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

Meatballs Baked and with gravy

I've been thinking about meatballs lately.  I've actually been thinking about meatballs a LOT!  I made the meatloaf cupcakes last week which are already a thing of legend in this house *I WILL blog that one in a couple of days.

A friend told me my meatloaf cupcakes were, in fact, meat muffins.  For reasons unknown, that cracked me up completely, that's ridiculous.  My committee is pretty confident that while meatloaf can be cupcakes it cannot be muffins.  He said meat muffins sounds like a term of endearment, yeah, a weird one.  I don't make meat muffins.  I make meat loaf, meat balls and meat cupcakes...

Anyway, I also make a regular old 'free-form' meatloaf about once a month.  I always make a gigantic one because I think everyone prefers the day after meatloaf cheeseburgers and sandwiches almost as much as the original meal.

I was going to cook my FAMOUS pressure cooker meatballs  here , which, by the way is the highest visited post on my blog! I prepared to pressure cook them and then I thought, no, I'm going to go old school and new school.  Actually I made it up as I went along.  I used the kitchen aid and then I fried then I baked.

These are high maintenance meatloaf balls and they're worth it. I am delighted, simply, purely, delighted with the outcome.

This is a method. I have no NO idea whatsoever as to amounts. Add what you like, this is one of my method recipes. Add more of what you like and less of what you don't.

TRACY'S BAKED MEATBALLS WITH GRAVY

2 lbs ground beef
2 inch slice of white bread, soaked in enough milk to make it a soft paste
2 eggs
ketchup
spicy, grain mustard
Worcestershire sauce
smoked paprika, nutmeg, salt, pepper
dry bread crumbs

Flour
butter
stock or water
cream
oil

HERES the method, the commentary and the pictures:

In the bowl of the kitchen aid!  Yeah, I'm going mechanical today, put a thick slice of bread, broken up, with enough milk to make it a gooey baby food mess.  Crack in two eggs, a HEAVY grating of nutmeg, some ketchup and some mustard
   
SQUIRT it in.  Then grate half an onion into the bowl then add loads of pepper and a little salt
   
Ahh  Worcestershire sauce, how could we live without you. Add in some smoked paprika, more if you love it, less if you don't.  Put it on the mixer and let it go, low speed just to combine it all.
   
Drop in the meat and let it roll around a few times, just to combine it.  Mine was a little wet so I added some dry breadcrumbs.  We want moist but able to make a decent ball.  These ARE meatballs afterall
   
Ah, lovely.  In the name of equality, I decided to measure them out, each 3.0 ounces.  LOVELY!  Now, melt some butter and oil in a pan.  The butter is from Dutch Meatballs and the oil is from other meatballs so together, we have MY meatballs
   
Put some flour in the now empty bowl of the kitchen aid, c'mon, don't wash it or get a new bowl, nothing is going to get you if you toss the balls in flour in the bowl they just came out of, trust me.  Also the kitchen aid bowl is very deep and has the bump in the bottom, it rolls balls beautifully.

Add salt and loads of pepper to the flour and mix it up.  Coat the balls lightly with flour and put them on the counter, ready to be introduced to the hot butter and oil.
   
Introduce the balls to the very hot butter and oil.  Do not move them about or shake them.  Let them sit and enjoy and brown and get the crust that we are going to be fighting over later. When the balls are dark brown, turn them gently and let them continue to brown on the other side.  In the mean time, find a vessel that will hold the balls in a single layer.
   
Turn the balls, gently, and let them brown on all 4 sides and then transfer them to the waiting vessel. Then cook the second batch.
   
Now, the pan.  That is full of butter, meat juices, fat and all the flavor from these balls.  There's flour in there to thicken the sauce.  We're going to use it.  Crank the heat and pour in your best chicken stock.  IF you don't have any, use water.
   
BOIL it for a few minutes, look at the color.  Yeah, then add a little butter. Then add a little cream and let it boil.  I added more pepper because I like it.
   
When it's boiled for a minute or two and tastes fabulous ( you'd better be tasting! ) then strain (I didn't want the little bits from the bottom which had become a little charred for my liking) the sauce over the balls to come half way up them.  Don't you just want to eat them now?  In their caramel colored bath.  Honestly, sometimes I don't know if I want to take them out to eat or jump in with them.
   
Cover the balls tightly with foil and pop them into a 300 degree oven for about an hour.
 
THE REVEAL!  Tender, rich, delicious, a total and complete KEEPER recipe.
   
I'm eating this one for you, for science of course. I'm that willing to sacrifice myself
  
I'm going to make mashed potatoes to have with them, I'll post some pictures when I'm done.  In the meantime, go make meatballs

The Dinner Reveal:
   

/enjoy