HARIRA

Today we will travel to the North of Africa. Harira is a delicious soup/stew, similar in a way to the Spanish Cocido but in fact, closer to a soup than to a stew. It should be cooked with lamb but you can use beef if you want. It can also be made without meat. The results are also delicious. This recipe is for a pressure cooker. An easy and convenient way to cook it. And good. Try. You’ll see.

Ingredients:

1 cup chickpeas

½ cup lentils

½ chopped onion

1 chopped carrot

½ cup chopped celery

1 clove of garlic, chopped

½ pound lamb, cut in not very small pieces

Some extra virgin olive oil

8 oz crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon parsley

1 tablespoon cilantro

Some salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon powdered ginger

A pinch of powdered cinnamon

A pinch of saffron

Some flour

1 egg, beaten

Some fine pasta, like fideo or vermicelli

The first thing to do is soaking chickpeas and lentils on water overnight.

The next day put some oil in the pressure cooker. When it is hot, add the lamb and sear it for about three minutes. Then add the vegetables, cut and prepared previously (onion, carrot, celery and garlic). Add the chickpeas and lentils to the cooker too. Add the crushed tomatoes but reserve one tablespoon more or less. Then add the parsley, the cilantro, the spices and the saffron. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Let it cook for about two minutes and then cover everything with water. Close the pressure cooker and follow the instructions for your cooker. With my cooker, I wait till it starts steeming and then I have it cooking for 20 minutes at a lower fire.

In the meantime, mix half a cup of hot water with a tablespoon of flour and the tablespoon of crushed tomatoes we had reserved.

When you can open the cooker, add the vermicelli, the mixture with the flour and the beaten egg. Go on cooking at a low fire. The Harira will be finished while the pasta is being cooked.

And then it will be ready. A wonderful dish. Harira. Serve hot. Enjoy!

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BARBECUE PORK SANDWICH

Today a wonderful sandwich. We can use loin or tenderloin pork. Pork and barbecue sauce. The perfect combination. Let’s cook.

Ingredients:

1 pound pork loin or pork sirloin

Some salt and freshly ground black pepper

Some extra virgin olive oil

Some barbecue sauce

First, you will have to prepare the meat. Put some salt and pepper to it and if the meat is too big, you can cut it in two pieces. This time, I cooked the meat in a pressure cooker. But first put a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in the cooker and heat it. Put the pork inside and sear the meat for about 5 minutes. Then cover the meat with water and close the pressure cooker. Follow the instructions of your pressure cooker. What I do is setting the fire to high first and when the cooker starts to release steam, I set it to low and then I start counting the time. In this case, we should have the meat in the cooker for about half an hour, counting from the moment it starts to release steam. After that, turn the cooker off and let it cool before you open it.

Next, when it is safe to handle the pork, shred it finely. Once it is shredded, put the meat in a not too hot pan and add the barbecue sauce little by little. The fire must be low. Keep on stirring so that all the meat gets the sauce and add more sauce if necessary till you get the results you want. You do not want to add too much sauce, believe me. If you think that it is too dry, you can add a bit of the liquid from the pressure cooker. Have the meal in the pan for about five minutes.

You only have to make the sandwiches with your favourite bread. You will really love this sandwich. You can cook the pork in a slow cooker too. The results are amazing. Enjoy!

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SCOTTISH GUINNESS STEW

A stew for today. And one with a beer touch. And not any beer. We are talking about Guinness. A stew made with Guinness. Delicious. Let’s cook!

Ingredients:

1 chopped carrot

1 small chopped onion

2-3 cubed potatoes

2 bay leaves

1 clove of garlic, chopped

½ can Guinness Stout (not bottled)

Some beef stock or water (better results with stock, of course)

1 pound stew beef, cubed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon dried parsley

Some extra virgin olive oil

Some salt to taste

Some freshly ground black pepper

Some flour

I will use the pressure cooker to make the stew. However, you can do it in a regular pan too. And even in a crock pot with really wonderful results. Slow is better from my point of view, but if you are in a hurry, you can use the pressure cooker. I will show you how today.

First we will prepare all the vegetables.

Get a Guinness can. Do not use a bottle.

Then we will seal the meal a bit in the pressure cooker using some drops of extra virgin olive oil.

Then we will add carrots, onion and potatoes and cook for a minute. Add the rest of ingredients except the flour and cover it with the beer and the beef stock. Close the pressure cooker and follow the instructions to cook the stew for about 20 minutes.

