Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

I had bought some tamarind for a Thai recipe. It has a very interesting flavor - sweet but sour. When I saw this recipe in the NY Times for ribs and it was in the pressure cooker, I knew I had to give it a try. Tamarind Sticky Ribs (Adapted from the NYT ) 3-4lbs of St. Louis cut ribs (or baby back*) Salt 1/4 c tamarind 1/4 c fresh OJ 1/4 c honey 2T soy sauce 1/4 t lime zest 1T lime juice 1 star anise pod 2T olive oil 4 small shallots, diced 1 1/2 t fresh ginger, grated 2 clove garlic, minced Peel the silverskin off the back of the ribs (grabbing it with a paper towel is helpful). Cut the ribs into 3 rib chunks. Toss with salt. Set aside. Mix together tarmaind, OJ, honey, soy sauce, zest, lime juice, and ansie pod in a small bowl. Set aside. In the pressure cooker heat oil with shallots and a pinch of salt. Heat until softened.  Add ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add sauce and heat until bubbly. Dip the ribs in the sauce and then stand the ribs on en...

I haven't mentioned lately how much I love my pressure cooker, so I thought I would just mention that again. Thankfully,  I bought the 4qt and 8qt  Fagor set (same lid, different bottoms). The 4qt is ideal for making risotto. Pressure Cooker Risotto (No stirring!) 1T olive oil 1 onion, minced 2 clove garlic, minced 1 c aborrio rice 1 c white wine 1 c butternut squash, grated 2 c chicken stock 6 oz spinach 2T lemon juice salt/pepper Parmesan cheese Saute onion and salt in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add rice and stir until slightly toasted. Add wine. Cook until wine is almost gone, stirring. Add squash and chicken stock and close pressure cooker. Cook under pressure 10 minutes. Quick release the pressure cooker. Stir in spinach and lemon juice until spinach wilts. Top with Parmesan cheese. Once you make pressure cooker risotto you will wonder why you ever thought stirring it was a good idea. It comes out just as cream...

So this was a happy mistake. I decided to make some pulled pork and when I was food shopping some pork belly caught my eye. I decided to buy that too. Since I was going to have the oven on for a whole bunch of hours for the pulled pork - why not throw some pork belly into the mix for future use. Well I'll tell you why not - they cook at different temperatures! So I decided to give the pulled pork a try in the pressure cooker. Let me tell you the results were great (the pictures - not so much). The pork belly came out well and is sitting in the freezer for a nice rainy day. I'm going to give directions for both the oven version and the pressure cooker version for the pulled pork. But I do think I'll be sticking with the pressure cooker version for now on. Pulled Pork 4lb boneless pork butt(or pork shoulder)* 3 T brown sugar 2 T smokey paprika 2 T dry mustard 2 T cumin salt/pepper 1 c water (if using pressure cooker) 1/4 c vinegar (if using pressure cooker) I...

It came a little thicker than usual - probably could've used more liquid I mentioned my mothers beef stew in my first post regarding the pressure cooker (or my fear of pressure cookers).  I thought for Mother's Day this would be an appropriate posting. I know every time I see a recipe with "Mom" in the title I find that it is either really a good one or it's not.  I think for the "not so good" ones sometimes it is just nostalgia that makes it taste good. But I think this is the best tasting stew in less than a half hour and that's not nostalgia talking.  I've tried to make a stew by the traditional method of cooking it for several hours, but it just doesn't come out the same.  The vegetables become too mushy and flavorless, even if you add them later.  In the pressure cooker, the vegetables stay slightly firm and very flavorful. Beef Stew 1 medium onion, chopped oil 1lb stew meat, cut into 1" cubes 2 clove garlic, chopped 3/4 ...

Never thought I would cook pasta in a pressure cooker, until I stumbled onto this recipe . I just got home at 3:30 am from a marathon delayed flight from Aruba and wanted to have a nice home cooked Sunday meal. I really wasn't in the mood for something that took too much time.  This was the perfect recipe. But before I go into that, let me allay your fears of pressure cookers. I grew up being totally petrified of pressure cookers (thanks Mom). My Mom had one of those old ones where the little ever-threatening thing on top jiggled back and forth-taunting me with every jiggle. That thing could blow at any time.  If she was cooking in that beast, we stayed clear of the kitchen. This is yet another of the fears that she instilled into us as kids. (Since this was a sibling/Mom vacation we also discovered other foibles that she instilled in us - fear of hotel carpets, bedspreads etc and having basically a comment about everything. A few Christmases ago we discovered that all thre...