Chicken and potatoes in the pressure cooker

TRACY'S CHICKEN THIGHS AND POTATOES 

IN THE PRESSURE COOKER

This is my goto for chicken thighs, it's easy, quick and absolutely delicious.  Thighs are cheaper, tastier and way more tender and juicy than chicken breasts and this method will convince even the die hard thigh-hater.  Seriously, it's yummy!!

RECIPE (and method)

6 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless
dredge (flour, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, any other spices you like)
plain oil and/or bacon fat
1 large onion
1 small bag mini potatoes
2 garlic cloves
water
cream to finish

Dredge the chicken thighs and saute on high in the pressure cooker.  Fry them in batches until beautifully brown. 

Remove chicken and fry cut up onion for a few moments, then add the potatoes and garlic. Shush around a little bit.  Add about a cup of water and deglaze the pan.  Return the chicken to the pan, just set it on top of the potatoes/onion.

Lock and load, high pressure for 15 minutes.  Open either quick or natural, your choice.  This super easy dish can wait for you happily!

Remove chicken and veggies to a platter.  Turn pot on high and boil the sauce a little, add a little cream to enrich it if you're feeling the love.

Drape a little sauce on the chicken, serve with sauce on the side and in my case, with a little blob of aioli . (video recipe link below)

I didn't to play by play pics but here's the link to the video, it's real time so grab a glass of wine.

I hope you enjoy,

my CHICKEN AND POTATOES IN THE PRESSURE COOKER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0leTcBL8y-4&t=9s

my AIOLI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY3JkHM0ZKM&t=105s



/tracy

Jambalaya in the Pressure Cooker, well, my version, I always add a blog of aioli on top

I really like jambalaya, well, I like any rice dish and when you add heat and meat and veggies and a giant blob of my homemade aioli on top, well, it sort of can't be beat.

This is a dish that can be altered so quickly and easily by what you have on hand, have fish, add it, shrimp? add it.  Different veggies?  use them.  This may or not be close to authentic or the original but it's good and it's easy and it's really good, did I mention that?

You can add or take out spice or chilis or do whatever floats your boat.  This is a base recipe, use it as the leaping off spot for your culinary adventures, OR, just make it like this, sit back with a big bowl and just enjoy some rather authentic comfort food.

OH and as a point of  warning, there are not detailed amounts here, it depends on what you have, as I said, it's a jumping off point.  Use what you have.

TRACY'S  JAMBALAYA 

(IN THE PRESSURE COOKER)

INGREDIENTS 

a few slices of Bacon
1 smoked sausage
1/2 cooked chicken (or raw if you have it, just cook it with the sausage)
*cooked seafood of your choice, I don't do raw in the pressure cooker, it overcooks
Ground annatto
Adobo
Salt
Pepper
1 each (chopped) of:
    carrot
    celery
    onion
    green pepper (I didn't have any today)
    garlic clove (more if you want)
 
Bay leaf
1 small can ground chilis (optional)
1 can chopped tomatoes with chili (rotel)
2 cups chicken stock or water (don't go buy stock for this)
1 1/2 cups rice (I like basmati)

METHOD and INSTRUCTIONS WITH PICS


In a pressure cooker pot, fry the bacon and sliced sausage until you can smell it, the bacon is cooked to the point you like and there's little dark bits on the sausage. Add the chopped veggies and shush them around in the fat.  Add the Annatto and adobo and some salt and pepper.

    

Chop up some garlic... mmmmm.  Keep stirring and then add the garlic to the pot. Add as much of the chopped green chilis as you'd like.  I use half a small can.  Fry it around a bit.

    

Rince the rice in cold water till the water runs clear, this step really helps keep the grains separate when they cook.  Drain the rice and add it to the pot, stir for a moment to coat the rice with the flavors and spice in the pot.

   

Add a can of tomatoes with chilis and a half a can of water.  Add 2 cups of stock (this is my jelly stock from the pressure cooked whole chickens I do) 

    

Add a bay leaf, this is a fresh one but dried is fine.  Lock and load on the RICE setting on a Nesco or 12 minutes high pressure.  While that's cooking, if you're using cooked chicken, chop up as much as you'd like, I chopped 1 breast and half the dark meat of the bird I pressure cooked and picked yesterday.

    

Open the pot, quick release and look!  Stir gently with a wooden spoon to loosen it all up.  Add the cooked chicken meat.  IF you want to add peas, add them here, frozen.  Just stir them in and they'll heat and cook in the residual heat  IF I have fish or shrimp, I cook them quickly separately and add them after the pressure is released. 

   

That's it, use this as a base for a million combinations of stuff you can add to rice and make a very substantial one pot meal. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  Ok, off you go, there's a pressure cooker waiting to be cooked in. 