Once it is cooked, and when the pressure cooker is ready to open, remove the bay leaves. Then add some flour, spoonful by spoonful, stirring thoroughly to make the stew thicker. Add only the necessary flour to get this. Do not use too much flour. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.
And it will be ready to be served. A wonderful stew. Enjoy!

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DULCE DE LECHE

A delicious danger for dessert today. Dulce de Leche. A danger because it is delicious but very caloric. One has to be responsible when eating Dulce de Leche. If you want to take the risk, here you have the recipe. In fact this is like a fake Dulce de Leche recipe. The original one implies more work. I am giving you a recipe which simplifies the way of making it. But it is really good. Very tasty. Let’s cook.

Ingredients:

A 14oz can sweetened condensed milk (in fact, if you want, you can use 2 or 3 cans if you want)

Some water for the pressure cooker

Not many ingredients, right? That is because this is a very easy recipe. I normally do it with one can, but if you want, you can put two or three cans in the pressure cooker. Again, think about your weight.

First thing is preparing the can or cans of condensed milk. Remove the label from the can or cans. Then put the can or cans in the pressure cooker. Put them horizontally, not vertically. Cover the cans with water. Close the pressure cooker and, starting to count when the cooker starts steaming, have it cooking for 50-55 minutes. When the time is over, wait for some minutes and then open the cooker. The water will be very hot, so the best thing is to let it cool by itself. It you want, you can remove the water. But be careful when you are doing it. Anyway, you will have to wait for several hours. It will take time. When it is completely cold, store it in a cold place or open it.

And from that moment, it is up to you. Be responsible. Do not eat too much at a time. Use it as an ingredient to make different desserts. And from time to time, indulge!

Enjoy!

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BEEF AND PROVOLONE SANDWICH

Today we will prepare a delicious sandwich. A Beef and Provolone Sandwich. Perfect for lunch. But very good for dinner too. Let’s start.

Ingredients:

2 pounds Angus beef chuck

2 cloves of garlic

Salt to taste

Some freshly ground black pepper

Sliced tomato

Some sliced onions

Some pickles

Some sliced Provolone cheese

Your favourite bread

Your favourite sauce, optional

First slice the garlic. Then we will prepare the meat buy making some cuts in the Angus beef chuck. Do not make them too deep. Now put the slices of garlic in the cuts of the meat. Put the meat in a pressure cooker and add some salt and pepper to the meat. Cover the meat with water and cook the meat in the pressure cooker for about 30 minutes, starting counting when the pressure cooker begins to steam. Let it cook and when you open the cooker, if you see that the meat needs more cooking, you can do it with the cooker open. You can remove the garlic if you do not want it.

Carve the beef, as finely as you can.

Once you have the beef cooked and carved, you will only have to prepare the sandwich. Take your favourite bread and put pieces of beef inside. Then add tomato, pickle, onion and cheese. You can take the sandwiches and put them in the oven for a couple of minutes. This will melt the cheese.

And then you will have your sandwiches ready. You can add some sauce if you want. I do not think it is necessary though. But make it your way. Get a beer. Or two.

Enjoy!

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COCIDO

We will go to Spain today. Cocido is a recipe you can find in many regions in Spain. Almost every region has its own Cocido. I will cook mine with the ingredients I could find here in the States. I will use a pressure cooker. You can do it in a more traditional way, of course, but pressure cookers are very useful and they give you good results.
Cocido is like a stew with meat and vegetables. Normally it contains lots of fat. But I will make a low fat Cocido. Let’s start.

Ingredients:

2 cups garbanzos (chickpeas)
3 small potatoes
1 carrot
1 green pepper
½ onion
1 clove of garlic
½ chicken breast
1 pork loin fillet
A little serrano ham
1 chorizo
1 morcilla
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Some water
Some salt to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon parsley
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon sweet pimentón
3 oz fideo (vermicelli pasta)

