release method. Open the pressure cooker. Remove the chicken breast with a slotted spoon. Remove and discard the skin from the chicken. Bone the chicken and shred the meat. Cover and set aside.

Strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer. Discard the onion, lemon zest and mint sprig. Pour the stock back into the pressure cooker. Add the rice and lemon juice. Reposition the lid and lock in place. Place over high heat and bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to stabilize pressure and cook 5 minutes. Lower pressure using the cold-water-release method. Open the pressure cooker. Test rice to see if it is cooked. If rice is still hard, let soup simmer, uncovered, until rice is done. Taste and adjust for salt. Add the shredded chicken and black pepper. To serve, float 2 mint leaves on top of each bowl.

4 SERVINGS

APPROXIMATE NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS PER SERVING

151 calories, 11g protein, 21g carbohydrates, 3g fat, 21mg cholesterol, 1656mg sodium

Chicken Soup with Egg and Lemon Juice
Aogolemono Soupa

GREECE

It is very common in Mediterranean countries to add beaten eggs and lemon juice to chicken soup before serving it. In the following classic Aegean version, which goes back to the days of the ancient Greeks, the eggs are beaten separately until the whites are stiff. The egg-and-lemon mixture is then stirred into the hot soup, adding both body and rich flavor.

6 cups Rich Chicken Stock (page 47),

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0684824965
• ISBN 13: 9780684824963
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208