My mom and I both love our pressure cookers.  They can cut cooking time down to about a third, which is especially nice for larger cuts of meat that otherwise make for time-consuming meals.  (Mom actually makes most of her “slow cooker” recipes in a pressure cooker and does them in 30-45 minutes instead of cooking them all day!)  You can make all kinds of things in your pressure cooker, though.  Most dairy doesn’t do well, because it curdles (I think the temperatures are just a bit too high for milk to tolerate well), and things that cook in just a few minutes in a regular pot will tend to get overcooked in a pressure cooker.  (But then you don’t need a pressure cooker for those, anyway!)  Apart from that, pretty much anything you could cook on the stovetop can be cooked in a pressure cooker, as can many items you’d cook in the oven.

225 Best PC Recipes

If you’re not comfortable adapting your existing recipes, or are at a loss for other things to prepare in your cooker, consider taking a peek at 225 Best Pressure Cooker Recipes, by Cinda Chavich.  Robert Rose sent me this to review, and I’m looking forward to working my way through a bunch of the recipes in it.  (With a new baby, the pressure cooker is an especially handy tool!)

As usual, the first part of the book provides information – in this case, about pressure cooking basics, and including a table of cooking times.  This is a great quick reference, especially for those who are familiar and comfortable with the use of their cookers and just need to know for how long to set the timer.

Most of the book is the recipes.  Appetizers; Soups; Meat; Poultry; Fish and Seafood; Vegetables and Vegetarian Dishes; Beans and Grains; Desserts; and Stocks, Sauces, and Condiments each get their own chapters.

The layout is pretty simple.  Each page is headed with the recipe’s title.  Below that, there are two columns.  The left column shows the number of servings, followed by a little information about the recipe, and sometimes a tip or two.  The right column contains the ingredients and instructions.  If a recipe spans more than one page, the tips are often placed in the right-hand page’s sidebar/margin.

The bulk of the book is printed purely in black-and-white, with a handful of the recipes being featured in a color photo section.

I like that there’s a good deal of meal variety represented here.  There’s variety in the general content (which cuts of meat, etc.), as well as the preparation/flavor (with multiple cultural influences represented, for instance).  A few that we have tried, or are looking forward to trying:  Round Steak Louisiana-Style, Greek-Style Braised Lamb Shoulder, Speedy Dijon Chicken, Jerk Chicken (with a substitute for the malt vinegar which, being “malt,” I assume is not gluten-free), Steamed Salmon with Red Wine Glaze…

Try It

Would you like to put it to the test?  How about preparing Chicken Stew with New Potatoes and Baby Carrots from the book for dinner, followed by a dessert of Espresso Chocolate Cake?  You’ll find both recipes below.

Chicken Stew with New Potatoes and Baby Carrots

Cinda Chavish

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Course Main Dish, Poultry

Servings 4 -6

Ingredients

  

• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 lg onion minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour*
• 8-10 red new potatoes halved
• 3 stalks celery diced
• 2 cups baby carrots
• 1 parsnip peeled and diced
• 1 sm turnip peeled and diced
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or sherry
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tsp chopped fresh sage
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

 

• In the pressure cooker, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken in batches and cook until browned. Set aside.
• Drain off all but 1 Tbsp of fat. Add onion and garlic; sauté for 2 minutes. Stir in flour, potatoes, celery, carrots, parsnip and turnip. Gradually stir in stock and wine. Add bay leaf. Bring to a boil and return chicken and any accumulated juices to cooker.
• Lock the lid in place and bring the cooker up to full pressure over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, just to maintain even pressure, and cook for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and release pressure quickly.
• Discard bay leaf. Stir in parsley, thyme and sage. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*If you are gluten-free, you will need to substitute for this, of course.  I use rice flour.

Espresso Chocolate Cake

Cinda Chavich

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Course Dessert

Cuisine GF

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 4 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate chopped
• 1/3 cup brewed espresso If you don't have this, try instant espresso or substitute coffee.
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 eggs separated
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• confectioner's sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder for serving
• sweetened whipped cream or ice cream for serving
• chocolate-covered espresso beans for serving

Instructions

 

• In a saucepan, combine bittersweet and semisweet chocolate, espresso, 1/4 cup sugar and butter; heat over medium heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir for 5 minutes to cool.
• In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until almost stiff. Add 1 Tbsp sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks. Whisk in a little of the chocolate mixture. Gradually whisk in the remaining chocolate mixture. Fold in beaten egg whites until well mixed but still fluffy.
• Wrap the base of a buttered 7-inch springform pan with foil. Pour batter into the pan and cover with a piece of buttered foil, making sure pan is well sealed.
• Set rack in the bottom of the pressure cooker. Pour in 2 cups water for steaming. Fold a 2-foot long pieces of foil folded several times to make a strip strong enough to lift the pan. Center pan on midpoint of strip and fold the ends together to make a handle. Lower the pan into the cooker.
• Lock the lid in place and bring the cooker up to full pressure over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, just to maintain even pressure, and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pressure to drop naturally. Using foil handle, lift pan out of the cooker onto a cooling rack. Remove foil lid and let cake cool completely.
• Release cake from pan and dust with confectioner's sugar. Cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream and an espresso bean on top of each wedge.

Did you like those?  Buy the book!

Disclosure: Robert Rose provided me with a copy of the book to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.  The recipes above are reprinted from the book with permission.  This post contains affiliate links.