Deep Fried...Something

Pressure Cooked Meatloaf with Cheddar Smashed Potatoes and Carrots

When it comes to pressure cooker recipes, Lorna Sass is one of the best known authors.  She has published several pressure cooker cookbooks, and was one of the first to bring pressure cooking out of the "dark ages" and into modern kitchens.  After making this twice now, and making a few minor modifications, this is one of my favorite pressure cooker recipes.  All three things cook at the same time, so you only get one pot dirty but get a whole meal out of it.  Make sure you read the notes, they're important!

Pressure Cooked Meatloaf with Cheddar Smashed Potatoes and Carrots

Ingredients:

For the meatloaf:

• 2 large eggs
• 1½ pounds ground turkey
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• ¾ cup rolled oats (old-fashioned or quick-cooking)
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs
• ½ cup ketchup plus 1 to 2 Tablespoons additional to coat top of meatloaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

• 5 large carrots, peeled and trimmed

For the potatoes:

• 3 pounds potatoes, cut into large chunks
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ cups loosely packed shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• ½ cup milk
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 12 ounces beer
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. Coat the bottom and sides of the steaming basket lightly with cooking spray or oil.
2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the ground turkey, onions, oats, breadcrumbs, ketchup, salt, garlic, and pepper. Mix with your hands until blended. (The mixture may be fairly moist.)
3. Transfer to the steaming basket and press into a disc of uniform thickness. (If your steaming basket has a central lifting pole, either remove it or shape the loaf around it.) Spread a very thin coating of ketchup on top.
4. Pour the water and beer into a 6-quart or larger pressure cooker. Place the potatoes, green onions, and garlic in the water. Set the steaming basket with the meatloaf on top of the potatoes. Wrap the carrots tightly in foil and set them on top of the meatloaf.
5. Lock the lid in place. Over high heat bring to high pressure. Reduce the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. Release the pressure. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape.
6. Check the meatloaf for doneness: an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 155 degrees. If the meatloaf requires more cooking, nestle (but do not lock) the lid in place and steam over high heat
7. for another few minutes.
8. Use tongs to lift the foil-wrapped carrots. Lift the meatloaf from the cooker, garnish with parsley, and let rest in the basket for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes: Drain the potatoes and return them to the empty cooker. Set over very low heat. Add the cheese and milk. Use a masher to coarsely smash the potatoes. For a moister mixture, stir in additional milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Unwrap and slice the carrots.

Notes:
DO NOT SKIP STEP 1!  The first time I made this, I didn't grease the steamer basket.  It took a LONG time to get it clean.

Cut the potatoes larger than you think you should.  You want there to be enough room for steam to easily get through the potatoes and cook the whole meatloaf, not just get around the edges.  I used red potatoes and just cut them into quarters.  They still cook just fine in 10 minutes at high pressure.

Season the potatoes however you'd like.  I added in a splash of Tabasco chipotle sauce for more flavor.

Pressure Cooker Chili

One of the first things that most people will tell you about cooking in a pressure cooker is that it's fantastic for recipes where you really want all the flavors to mesh together.  Things like stews, curries, and chili are all highly recommended for pressure cooking.  Tonight, I decided to tackle chili.  I'm a firm believer that chili isn't supposed to have beans in it, so I went looking for a recipe that would fit my definition.  It didn't take long to find Alton Brown's pressure cooker chili recipe.  Other than adding a little more salt at the end and adding a little garnish, I didn't mess with the recipe at all.  This was another simple and delicious pressure cookier recipe (and it took me a little longer than usual to blog it because my 1 year old kept coming over to take more bites).

