Pressure Cooker: Black Bean and Chorizo Soup

It seems like fall is here all of the sudden.  Nights are cool, complaints coming from east coast relatives about it being cold and it's almost Halloween! The latest meal I have been making regularly is a Black Bean and Chorizo soup.  I might even be making it more often than Curried Lentils.  I make in it in a Breville Pressure cooker, which is similar to an Instapot.  From recipes I see on the web, I am guessing the Breville cooks at a slightly higher pressure, as most things will cook faster than called for in a Instapot.  In my opinion, this is the biggest challenges to using a pressure cooker is figuring out the cook time.  Soaked beans will cook much faster (5-6 minutes for soaked black beans vs 22 minutes for unsoaked), fresh beans cook faster than old beans, and different pressure for different cookers.  But you can always just cook some more if you need (and use the quick release, as the natural release is what takes the most time in this recipe). Also ... this is just a version of my Vegetable Bean and Sausage Stew, which is cooked on the stove... On the stove, I would recommend soaking the beans first, and it probably would cook in about the same total time (my guess is the soaked beans would need to cook for an hour or a bit more on the stove at a gentle simmer).  

I like a lot of greens in my soups... this is just one bunch from the Marcella's Farm stall at the Coronado Farmers Market.  You could use a lot less if you want.

When I made this batch, I found I only had a 1/2 pound of black beans in the panty, so I mixed in a 1/2 pound of pinto beans.  The soup is normally darker brown. 

Black Bean and Chorizo Soup

Makes 5-6 servings

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
6 ounces Mexican chorizo sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 or 2 carrots, sliced
1 or 2 celery stalks, sliced (if you have them around)
2 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno chili, or some chili flakes
1 pound black beans, rinsed   (pinto beans also work)
6 cups water
Salt (about ½ - 1 teaspoon) and  freshly ground pepper
 
1 bunch of greens (kale, mustard, chard), stalks removed, chopped (or baby spinach)

Garnish:  Sour cream or Greek yogurt, cilantro, avocado, chili slices, fresh corn, grated or crumbled cheese

 In the pressure cooker, heat the oil (using Sear setting).  Slice the chorizo if it is in a casing, or make little balls if not, and cook in the hot oil until brown.  Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic, chili.  When onions are translucent (5 minutes or so), add beans, water, salt and pepper.   Pressure cook using the “bean” function (high pressure) for 22 minutes (note – may be longer with an Instapot).  Let pressure reduce naturally.  When done, taste the beans and make sure they are cooked (if not, cook under pressure for a few more minutes, and OK to manually release the pressure).  Also taste for salt and add more if needed. Turn cooker to slow cook, high setting.  Add chopped greens.  Kale or mustard greens need to cook about 5 minutes; baby spinach is done as soon as you have stirred it in.   

 Serve with a garnish or two. Freezes well.

Green Bean Salad with Mustard - Soy Dressing

When you live 10 minutes (walking) from the beach, family and friends are much  more likely to visit you.  Fortunately, I have the kind of family that you like to have come visit, and friends that are like family.  My dad gave me a great compliment when he was here ... "you make it look so easy".

And for me, cooking for family doesn't seem that hard.  In part because I like to do it, but I know a more than a few people that have decent cooking skills, but really struggle to be comfortable cooking for a crowd. Here are a few tips..

How much?  When you are used to cooking for 1 or 2, having 4 or 6 or more active people to feed (for days)  will take a lot more food than usual.   But don't go overboard, cooking way too much food is just extra work and makes it harder to cook because you can't find anything in the refrigerator.  Some rough guides on what's enough (so everyone is full, and maybe a few leftovers):

• Lean meat or fish: around 1/2 pound per person.  
• Fattier meat (like ribs or steaks) or whole birds (like turkey): about 1 pound per person.  
• Pasta: I generally figure that 1 lb will make 4 to maybe 5 servings, depending on appetite and what else is being served.
• Most grains (like rice): each cup (uncooked) will serve 2 - 3.  
• Potatoes: For my side of the family, it's about 1/2 lb + per person.  It's less for other families. 
• Veggies, like green beans or broccoli: This is a tough one for me, because I normally eat about 1/2 pound (or more) on my own.  But more normal people will eat much less.  Generally a "bunch" of broccoli or kale, or a pound of beans or squash will serve about 3 people if you are steaming or sauteing. Asparagus is about 2 people per bunch.  If you are roasting or grilling, people will eat more. 
• Pizza: For my recipe (12 ounce ball of dough) I figure 1 pizza for two people.

