Easy and Fast Recipes Using a Pressure Cooker

The once-lowly and maligned pressure cooker is making a comeback. This relic of our grandparents’ kitchen is not only improved and safer than ever before, but it saves time, creates more flavor and conserves energy.

Cookbook author and cooking teacher Laura Pazzaglia wasn’t thinking of all this when she tried pressure cooking for the first time. But after watching a friend make dinner in 10 minutes, she knew she had found the solution to her time-crunched life.

In her new cookbook, “Hip Pressure Cooking,” Pazzaglia provides over 200 sure-fire recipes designed to work in all types of cookers such as the Instant Pot, electric pressure cookers, multicookers with pressure programs and stovetop pressure cookers. As pressure cooking became more popular, she created a website (www.HipPressureCooking.com) providing home cooks with instructional videos, recipes and advice.

“Hip pressure cooking is about taking advantage of the latest pressure cooker technology and accessories, so you are able to preserve freshness and maximize the nutrients of ingredients without wasting time,” Pazzaglia says.

Pazzaglia not only figured out how to make pressure cooked food appealing, she gained a large following for her recipes and techniques while doing it. Some recipes found in the book include: corn chowder, sloppy lasagna, risotto with mixed shellfish, Filipino oxtail stew, blackberry swirl cheesecake and hazelnut chocolate pots de crème.

A consultant to pressure cooker manufacturers in Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and Spain, Pazzaglia performing demonstrations for them in various cities around the world. Her experiments brought many pressure cooker-first recipes and techniques including al dente pressure cooker pasta and sauce, potato salad that holds its shape, chicken and rice that are perfectly cooked, an instantly hot Tabasco sauce and many more.

Try these popular and delicious recipes below from “Hip Pressure Cooking.” For more information on Laura Pazzaglia, her pressure cooking school videos, recipes and more, visit www.hippressurecooking.com.

BBQ Pork Ribs with Spinach Bean Salad

Serves 4 to 6

The BBQ refers to the flavor, and not cooking method. Though it should fool all but your most observant guests. The slide-under-the-broiler finish gives this dish a scorch that is both beautiful and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, large dice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup dry cannellini, soaked
• 1 1/2 pounds baby back ribs
• 1 cup barbecue sauce, divided
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 pound baby spinach

Instructions:

Pull ribs out of the refrigerator and slice apart. Sprinkle coat with barbecue sauce and sprinkle with salt and pepper — reserve some of the barbecue sauce for after cooking. Arrange ribs in steamer basket, even standing them slightly vertically to get them to fit and set aside.

In the pressure cooker, on medium heat without the lid, sauté onion until soft and then add the beans, bay leaf and cannellini.

Lower the steamer basket into the pressure cooker.

Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker reaches pressure, lower to the heat to the minimum required by the cooker to maintain pressure. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes at high pressure.

When time is up, open the pressure cooker with the natural-release method — move the cooker off the burner and wait for the pressure to come down on its own (about 10 minutes). For electric pressure cookers, disengage the “keep warm” mode or unplug the cooker and begin counting 10 minutes of natural open time. Then, release the rest of the pressure using the valve.

Carefully remove the steamer basket and temporarily place it on the upturned lid of the pressure cooker loosely covered with foil. Remove and discard the bay leaf from the beans, below. Mix into the beans the salt, garlic and baby spinach. Remove beans to a casserole using a slotted spoon. Using tongs, carefully distribute ribs on top of the beans and lightly paint with the remaining barbecue sauce.

Slide the casserole under the broiler and broil for 5 to10 minutes or until the sauce on the ribs is lightly caramelized.

Three-ingredient Flan

Yields 6 custards

I developed this recipe for my in-store pressure cooker demonstrations. I wanted a flan that is delicious warm without being too fussy to make. The honey serves both a flavor and sweetener — eliminating the need for sugar and the step for infusing the milk with flavors or spices. Use a dark, flavorful honey to get the most bang of flavor. My favorite: Chestnut Honey, but any dark-colored full-flavored honey will do.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 2 eggs, one whole, and one yolk
• 1/3 cup dark honey
• 1 cup whole milk
• 8 amaretto cookies (or ginger snaps), crushed into a powder

Instructions:

Prepare pressure cooker by adding water to the base, plus steamer basket and set aside.

In a medium bowl or 4-cup measuring cup, whisk together the eggs and honey until well-combined. When well-combined, whisk in the milk. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into ramekins cups and cover tightly with foil. Place in the steamer basket.

Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker reaches pressure, lower to the heat to the minimum required by the cooker to maintain pressure. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes at high pressure.

When time is up, open the pressure cooker with the natural-release method — move the cooker off the burner and wait for the pressure to come down on its own (about 10 minutes). For electric pressure cookers, disengage the “keep warm” mode or unplug the cooker and begin counting 10 minutes of natural open time. Then, release the rest of the pressure using the valve.

Uncover the custards and either refrigerate or serve warm garnished with cookie crumbs.