Pressure Cooker Chili

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds stew meat (beef, pork, and/or lamb)
• 2 teaspoons peanut oil
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer, preferably a medium ale
• 1 (16-ounce) container salsa
• 30 tortilla chips
• 2 chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon adobo sauce (from the chipotle peppers in adobo)
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Sour cream or fat-free Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and toss with the peanut oil and salt. Set aside.
2. Heat a 6-quart heavy-bottomed pressure cooker over high heat until hot. Add the meat in 3 or 4 batches and brown on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl.
3. Once all of the meat is browned, add the beer to the cooker to deglaze the pot.
4. Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the meat back to the pressure cooker along with the salsa, tortilla chips, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, and ground cumin and stir to combine. Lock the lid in place according to the manufacturer's instructions. When the steam begins to hiss out of the cooker, reduce the heat to low, just enough to maintain a very weak whistle.
5. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully release the steam. Mix well and add salt to taste.
6. Serve immediately, garnished with cheese and sour cream.

Notes:
The only change I might make next time is adding a can of diced tomatoes.

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites

It's not much of a secret that we love quinoa in this household.  One of my friends recently posted a link to 32 ways to eat quinoa, and I decided I *had* to try this one.  I love all of the ingredients, so how could it possibly go wrong?  My only concern was that Sarah really doesn't like feta, but she ate as many of these as I did!  The feta flavor didn't overwhelm the others at all, and this one is DEFINITELY going in the rotation.  If I get a mini muffin pan, it'd almost be the perfect football food.

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• ¼ cup goat cheese
• ¼ cup sharp cheddar
• ¼ cup buffalo sauce
• ¼ cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the dipping sauce:

• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup blue cheese
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon dried dill
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine Greek yogurt, blue cheese, garlic powder, dill, parsley, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil a mini muffin pan or coat with nonstick spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine quinoa, chicken, goat cheese, sharp cheddar, buffalo sauce, Panko, egg, flour, salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the mixture evenly into the muffin tray, about 1½ tablespoons for each.
5. Place into oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden and set.
6. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Notes:
I skipped the dried parsley because I didn't have any around.  The recipe says to use goat cheese, which I've been informed is not the same as feta, but it was tasty with the feta so no harm done.  And finally, I don't have a mini muffin pan so I just used a regular one and increased the cooking time by about 7 minutes.

Spinach Egg Cups

A few days ago, someone posted a link to 24 Awesome Muffin Tin Recipes.  I knew as soon as I saw it that I was going to have to try a few of them, and this one came up first on my list.  Not a lot of ingredients, flavors I like, and very simple prep.  While mine didn't come out quite as pretty as the ones shown on the page, I'll probably make them again.  I've modified the recipe slightly to use a little less spinach and a little more egg.

Spinach Egg Cups

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (for cooking the mushrooms)
• 8 ounces fresh spinach
• 5-6 eggs
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package mini-bella mushrooms, chopped
• 1-2 Tablespoons whole milk or half-and-half (optional)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.  Grease the muffin pan well.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Saute the mushrooms until they are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add garlic to skillet and cook an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Set aside.
3. Place the spinach in the skillet. Add ¼ cup water. Cook over medium heat, just until wilted, about 3-4 minutes. Use either your hand or a spatula to pack in the spinach. Drain the excess water really well.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until combined. Add the cooked mushrooms, spinach, cheeses and milk (if using) to the eggs. Mix well. Season to taste.
5. Divide evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for about 20-23 minutes, or until it's well set and a tester/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Notes:
I used sharp cheddar cheese.  The original recipe recommends Italian cheeses, but they were just fine with sharp cheddar! 

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti

A few weeks ago, one of my friends posted an image on Facebook that said, among other things, that you could make spaghetti in a pressure cooker really easily.  I was intrigued, and earlier this week I decided to try it.  Unfortunately, I didn't think my cunning plan all the way through.  I put the spaghetti and a jar of marinara sauce in the pressure cooker, sealed it up, and cooked for about 8 minutes at pressure.  When I took the lid off, it was burned badly to the bottom and the spaghetti wasn't really fully cooked.  It needed more liquid to cook properly and not scorch on the bottom.  I decided to look around a bit at various recipes, and came up with this.  The result: much MUCH better.  Everything was fully and properly cooked, and both kids enjoyed it too.  I'll probably use a little less red wine and replace it with chicken broth next time (I've modified the recipe to reflect that, original had 2 cups of red wine), but this one is another keeper.  Spaghetti and sauce in one pot with no draining?  Doesn't get much easier than that.

