This Dame Cooks A Collection of Recipes from Alaska to the South Pacific and Caribbean

Pressure cookers for homemakers have been around since 1917 when the USDA announced that the only safe way to can low-acid foods was with a pressure cooker.  From then on the National Pressure Cooker company, now called Presto, has engineered and redesigned pressure cookers with reliable safety features for home use.  So long as the rubber gasket around the inside rim of the lid is in good shape and you haven’t lost the regulator (jiggler) or damaged the pressure valve, you can save time when cooking dried beans, roasts and other long cooking dishes.  A pressure cooker is absolutely mandatory if you home-can veggies, meat or fish.  They come in 4 quart and 6 quart sizes and up to the 10 gallon size for canning quarts.   You can find them in most housewares departments and even at garage sales. 

Try this method for chili, corned beef, pulled pork, or octopus.  Flavors have no where to escape, they’re locked in using a pressure cooker.  For more information on cooking  with a pressure cooker, see Presto.

Half full pot

Getting up a head of steam.

Valve stem up, pot is pressurized

Soup's Ready

 

• 2 cups pinto beans, washed and sorted
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper (about 1 tsp each)
• handful of cilantro, chopped

Method:

1. Soak beans overnight in 2 quarts water.  Drain and cover with fresh water.
2. Saute ground pork in skillet over medium high heat.
3. Add remaining ingredients, cook for 3-4 minutes, and transfer to pressure cooker.
4. Cover pressure cooker, locking lid into place and set jiggler over steam vent.
5. Once valve stem pops up and jiggler begins to rock, set timer for 40 minutes.
6. When timer goes off, turn off stove and leave pot to cool down.  When valve stem drops, it is safe to remove jiggler.  If no steam is escaping from vent, open lid.
7. Check seasoning and adjust if needed.

 A good friend of mine in Tonga, Kimiko Vale Vale Nuku, was married to one of the Royal Family of Tonga.  Kimiko lived in Hawaii for 20 years before coming to Tonga where she lived for 30 or more years.  Many of the dishes she cooked for the Royal family are now part of the Tongan culinary repertoire.  This recipe is adapted from Kimiko’s shoyu chicken dish.  It combines Hawaiian shoyu (Japanese for soy sauce),  Thai gra pow (holy basil), and kumquats. 

Kumquats are a miniature orange with a sweet rind and sour flesh and juice.  They can be eaten out of hand and are a delicious addition to savory meat dishes.  The seeds are bitter with lots of pectin, just like oranges and other citrus, great for jams and jellies but not for eating.

You can tweak this recipe with whatever fruit or herbs you like and make it your own. 

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 8 chicken thighs with skin
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar (or mirin)
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch in 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 4 scallions, 3 chopped, 1 sliced for garnish
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 or 2 Thai red chilies, seeded and minced
• 8-10 Kumquats, halved and seeded
• 1 Tbsp ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice
• 1/2 cup chopped basil (a few whole leaves for garnish)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Salt and pepper chicken pieces liberally.  Place in a Dutch oven or casserole dish.
3. Stir together soy sauce, vinegar, cornstarch, water, and sugar, until sugar dissolves.
4. Add remaining ingredients, stir to combine.  Pour over chicken.
5. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes.  Uncover, bake for an addition 20-30 minutes, glazing chicken with sauce every 10 minutes.
6. Garnish with whole basil leaves and sliced scallions.  Serve over rice.

Running late today, no time to shop, driving home and thinking… dinner at 7:00…what do I have that’s fast and delicious.  Still have mixed seafood, 1 chicken breast, kielbasa, rice, canned tomatoes…hmmm…paella.  I have garlic, onions, saffron, cilantro, wine, stock.  Yes, paella it is…on the stove top…too hot to turn on the oven!   I made lavender lemonade Monday.  Add a little bubbly (or a lot of bubbly) to that and make a salad.  Enough!!!  Voila, romantic dinner for 2.  You’ve got to give this a try. 

Ingredients:

•  4 inches of kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
• 1/2 chicken breast, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 Tbsp chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup white wine
• pinch of saffron (or 1/2 tsp each turmeric and paprika)
• 1 cup white rice
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 small can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or parsley flakes)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 dashes Tabasco sauce (or pinch cayenne pepper) 
• sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup mixed seafood (or 8 prawns)

Method:

1. In a 2-quart sauce pan over medium heat, fry sausage until fat is released.
2. Add chicken pieces and fry for 5 or 6 minutes until they brown a little
3. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper.  Cook until wilted and fragrant.
4. Add wine and stir to the bottom of the pan.
5. Add rice, stock, tomatoes, saffron, cilantro, bay leaf, Tabasco, salt and pepper.  Stir.
6. Cover pan and simmer for 14-15 minutes. 
7. Add seafood, continue simmering until rice is done and seafood is pink (about 5 minutes). 

Notes:

1. If you haven’t got saffron, use annatto oil or turmeric and paprika.
2. Use sweet Italian sausage or pieces of leftover pork chops instead of kielbasa.
3. You can add peas, green beans, artichokes, or broccoli florets.
4. Make this dish with just chicken or pork.

 Start your morning with your favorite cup of coffee and this tender, moist cake with a layer of raspberry jam and almonds on top.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 cups Bisquick
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.  Grease a 9-inch square baking tin.
2. Mix together Bisquick, sugar, and cinnamon.  Reserve 1/2 cup.
3. Mix together egg, yogurt, and milk.
4. Stir wet mix into dry mix just until dry mix is moistened.
5. Pour half the batter into prepared baking tin.
6. Sprinkle half the reserved dry mix over top.  This will prevent jam from sinking to bottom of cake.
7. Stir the jam and spoon over top.
8. Top with remaining batter, sprinkle with remaining dry mix, top with almonds or nuts of your choice.
9. Bake for 25 minutes or until tester comes out dry.