What?  First of all, cook food you are comfortable cooking.   If you want to try a new recipe, fine, but make sure it's just a riff on what you know how to do, not a shot in the dark.  I like things that don't generate a ton of dishes, like things off the grill.  Or pizza. Burritos or taco's.  Roast veggies. Salads.   Sometimes its handy to make things that you can do ahead, but it needs to be way ahead.. I'm at the beach too.  

Trick's: 

• Anything that you do make ahead, put in baggies when ever possible to minimize dishes. Marinate meats in baggies.  Store blanched vegetables in baggies. Put any pre-sliced or chopped things in baggies. 
• Put something simple out for people to munch on... cheese, nuts, olives, hummus, cut-up veggies, chips and guacamole.  Generally just 2 or 3 things. 
• Get help... think ahead of things for people to do when they ask "is anything I can do".  Salads are a good choice for help - just get out everything you want to go into in, or peeling potatoes, or anything you happen to know the person is good at (again, this works with family and good friends).    Roy (who gets no credit) is my secret weapon.  He takes care of getting wine out, setting the table, does the grilling.  

Here is an example of side that works well for a crowd and can be mostly be done ahead.  And if you don't have green beans, it works equally well on asparagus or broccoli.  The dressing is also excellent on salads.

Green Beans with Mustard-Soy Dressing

Serves 6

2 pounds green beans, ends trimmed
1 teaspoon salt

Blanch the beans:  bring a pot of water to boil over high heat, and fill a bowl with ice and water.   Add the salt and beans to the boiling water.  Cook for about 4 minutes.  Pull one bean out, swish in the ice water and taste for doneness.  Do this every minute or so until the beans are just done.  Using tongs, quickly pull the green beans out of the boiling water and into the ice water (the ice water part is important to keep the bright green color).    When cold, drain the beans.  Can be done up to 1 day ahead, store in plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Dressing:
3 ounces lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
5 ounces olive oil

Mix lemon juice, mustard, and soy sauce in graduated container with immersion blender.  Slowly add oil with blender running, add enough oil to have a nice thick dressing.   Can be done a few days ahead and refrigerated, let come to room temperature to use (the olive oil will get thick... or use a more neutral oil like grapeseed that does not get hard in the refrigerator).

Garnish (take your choice):
Roasted almond slivers or slices
Thin strips of red or sweet onion  (soak in cold water to take some heat out if needed)
Thin strips of red pepper
Thin slices of radish

To assemble:  Toss the beans with dressing (it might not take all of the dressing.. start with half or so).  If the beans are in a baggie, just add the dressing to the baggie and squish around.  Place on a serving dish and garnish. 

Happy Mothers Day... and recipes from a Mediterranean-style lunch

Happy Mother's Day to all those Mom's among my blog fans ...  all 5 of you

We had a  nice Mother's day today.. we went to Tucson and did what has become somewhat of a tradition were I show up at a Mom's house and cook breakfast or lunch...   this year, we got together with my Mom for lunch at my brother's house, in their fabulous new kitchen (and I am jealous of their new induction cooktop... how did I miss this when I redid our kitchen?).  So we had two Mom's (my mom and my nieces mom), plus the puppy Chester (soooo cute).   Maybe next year I need to figure out how to do this with Mom in San Diego.. not a bad thought since it seems we are hitting 100+ for the last several days!

For lunch, I did a Mediterranean theme, starting with a Rosemary Bean Dip, then Grilled Lamb and 3 Salads... all the recipes follow.  To top if off, I did a Apricot Cobbler, which was quite wonderful due to a lucky find of fabulous Schnepf Farms organic apricots at AJ's.   Drop me a line if you would like the recipe... but get the good apricots first!

The Ingredient:  Christmas Tree Beans ... again.   I used both the bean dip and the Green Bean Salad instead of the canned white beans I normally use.  I do have to mention the color of the bean dip is a bit better with white beans, but I really do like these beans.  (I cooked the beans with just a bit of onion and no salt, you will need to salt the dishes a bit more than when using canned beans).

