Pressure Cooker

I am sold to the pressure cooker. It saves my life day after day. I can’t imagine cooking without it!

My mother always used what’s called in French “cocotte minute”, literally meaning “minute casserole”. The name basically illustrates the speed at which it cooks. A recipe that would take 2 hours to cook in a traditional casserole would cook in 30 minutes or less in a pressure cooker.

I particularly like pressure cooking meat dishes. The meat comes out so tender and juicy! My favorites are stew meat: Beef Bourguignon, Beef Daube, Osso Buco and many more. Last year I posted a "Veal Sauté” cooked in 25 minutes.

In fact I rarely use the oven to cook meat. I remember the first time I bought smoked meat that needs to be cooked, the instructions on the package say to cook it in the oven. Since this was my first experience I followed the instructions. It took for ever (I am not a very patient person) but came out ok, I must say. The second time, I cut the big long chunk in two so it can fit in my pressure cooker. And O Miracle, within half hour, we had a flaky, juicy smoked meat to die for. Needless to say I never cooked it in the oven again!

Oh I almost forgot my infamous leg of lamb in the pressure cooker. I will have to post the recipe one day.

OK, now I have to admit the split peas gave me a hard time at the beginning. They make a lot of foam and this clogs the regulator. I figured out how to avoid it now: give them a boil while preparing the other ingredients then rinse thoroughly prior to cooking them in the Presto. This will eliminate the foam.
Bottom line, I use it almost every day. It is the fastest way to cook your meals. That’s how I am able to cook a Veal Saute and pea soup during weekdays.

Any other fan out there? Please share your experience, comments etc...

For those of you who might be interested, my pressure cooker is an older version of this Lagostina model.

Lemony Cottage Cheese, Pear and Chocolate Pie

What a miserable day in Montreal today: snow, wind, you couldn't see your facing neighbor and the temperature is supposed to fall from +3 degC this morning to -31 degC tomorrow morning. Should I be happier if I was in Australia with more than 45 degC and fires ravaging part of the country? Not sure...Anyway to beat the bad weather, I decided to bake. I had a recipe in my list that I wanted to try for a while, but when I opened the fridge to get the butter out, I saw the pot of cottage cheese that I bought 10 days ago and these 3 pears winking at me, as if to tell me "we are not going to last forever".... Since I always wanted to try a cheese cake with cottage cheese, this was a perfect opportunity, but I didn't have graham crackers. Always something missing!  I decided to make my  own crust. The rest is history...told below!.

Ingredients
Dough :
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup icing sugar
½ cup butter (softened)
1 tablespoon margarine
1 egg
2 tablespoons sour cream
Zest of half lemon

Topping :
3 pears
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 squares Baker’s style dark chocolate
1 lb cottage cheese
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sour cream
2 teaspoons corn starch
½ cup granulated sugar
Zest of half lemon

11 in (27 cm) pie pan with a removable bottom, if possible.

Directions

1. Mix the flour and baking powder. Make a well in the center and add the sugar, butter and margarine. Rub to obtain a sort of crumble. 
2. Add the egg, sour cream and zest. Mix well. You should have a nice and soft dough. 
3. Roll out and transfer to the pan pressing up the sides. Refrigerate.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 400F (200 C), with the rack in the middle position. 
5. Peel, core and slice the pears not too fine. Add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the pears are tender and the juice evaporated. Remove from the heat. Let cool.
6. Meanwhile put the cottage cheese into a large mixing bowl, add the 2 eggs, sugar, sour cream, corn starch and zest and blend until smooth. 
7. Bake the crust without the filling for 10 minutes. This ‘pre-cooking’ will prevent the crust from being soggy. 
8. While it’s cooking, cut the chocolate in small pieces. By now your crust should be ready. 
9. Fill the tart shell: spread evenly the pears first, then the chocolate and finally cover with the cheese mixture. 
10. Bake until set around 40 minutes. Let cool completely then dust with icing sugar and follow your imagination to decorate.

Notes:

1. The professionals will tell you to refrigerate the dough before rolling it out. I have tried both methods and I didn't see any difference. So I roll it out and then put it in the fridge, this way I can clean the counter and get over with the dough.

