We know as a basic principle that what this technique does is to cook food faster and in a more efficient way. But why is it faster?

In cities where there’s higher altitudes, such as Cuzco for example which is at 3,800 metres over the sea, there’s a lower pressure and so, water boils at lower temperatures (91ºC). Well, with a pressure cooker, what is accomplished is the opposite. The temperature at which water boils is higher due to a high pressure being applied. Hence, food is cooked at a faster rate.

A pressure cooker is a special pot that seals tightly and traps hot steam to build the pressure and temperature. Food is heated above boiling point, at temperatures around 120ºC/250ºF. This would be equivalent to boiling water with an opened pot at 5,800 metres below sea level. Recent designs regulate now even better the pressure and work better thna those that have a “weight regulator”, and they also assure that the pot won’t reach unsafe pressures.

So what do we normally cook in a pressure cooker?

It is especially useful for cooking dishes that otherwise would take a really long time to cook such as beans, meat stocks, stews of tough meats. It is also used to sterilise home-canned preparations such as marmalades, pickled food, etc. This is one of my favourite uses, since you know I love to make everything from scratch! At these high temperatures, all of the spores of botulism bacteria that usually survive boiling (100ºC) are killed.

Things to take into account to when we cook in a pressure cooker.

1. Do not fill it more than about 2/3 full and add a little oil to suppress the foam that sometimes generates by boiling dry beans and grains. Excess liquid and foam can clog the pressure valve and create messy boil-overs and unsafe pressures.
2. Once it has reached its maximum pressure, reduce the heat to minimum. To keep the heat in a pressure cooker only very little heat is required. If you’re kitchen takes some time to lower the heat, it’s best that you take it out of the heat for about a minute or so.
3. Always check the time to avoid burning the food.
4. Once it’s done, reduce the pressure slowly to keep the food structure and prevent boilovers. If it cools to fast, the water can boil violently and this can blow apart beans and potatoes and force liquids outside. It’s best to turn off the heat and let the pressure go down by itself and naturally.

Thanks to Harold McGee and his Keys to Good Cooking book, where I took a lot of this notes!!

Let’s go to the how to:

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Always when I go out for tapas, we order patatas bravas. Sometimes they are really dissapointing, but sometimes they turn out to be spectacular. That’s when you know your coming back to the bar. Believe me, if you make them right your a winner!! So here is my version of a winning recipe!!

Delicious!

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The soybean paste left from the process is called Okara or Biji and it is used a lot in vegetarian cooking as a meat suplemment since it has a lot of protein and fibre.

Okara or Biji

The next step is making my own Tofu. I have to go and buy the nigiri (coagulant) and maybe see if I can get a mould and in the next days I’m going ot make! But for now, home-made soy milk recipe.

I already made myself a strawberry smoothie for breakfast, delicious!! I hope you feel encouraged to do it, it is a lot of fun and one of the best rewards it that it has no preservants or anything, it’s fresh home-made milk

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It’s such a simple salad to make, with a different taste and aroma of what we’re used to having. And the aubergines are the perfect side-dish with the salad. The Tzatziki sauce, usually used in Kebabs, matches amazing with vegetables as well, it enhances a simple salad if you use it as dressing as well. So here you go, three easy, delicious vegetarian recipes with the taste of a different culture.

Let’s g0 recipe by recipe:

Tabouleh.

Grilled aubergines with Tzatziki sauce.

Delicious!!!!

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So, of course I bought 4 of them and decided to prepare this delicious pâté for the weekend. Friday night with Franzis and Clovis (my roomates) we had 2 with some nice wine and Sunday we had more friends over and we had the rest as an appetizer before the delicious cebiche I prepared, because I had Peruvian lemons with me!! So, getting back to the pâté, gourmet and delicious. You will surprise anyone with it, believe me!!

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I am one of those who thinks both things saciate us. One has a short-term effect and the other one regulates us on a longer term. That’s why soups are perfect for the whole year! When it’s cold they heat us up, when it’s hot they also have a positive effect on our body. And, well, yes I must confess my family is addicted to soup, the whole year we have soups.

This delicious and exquisite soup with soba noodles, shiitake mushrooms and latin “tofu” (which is latin fresh cheese that does not melt) is for all seasons. For Peruvians right now that want to feel warmer now that it’s winter, for Spanish that are having a very hot Summer and for Germans that between rainy days and sunny days, well, it’s always welcomed. And for everyone else of course!!!

Now the easy part comes. I think this recipe has a bit more difficulty in finding all the ingredients (even though now we can find japanese stores everywhere!) than in preparing it, it’s really amazingly easy to make and very tasty.

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Anyway… back to the Menu and that special lunch with friends that started with the traditional peruvian Causa Limeña. So, now that I’ve told you how to make home-made ricotta cheese it’s time for a recipe with it right? This is what I prepared: spinach and ricotta ravioli with pine nuts and raisins with a curry-carrot sauce. Absolutely delicious. Let’s get to it, goes dedicated to all the Dad’s today on Father’s Day. Specially to mine, that is the best Dad in the whole world.

This sauce can also be served as a curry carrot soup, the only thing you have to change is to add some cream and maybe more water, some croutons for serving and set. Very light and delicious starter.

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Just to feed a few minds and become a little more wise in the culinary world I want to tell you a few curiosities about milk and cheese making. Milk is composed mainly of two proteins that determine its behaviour in cooking: the curd (caseins) and the whey. Another interesting property of milk is that we can heat it up at very high temperatures but it won’t coagulate (like egg proteins that do, for example) unless the environment becomes acidic. That’s why during ricotta cheese preparation lemon or vinegar is added to the milk. This generates the acid environment that causes all the curd proteins to clump together to form a solid mass, while the whey proteins remain suspended in the liquid. This is the base for making cheese. Isn’t it great to learn and understand more about what happens when we cook? I love it! Anyway, let’s get to ingredients and preparation Enjoy!

There are a thousand ideas for recipes with the home-made ricotta cheese. I leave you some pictures of what I’ve donde with it and some of the top of my head: for a cheesecake (can’t wait), for a salad with pears, pizza, malfatti, all alone, for cauliflower and butter, pasta with artichokes and dried tomatoes, for these delicious ravioli with spinach… and more and more.

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Delicious and exquisit!!!

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