I conquered my fear of the pressure cooker two years ago. Since then I’ve used it to cook a lot of beans that I used in soups, stews and even baking. I asked Linda Etherton, The Gluten-Free Homemaker, to share some of her favorite recipes. Linda is one of my favorite gluten-free bloggers and her site is full of family-friendly, gluten-free recipes. Her Gluten-Free Wednesdays are a great place to find new gluten-free recipes from some of the best food blogs. Here’s what Linda has to say:
These days every cook is interested in making a fast meal, at least at times. We’re also interested in eating healthy food, but fast food is usually not healthy food. Usually. Using a pressure cooker is one exception.
Fast: Pressure cooking takes approximately 1/3 the amount of traditional cooking time, but it really varies according to the food you are cooking. I cook quartered large potatoes for 10 minutes under pressure. White rice only takes 5 minutes and brown rice takes 22 minutes. Split pea soup also cooks in 22 minutes, and I can cook a roast in 45 minutes. Compared to a conventional oven or normal stove top cooking, pressure cooking is always faster.
Healthy: Pressure cooking uses only a small amount of water for foods that do not need to absorb water such as potatoes, meat, and vegetables. Therefore, fewer nutrients are lost to cooking liquid. The lid of a pressure cooker is well sealed which means nutrients are not lost to the air either.
Pressure Cookers: As with any cooking equipment, there are differences in the quality of pressure cookers. I have only used Kuhn Rikon which is a high quality brand. It has two pressure settings which allows me to cook things like rice that foam at a higher pressure. You can view which Kuhn Rikon cooker I have at this pressure cooking post on my blog.
You can find pressure cookers at different places online, including Amazon. I even bought a second Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker from eBay. It was a slightly older model, but had not been used and the savings made buying a second one feasible.
Recipes: I found that after following recipes for a while, I got the hang of how to cook with a pressure cooker and started adapting my own recipes. A new pressure cooker should come with a small recipe book. There are also great cookbooks such as Lorna Sass’ Pressure Perfect, and there are recipes to be found online. Here are a few of mine:
Split Pea SoupChicken, Vegetable, and Wild Rice SoupHoneyed BeetsRice and Quinoa Pilaf
Linda Etherton began her gluten-free journey in 2000 when she was diagnosed with celiac disease. She shares recipes and information about living gluten free on her blog, The Gluten-Free Homemaker. Linda believes that gluten free can and should be delicious and never apologizes for serving gluten-free food.
Photos from GlutenFreeHomemaker.com
