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Thursday, June 24, 2010

I Love my pressure cooker



Yes, strange but true, I do love my pressure cooker. It gets a regular workout at least 3 times a week and I would have to say it's one of the best kitchen appliances I've ever bought. Well, apart from my kitchen whizz. You see I come from a long line of pressure cooker users, both parents and my grandmothers all used these handy saucepans.

'No thanks' I hear you say, 'don't they explode', sending food flying around the kitchen and the cook ducking for cover! In years gone by that may have been the case, but like all modern things, pressure cookers have moved with the times and are now a very safe and quick way to cook.
Hmmm, I sound like an advertisment. lol


'Easiwork Health Cooker' found here

The above contraption was my introduction to pressure cookers. My Dad had one of these, made in the UK in the 1920's & 30's. Looks like something Wallace and Gromit would fly to the moon in. Cheese anyone?
The only thing I remember Dad cooking in it was soy chicken.

After my Dad passed away, we had a garage sale and the rocket sold for $50 (not sure we knew the real value). We even had the instruction book for it, Dad didn't throw out anything!

My favourite soup at the moment - Lentil and Vegetable

1 large carrot
2 sticks of celery
2 stalks of fennel
1 potato
1/4 medium size pumpkin
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion or 1 leek
1 cup peas or beans
2/3 cup red lentils
4 - 5 cups of stock or water
1 tsp of each ground cumin and coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Suitable for pressure cooker or stove top cooking

Dice vegetables, saute in oil for 5 - 10 minutes, add spices and cook a further 5 minutes. Add lentils and stock. Place lid on pressure cooker, turn stove to high and bring to low pressure. Reduce heat to maintain pressure and cook for 10 minutes, allow to release pressure slowly.
For stove top, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Season to taste, then either puree with a stick mixer or blender or use a masher for a chunkier soup. Serve with crusty bread YUM

Do you have any pressure cooker stories? I'd love to hear them.



6 comments:

Laura @ Our Wee Farm said...

mine too!

so are you hooked on this blogging malarky yet?
xx

Unknown said...

no pressure cooker here, I would like to buy one though.

Lisa said...

Oh yes Laura, I've been bitten. Just need to get my head around all the bibs and bobs.

Sue you should get one, they're fantastic. I make a mean rice pudding now, thanks to Suzanne Gibbs's pressure cooker book.

Anonymous said...

I used a Prestige one for years and recently had to replace it with a Baccarat one. It's brilliant except for when I made your stew with baked beans in it and burned them lol
I know you don't eat meat but a pressure cooker will make beef stew in 20minutes, Sue, using tougher cuts of meat.
As a newlywed, my pal Lynda, managed to coat the cieling of her FIL's kitchen with over-cooked potato lol
xx
Sue/coffeee

Wendy.B said...

My dad, who passed away 20+ years ago, cooked up stews in his pressure cooker. It sat regally on his stove top, and woe betide if anyone touched it, it used to hiss and whistle and scare the daylights out of me. I have looked at a few of the modern ones in stores and wondered if I should but that little niggly fear of my youth is still lurking in the back ground.
But that old one of your Dads is amazing, I am a huge fan of collectibles like that, and how often is it that so many of us find things hidden in the garage that we sell without any knowledge to their true value or history.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane it made me smile.

Lisa said...

Whoops did I advise you to put the baked beans in whilst cooking or after? Should have been after....sorry bout that.

Wendy I remember hearing may stories of food covering the ceiling and of hissing trivets flying off.

My Dad had loads of wonderful stuff, I would have loved to have kept it all but really didn't have the room.