I threw together a chicken stew tonight, using my favorite method, the pressure cooker. I used some pre-marinated chicken I get at a local family run food market. This had a tequila lime marinade. That inspired me to continue with the citrus theme. So I added several clementines to a mix of chopped savoy cabbage (mild flavor), sweet potato (cut up), peas (cleaned out the freezer), some leftover tofu, and I can’t remember what else. Oh yes, eggplant, cubed.
You’ll get used to me sharing my pressure cooker recipes. I almost always start by sautéing several cloves of garlic, sliced, and a shallot, chopped, to either olive oil or a butter/olive oil mix. Then I add the chicken and brown it a bit. Then I throw in all the other veggies with some good broth. I used a concentrated veggie broth this time. The brand it “Better than Broth”, which has excellent flavor and is not too salty.
For the seasoning I used sweeter spices, tarragon, cardamom, marjoram. But I always add something for zest. I squeezed a lemon, sprinkled a little cayenne and threw in some pink peppercorns.
I pressure cooked it for 10 minutes. And, voila. Delicious. Oh, I cooked up some white Basmati rice to go with it. Just LOVE basmati, with its nutty flavor. Normally I’d try to use the brown version, but I didn’t want to wait the 45 minutes it would take. The white only takes 20.a
This is my homey blog, where I can share recipes I create during fits of domestic crativity, along with wines I find delicious. I’ll also blab about decorating, gardening and how much I loathe cleaning my house. (but love it when it’s clean!)
I love to eat. Food is a heavenly joy which is WAY overlooked in modern society. We think fancy food is for snobs and fat people. But the opposite psychology is what make eating tasty food good for your health and spirit. Most Americans, for example, use food as a drug. We’ve been encouraged to do this by the fast food culture, which feeds us the most addictive substances possible, aside from tobacco and heroin. Salt and Fat and Sugar are addictive, yes. But when food is balanced in flavor, including reasonable amounts of those addictive substances, it creates a harmonious experience for us which is TRULY satisfying. It feeds our soul instead of just our hunger.
But I hate overeating. I don’t know how people do it.
I love to cook! Yet I hardly ever use a cookbook. I’ve learned the basic structure and chemistry of cooking over the years, and of course I’ve used cookbooks a lot. But these days, I prefer to create something off the top of my head most of the time. Often it involved opening the fridge and using what is there.
I’ll be posting a lot of my creative recipes here. I hope you’ll share yours with me.