/enjoy

Mince or Hamburger stew in the Pressure Cooker, dinner on the table with one pan and 15 mins of pressure.

I  have certain dishes that are my comfort zone motherlodes.  I need the flavor, texture and smells of my mother's kitchen.  Mince is one of those meals, actually it's probably THE meal.  I love it, it's fast, easy and delicious.  Best of all, it reminds me of my mom and being cooked for and taken care of.

I had three 'playdays' in a row with girlfriends.  Not that I'm complaining about girlfriend playdates but as joyful it makes the soul, it exhausts the body.  I stood in the middle of the kitchen with a 1.3 lb pack of ground beef and knew I had no energy to be creative.  I wanted my mom to come cook for me and then I spied it....my pressure cooker....looking at me, smiling.  Ok, it wasn't actually smiling at me but I felt the love.

I've been making mince (hamburger stew to the locals) on the stovetop for a hundred years and didn't think to pressure cook it.  That's changed.  This is what I did and frankly, I'll never cook it stovetop again.  Wow, no hours of simmering to get the thick beefy veggie gravy, 15 at high pressure and we're there.  Get your pen and dig out the pressure cooker, we're making mince.

TRACY'S MINCEMEAT (OR HAMBURGER STEW) IN THE PRESSURE COOKER

*ok, technically it's my mom's :D

INGREDIENTS

1 lb +/- ground meat.  I use beef all the time but if you want something different, go for it.
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
(any other root veggies you have, chopped, like rutabaga, parsnip, turnip, potatoes)
Bayleaf, fresh or dry
Worcestershire sauce
oil (or bacon fat)
handful of frozen peas
handful of frozen corn
salt, pepper
tomato paste (optional)
water
flour

INSTRUCTION AND METHOD

Fry up the meat and veggies (not frozen) in the pressure cooker till the meat is browned.  Add a little flour and fry it till the flour is dark and there's no loose oil/fat around in the pan. IF you are using a little tomato paste, add it with the flour and fry till dark. Add water to almost cover and scrape up the brown bits.  Add some worcestershire and drop in the bay leaf.

Lock and load, 15 minutes on high pressure.

Release immediately or leave it to come down on it's own, it doesn't matter.

Add the frozen veggies and stir.   Cook about 3 minutes.

If the mince is too loose, boil it down a little, if it's too dry, add a little water or stock :)

Season with salt and pepper.

Serve over mashed potatoes or in baked potatoes.  It takes a little meat a much longer way, use leftovers in pie or in a bowl.

PLAY BY PLAY PICS 

Throw the meat, carrots, celery and onion in the bowl of the pressure cooker, set to brown and fry it up.  When the meat is brown, sprinkle a little flour over it, fry till the meat is dry and there's little yummy brown bits to scrape up.

    

Add the bay leaf, water to almost cover and a little worcestershire sauce.  Lock and load, set for 15 mins, high pressure.

    

 Prepare the gargantuan potatoes.  I had baked potato (jacket potato), as a bowl for my mince, the gravy mixes into the potato, oh it's all kinds of good.

Release pressure if you're starving, leave it on warm if you're not.  Open and stir and check for seasoning, add salt and pepper.  If it's too thick, add water/stock and if it's too loose, boil it down for a few minutes.

Add a handful of frozen peas and frozen corn, shush it around a bit and leave about 3 mins to cook through. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as you desire.

    

Random beauty shots... I love this stuff.  it's rib sticking, delicious and crazy comforting. 

  

Go make some and think of me and my mom :D 

/enjoy

DRIVE BY RECIPE quick spiralized fritter omelet for sandwiches...

I own a spiralizer, I sort of love it and I secretly spiralize things.  This is my current quickie favorite that I feed the men when I need something quick, healthy, delicious and fabulous...

DRIVE BY RECIPE SPIRALIZED FRITTER OMELET

1 zucchini spiralized :)  or just grate it
1 can potatoes, diced
1/2 onion, chopped small
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
salt, pepper, pepper flakes if you're in the mood.

Fry the potatoes and onions till they're brown and delicious.
Spiral your zucchini and run a knife through it to make the shreds smaller.  IF you don't have a spiralizer, just grate it

Put the zucchini, eggs, flour, spices in a large bowl, add potatoes and onions when they've cooled down a little bit.

Drop into heated pan with some oil in spoonfuls and fry over medium high heat till they're brown and fabulous looking.  You want a little bite left in the zucchini, not babyfood.

Put on thickly sliced homemade bread with butter and fresh tomato OR serve on a plate with aioli or gravy or sour cream and eat eat eat

This recipe makes 9 fritters easily. I put 2 in each sandwich for Connor, the man doesn't like bread so he gets his on a plate.

Make these, you're going to love these...

The proof in the pictures

     

 

go

make these

/enjoy