To cook our Cocido we will have to prepare the garbanzos first. We will soak them in water overnight.
We will prepare the vegetables. We will peel and cut the potatoes in medium pieces. We will chop the carrot, the green pepper and the onion. We will chop finely the garlic. You can add other vegetables if you want. For example, you can add celery and leek. Cauliflower is added in many cocidos. Feel free to do it if you like it.
Now we will prepare the meat we will use in our Cocido. We will have to cut the chorizo, the pork, the serrano ham, the chicken and the morcilla. Morcilla is like a kind of blood sausage. There are several kinds of morcilla. I like using one that has rice in it. You can use the one you can get, if you can get any.
Now we will take the pressure cooker and put some water in it. It will be enough water to cook the garbanzos. Do not put too much water, though. We will bring it to a boil and then we will add the garbanzos. Then we will boil the garbanzos for about five minutes. Now is the moment of adding the rest of the ingredients. We have to make sure we have enough water. If you need it, you will have to add some water so that all the ingredients are covered with liquid.
I add some turmeric to give my Cocido some colour. This is not really orthodox but I prefer turmeric to one of those artificial food colourings. You do not really need these artificial products.
Once we have all the ingredients in the pressure cooker, we will follow the instructions of the cooker. We will close the pressure cooker and, in my case, with my cooker, I will have it cooking for 20 minutes, starting to count when the cooker starts steaming. You just have to follow the instructions of your pressure cooker.
When we can open the cooker, as we should wait till it cools a bit, we will prepare a soup with the fideos. To do this we will remove some of the liquid from the cooker and we will cook the fideos using that liquid. We will do this in another pan. This is very good. By doing this you will have this delicious fideo soup that will be a part of our Cocido.
Serve the fideo soup and the Cocido and enjoy it.

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CORNED BEEF

Another classic. Wonderful beef. With vegetables. For sandwiches. Lots of possibilities. You can buy your canned corned beef but I am going to show you how to cook your own Corned Beef. You will find it far more delicious. It will be something different.

Ingredients:

1 corned beef brisket
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon thyme
2 potatoes
1 carrot
12 mushrooms
1 bottle of beer
Some water
Some salt to taste
Some freshly ground black pepper

I normally use my pressure cooker to cook my Corned Beef. It is fast ant it works very well.
First we will prepare the vegetables. We will peel the potatoes and the carrot. Then we will cut them in little pieces. We will cut the mushrooms as well.
Once everything is ready, we will put the beef brisket in the pressure cooker. We will put the beer and some water so that the meat is almost covered. We will add the bay leaves and the thyme now. Then we will close the pressure cooker and following the directions of the cooker maker, we will let the brisket cook for 30 minutes, starting counting when the pressure cooker begins to steam. At that moment you will have to lower the temperature.
Once the brisket has been cooking for 30 minutes, we will open the cooker and then we will add the rest of the ingredients: the potatoes, the carrot, the mushrooms and the black pepper. We will add some salt to taste as well.
We will close the pressure cooker again and cook for 30 more minutes. And then, after those 30 minutes, our Corned Beef will be ready. We will open the cooker again and remove the liquid. Now, just cut the Corned Beef in thin slices, always against the grain. And finally, serve it with the vegetables. Your own Corned Beef. What a difference!

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GOULASH

I discovered Goulash when I visited Hungary some years ago. I had heard about it but I had never tasted it. And it was such a discovery for me. I have developed my own Goulash recipe… by now I am sure you will know I am so brave to do this. I just hope Hungarians do not think I am too brave. Let’s cross fingers!
My Goulash is a pressure cooker Goulash. It is fast but delicious.

Ingredients:

1 pound beef chuck
1 small chopped onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
8 black peppercorns, some whole, some split
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 large peeled diced potatoes
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 chopped carrot
½ cup chopped squash
½ chopped green pepper
1 chopped seeded red chilli
1 teaspoon mixed herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary)
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
Some water

First we will cut the beef in cubes. They must not be too large. Then we get all the rest of the ingredients ready. Peel and cut the potatoes, chop the onion, garlic, green pepper, squash, carrot and red chilli. Once you have everything ready, put the oil in the pressure cooker and let it heat a bit. Then season the meat with salt and put it in the cooker. Seal the meat for some minutes stirring the beef. Now you only have to add the rest of the ingredients. Add water so that all the ingredients are covered by it. And then follow the instructions of your cooker. Close the pressure cooker and proceed according to the instructions. Once it is done, open the cooker.What I do now is to remove some liquid and prepare with that a noodle soup in another pan. You just have to add some noodles and let them cook. In this way you will have two dishes, the Goulash noodle soup and the Goulash itself. Maybe it is not too proper for a Goulash but, why not trying? Another option is to prepare some dumplings. For this you will need all the Goulash broth, so you will not be able to make the Goulash noodle soup. You will need one egg, five tablespoons of flour and a bit of salt. Mix this and let it stand for 30 minutes. Then, with the help of a spoon drop the dumplings into the cooker. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes when the dumplings come up to the top. And then, serve it. Close your eyes and imagine being in Hungary on a cold evening enjoying your Goulash.

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