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1½ cups chicken broth
• 1 pound spaghetti, uncooked, noodles broken in half
• 1½ teaspoon Italian spices
• 1½ teaspoon salt
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Heat pressure cooker over medium-high heat, and add oil.  Lightly brown hamburger, onion, and garlic, stirring occasionally to separate meat.
2. Add all remaining ingredients except Parmesan cheese.  Stir well to mix, and make sure pasta is tossed in liquid enough to separate.
3. Seal lid, bring to high pressure, and cook for 7 minutes.
4. Release pressure and serve with Parmesan cheese.

Notes:
I think we were all surprised how good this was.  Simple, cheap, and delicious?  I have no complaints. 

Energy Bars

Breakfast is always the hardest meal for me to have time to eat, for some reason.  More often than not, I end up eating either granola and yogurt or a power bar.  I've looked at recipes for homemade energy bars before, but most of them required a lot of ingredients that I didn't want to buy large packages of, in case I didn't like them.  Our move opened up an opportunity for me though, because we now live really close to a store that has a huge bulk foods section.  Almost every ingredients in this recipe (with the exception of the eggs and the maple syrup) came out of the bulk section.  The recipe came from here, and I'll be playing with it and tweaking it a bit probably almost every time I make it.  I forgot to add the almonds this time, but they'll go in the next batch, since there will DEFINITELY be a next batch of these.

Energy Bars

Ingredients:
Cooking spray

• 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
• ½ cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
• ½ cup toasted wheat germ
• ¼ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• ½ cup dried apricots
• ½ cup raw almonds
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup pitted dried dates
• ½ cup powdered nonfat dry milk
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
• 2 large eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. 
3. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste. 
4. Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until just done, about 20 minutes. Cut into 20 squares. 

Notes:
Several comments on the original recipe recommended leaving half of the sunflower seeds and almonds out until you add the syrup and eggs, to add a better texture.  I did this and will definitely do it again.

The variations on this are pretty much endless.  I added some dried cherries, because I had them sitting around.  Other things that are suggested in some of the comments: adding at least half a banana in place of one egg, using honey instead of syrup, adding ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, and adding fresh or frozen berries. 

Meringue Cookies

Last weekend, I made my dark chocolate crème brulée and set the egg whites aside for another day.  Last night, I decided to try my hand at meringue cookies.  Trader Joe's has these in their dessert section, and they are GOOD and addictive (especially the miniature ones).  While the recipe requires quite a bit of patience, the end result is well worth the wait.  These are by far my favorite cookies that I've ever made.

Meringue Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¾ cup superfine or caster sugar (see notes)
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites until they hold soft peaks, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat, on medium-high speed, until the meringue holds very stiff peaks, about another 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.  
4. Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) tip. Pipe 2 1/2 inch (6 cm) rounds of meringue in rows on the prepared baking sheet. Alternatively, spoon mounds of meringue, using two spoons, onto the prepared sheets.
5. Bake the meringues for approximately 1 1/2 to1 3/4 hours, rotating the baking sheet from front to back (about half way through) to ensure even baking. The meringues are done when they are pale in color and fairly crisp. (The meringues will release easily from the parchment paper.)
6. Turn off the oven, open the door a crack, and let sit in the oven several hours or overnight to finish drying.

Notes:
If you don't have superfine sugar simply take granulated white sugar and process it for about 30-60 seconds in a food processor.

The meringue is done when it holds stiff peaks and when you rub a little between your thumb and index finger it does not feel gritty. If it feels gritty the sugar has not fully dissolved so keep beating until it feels smooth between your fingers.

Before placing the cookies on the cookie sheet, place a little of the meringue on the underside of each corner of the parchment paper. This will prevent the paper from sliding. 

Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins with Quinoa

I found this recipe a month or two ago, and it sounded intriguing.  Muffins with cream cheese? And quinoa? And raspberries?  I had to try them, since I pretty much like every ingredient in them.  The end result was pretty fantastic.  The only thing that surprised me was that I expected to bite into pieces of cream cheese in the finished product, and that definitely did not happen.  But the muffins were nice and moist, rich but not too rich, and probably the healthiest dessert I've made in a long time.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins with Quinoa

Ingredients:

• ½ cup white or golden quinoa
• 1 cup water

Dry ingredients:

• 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda

4 ounces cold light cream cheese, diced small
1 cup frozen raspberries

Wet ingredients:

• ¾ cup white or cane sugar
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup light sour cream or fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. 
3. Add 1¼ cups of the cooked quinoa and mix until it is evenly coated with the flour mixture. Stir in the cream cheese, breaking up any large pieces. The cream cheese should remain chunky in these muffins. Add the frozen raspberries and coat in the flour mixture. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil, followed by the egg. Whisk in the sour cream or yogurt and vanilla.
5. Fold the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until just combined. Spoon the dough evenly among the cups.
6. Bake on the center rack for 25 to 27 minutes, until the muffins are light brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes:
I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and they came out great.

Thai Pressure Cooker Chicken

It took me a minute to decide what to call this one.  The original recipe was Thai Crock Pot Chicken, but I decided to try it out in the pressure cooker instead.  Don't get me wrong, I love my crockpot.  There are many recipes on this blog that use it, and it's fantastic for many things (including, I'm sure, this original recipe).  But in theory, I should be able to take most crockpot recipes, throw them in the pressure cooker instead, and cook them for about 10 minutes at pressure instead of 5-8 hours on low heat.  This was the first test: would it work?  The answer was a definite yes.  This was a fantastic recipe!  Very easy to make, lots of great flavors, and it all came together nicely in the pressure cooker.  The only change I made was adding a little bit of lime juice, which I'll definitely do again the next time I make this. 

Thai Pressure Cooker Chicken

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken thighs
• ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 can (14 ounces) light coconut milk
• ¾ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 (8 oz.) can pineapple chunks, drained
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cooked rice
• ½ cup chopped peanuts

Directions:

1. Cut chicken thighs into bite sized chunks and remove any visible fat. Place in pressure cooker. Add ginger, green onion, coconut milk, turmeric and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine, cover, and bring to high pressure (15 psi).
2. Cook for 10 minutes at high pressure, then release pressure and remove lid.
3. Turn stove to medium heat.  Mix cornstarch and water together, stirring until the cornstarch is dissolved.  Add to pressure cooker, along with pineapple and lime juice.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
4. Cook for 5-10 minutes until thickened and bubbly.
5. Serve over the rice and garnish with peanuts.

Notes:
I'll probably increase the lime juice next time, and I'll probably replace the salt with fish sauce to make it more authentic Thai.  Delicious combination of flavors though, this one is a keeper.

Pressure Cooker Turkey Breast

Let me just get this out of the way: there's no picture, because by the time this was ready tonight it was 9:00 and we were ravenous.  That said, this is another surprisingly easy recipe and holy cow did it make an amazing turkey breast.  I took the idea from the pork roast I made a couple weeks ago and made it a little more Thanksgiving-y with the cranberries.  The end result: super tender and juicy and FLAVORFUL turkey and an amazingly good gravy. 

Pressure Cooker Turkey Breast

Ingredients:

• 1 turkey breast
• 1 bag cranberries
• 1 heart of celery
• 2 cups apple juice
• 1 white onion
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• ½ cup sugar
• Salt and pepper
• Corn starch

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pressure cooker over medium-high heat. 
2. Brown turkey breast on all sides, then remove from pot. 
3. Dump remaining oil out and add apple juice.  Scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.  Add the cranberries. 
4. Cut celery into thirds, cut onion into large pieces, and place at the bottom of steamer basket. 
5. Season turkey breast lightly with salt and pepper.  Place turkey breast on top of basket and seal pressure cooker. 
6. Bring to high pressure (15 psi), then reduce heat and cook for ~45 minutes.  Release pressure and verify temperature is at least 180F.  Remove basket from pot.
7. Stir 1-2 tablespoons of corn starch with cold water in a small bowl, then pour into pot.  Boil until sauce thickens, then carve turkey breast and serve!

Notes:
I might use more celery next time, it was so good cooked this way!