Salade Niçoise

Each year, the first day back to work after the holiday season, you can hear people saying “please don’t talk to me about food, I am still stuffed! OMG, I ate so much...” 
The holiday season with its rich dishes, too many sweets, and alcohol is a perfect occasion to overeat. It’s an opportunity for all the family to get together around a nice meal, so it’s not time to think about your diet. However, when it’s all over, we need to help the body recover from this overindulgence!
Here is a lunch that helps. It’s a simple vegetable dish to which you can add canned tuna. The recipe below is for a very light lunch. Read the Note section if you have a bigger appetite!

Ingredients (Serves 4)
Few green leaves (lettuce, spinach, or endives)
2 tomatoes sliced
½ Lb green beans steamed
½ Lb grated carrots (around 2 cups)
½ Lb grated celeri root (around 2 cups)
4 hard boiled eggs sliced
12 Kalamata olives
Chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
For the dressing
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 Tbs lemon
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Arrange the vegetables on a plate 
2. Whisk all the ingredients of the dressing and drizzle the salad.

Notes
You may add boiled potatoes, cooked beets sliced or grated, and/or tuna to make this salad more filling.

Moules Marinières : Mussels my Way

Moules Marinières is a traditional dish from Belgium and Northern France. In Belgium moules-frites is a popular dish served in most restaurants. We had moules-frites for the first time in Brussels (Belgium) years ago while on vacation. The mussels were served in a huge bowl with the French fries on the side and fresh baguette. It was a real treat. I ate almost half a baguette by dipping in the sauce.
(Note : moules is the french word for mussels, frites for french fries.)

Needless to say when we were back home, we had to try and perfect the recipe. It proved that there was not much to perfect, the recipe is so simple !
I must confess, I never made it. My husband tried it the first time, and it came out so good that we figured it best if he kept doing it.
When we want to spoil ourselves without spending a lot of time in the kitchen we plan a moules-frites supper. He takes care of the mussels and I make the french fries and a salad. We cut the potatoes in thick fries (half an inch) then deep fry them until golden brown and slightly puffed. Oh I almost forgot the french baguette of course. It is the greatest gourmet "fast" food that you can make.

This recipe is slightly different from the traditional one since white wine is replaced with a mix of port and rum, and coconut cream is used to give even more structure to the sauce.

Get ready to make your own moules marinières and enjoy.

Ingredients
2 Lbs mussels
2 Tbsp butter
1 big onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1/4 cup port
1/4 cup rum
2 Tbsp. coconut cream
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Wash the mussels thoroughly in the sink or in a large bowl full of cold water. Scrape any seaweed or limestone stuck to the shell with a knife. Remove any beards by pulling on them. We discard any mussel that does not close when tapped against the sink because it means that it is dead. Let them sit in water for few minutes to allow the dirt to fall to the bottom, then scoop them into a bowl. Rinse again until the water comes up clear (no more sand.)Your mussels are ready to be cooked.

1. In a large pot or sauce pan, sauté the onion with the butter on medium high heat until soft but not brown, around 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.
2. Add the mussels, port, rum, coconut cream and half the parsley.
3. Cook over high heat about 4-5 minutes, stirring the mussels gently, until they are open.
4. Discard any unopened mussels.
5. Sprinkle the remaining parsley and serve immediately.

Notes:

1. If you don’t want to eat a lot of bread, try to use half of a mussel to spoon the sauce.
2. You may use 35% cream instead of coconut cream.
3. You may also replace the port and rum with 1/2 cup of white wine.

Tuna Rice Salad

This is a perfect recipe for leftover cooked rice. Simple and quick to make, it’s an ideal substitute for a tuna sandwich. You can keep it in the fridge for few days (when it’s not gone right away!). I am giving the bare essential ingredients here, but you may add others such as corn, or make it more Mediterranean style by adding roasted red pepper and hard boiled eggs.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon wine vinegar
4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 small tomatoes (or 1 big) diced
2 cans tuna drained and flaked (around 12 oz)
3 cups cooked rice
12 pitted Kalamata olives cut in 2
1 tablespoon capers
3-4 lettuce leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine the mustard, vinegar and mayonnaise
2. Add the tomatoes and tuna, and toss
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the lettuce and toss to coat
4. Decorate with the lettuce and serve

Notes:

1. You may replace the capers with sliced pickles
2. You may use green olives or a mix of both
3. If you are using canned tuna in oil, you may want to reduce the amount of mayonnaise.