Important: the potatoes are cooked slowly in oil at low temperature. They are neither fried or cooked first in water, or anything like that. Patience always adds flavour!!

Clovis, that also makes a real good one by the way, ate this one with me in Berlin for lunch and a series

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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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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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This recipe actually is from 2011, from the latest Christmas, which I spent with my family in Berlin. So, given the circumstances this German Potato Salad could not miss this year. I’ve been cooking it for many years now, this recipe though has new important ingredients such as broth and the juice from the bacon.

Adding the vinegar while still warm not only keeps the potatoes firm but enrichens the flavour, as does the broth and bacon juice. It is a simple salad, delicious to eat with nothing more, with a grilled fish, with sausages, with turkey, etc…. and it is also very simple to make! So here you go, the step by step recipe.

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We made these hamburguers with mushrooms and sauteed onions, melted cheese and the classic tomato-lettuce and sauces. Enjoy them with a cold coke, french fries and a movie!!

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Let’s go step by step, first the pastry, then the cream and finally making the strawberries and ending the dessert. It is important that it stays in the fridge until before serving and to add the syrup when it is cold.

Delicious!!

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So… we are close to our Independence Day, 28 de Julio, where us peruvians all over the world celebrate by eating and drinking peruvian food. And of course all peruvians in Perú… which I envy because they get to travel as well since it is holidays! Anyway, I thought about this post before time so you can do it for our special day 28 de Julio or any day you like. It was also the chosen one in my facebook fan page as the next recipe I should post, so timing is perfect. Let me warn you, people are always impressed and want more than more. I prepared it to some friends in Berlin and they enjoyed it very much!

Peruvian Lomo Saltado is a very typical ‘comida criolla’ dish. Some people say it has the Chinese influence (called Chifa) since it is prepared in a wok and the cut of the ingredients is like a typical chinese sautée. It is an easy plate, just make sure you have the rice and fries ready, then it’s all about cutting the ingredients and 10 to 15 minutes in the wok. The meat should be tender. The best quality always makes the best taste, since it is the main ingredient. However if you are cooking for many and don’t want to spend so much money there are many good meats and not so expensive. Be sure it has no nerves and it remains tender when cooked.

Viva el Perú! Have a Pisco Sour and enjoy the evening

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And on Friday, my friends took me to a surprise ‘gastronomic’ trip to Salamanca, and I took a box with cupcakes for them to eat on the road…

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Brainstorming for picnic: sandwiches, fruit, cold pies, beer, pallets, cards, picnic basket, fun straws, bucket, squared blankets, muffins, etc. So I decided to try doing my own sandwich loaf and from there 4 different kinds of sandwichs (easy but ‘gourmet’ style). I also made a leek quiche (recipe coming up soon!), some fruit in different presentations and other Picnic stuff.

The sandwich loaf was a complete success. It came out so lovely that I only thought about singing outloud when I got it out of the oven and saw its crumb. So I made 3 of those for the sandwichs. Unfortunately everything could not be perfect and Saturday was a rainy rainy day. But we never give up (specially me!) so we celebrated the Picnic as an Indoor Picnic. That way we have the perfect excuse to make an outdoor one a.s.a.p!

So here’s the recipe for my sandwich loaf and 4 different kinds of sandwiches that I prepared and that are perfect for this type of occasion: birthday parties for you or your kids, for grownups, indoors, outdoors, wherever. The first two are typically present in Perú b-day parties, the other are new ideas! Piece of cake (you can buy a good bread if you don’t want to do it) and very very nice.

I manage to make like 200 sandwiches and there were so delicious they were all finished in half an hour!!!

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Lucuma: Fruit of love and fertility and of the hidden beauty…

This recipe will bring smiles to all the fans of My Lúcuma Dessert, that I have been cooking for many for their birthdays and special occasions. All my peruvian friends who have become my “abroad-family” enjoy this taste because it transports us back to our roots, to where this amazing fruit comes from: Perú. And people who have never taste it!! I love their face of surprise and not knowing what it is but knowing they just fell in love in one minute. It is very special, and thank god the fruit is dry and when I bring it with me to Europe in a “flour state”, the taste remains much much like the same.

So! This dessert is very easy and simple. I am in debt with many friends because I stopped preparing it every birthday, so now they have the recipe and I know they’d rather have me cook it but well, this is also a present for them (and it leaves me time to make other desserts!). Happy birthday to all! And welcome Monitouille’s first dessert. The best one.

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