Rosemary White-Bean Puree

If you have the time and enthusiasm, cook the beans.  You can use any beans that you like, I did with Christmas Tree Beans for Mother’s Day Lunch, and it really came out extra yummy

¼ cup olive oil
2 3” rosemary sprigs
1-2 cloves of garlic, smashed
One 15-oz can cannelloni or other white bean, rinsed and drained
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoons chopped rosemary
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste (~1/2 teaspoon)

Heat oil, rosemary sprigs, and garlic in small saucepan over medium heat until they start to sizzle and become fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.  Let cool some.  Pull out rosemary and garlic, discard
Place beans, oil, and remaining ingredients in food processor, puree until smooth.   Taste and adjust lemon juice and salt.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Keeps well for several days.
Serve with bread, pita, or crackers.

Grilled Herb-Crusted Leg of Lamp with Fresh Mint Sauce

The time and effort for this all goes to trimming the lamb of the fat.. which I think is the key to lamb that is not gamey or greasy.  But plan a good hour to get prep lamb and fix marinade.

1 6-7 lb leg of lamb (boneless roast)
Marinade:
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup Dijon mustard (I like Trader Joes’)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
Sauce:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup water
1 cup chopped mint
¼ cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Untie and unfold lamb on a large cutting board.  Trim as much fat as possible.  A couple of notes:   The fat will run in between the mussels, you what to get this as much as possible, along with any silver skin (you will end up with quite a pile of fat).  Object is to end up with several large pieces (about 3 or 4).  Note:  the smaller pieces I just collect up, and freeze for later for stew or kabobs.  I did a 7 pound roast, ended up with a little over 1 lb of stew meat for the freezer, and 3 large pieces which fed 7 of us, with a nice amount of leftovers.    Once you have some nice pieces, place a piece between sheets of plastic wrap, and pound with meat mallet or heavy skillet to get a more uniform thickness… want ~ 1 – 2 inches with each piece as even as possible.

Mix all marinade ingredients together, and spear on the lamb.  Place in large zip-loc baggie, and refrigerate for a day or so.

Sauce: Whisk water with sugar, salt pepper, stir in remaining ingredients.  Best to do the same day as grilling.
To grill lamb:  Pull lamb out of the fridge when you start the grill (20 minutes or so before starting to cook).  Heat grill to hot, put lamb on and drop temp to low or medium low.  Flip after 5 minutes or so.  Total time will vary on thickness, expect 12 to 20 minutes.  Pull off pieces as they cook…  they will start to firm up (like steaks), or for medium rare, about 130F on an instant read thermometer.   Let sit for 10 minutes to rest, then slice across grain to serve.  Serve sauce separately to spoon over meat.

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

This salad goes great with chicken.  Salad keeps fairly well, and leftovers are great for lunch (mixed in left-over chicken is good). Don't worry about being exact on the vegetable quantities (adjust to taste). 

4 to 6 servings
45 minutes

2 cups chicken broth (I like the Pacific Free Range Organic…)
(or 1 14-oz can low salt chicken broth plus enough water to make 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking couscous
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped OR 1 red bell pepper, chopped
6 oz feta cheese, cut into 1/4" dice
1/4 cup minced parsley or watercress
1/2 cup minced green onion
1/2 cup olive oil
6 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper
Black olives
Lettuce leaves

Bring broth and water to boil in medium saucepan.  Mix in couscous.  Cover and remove from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Fluff couscous with fork.  Turn into large bowl.  Cool to room temperature.
Prepare vegetables.  When couscous is cool (or almost cool), mix in tomato, feta, parsley, and green onion.  Whisk together oil, lemon juice, and generous amount of pepper (1 teaspoon or more), mix into salad.  Refrigerate.

Just before serving, top with olives.  If being fancy, serve in bowl lined with lettuce leaves.

Grilled Red Onion and Bean Salad

SERVES 6 TO 8

1 pound fresh green beans
1 can (15 ounces) small white beans or flageolets
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon or basil
Salt, pepper, to taste
1 large, flattish red onion, 8 to 10 ounces

Trim the ends off the green beans and cut them into 1 1/2 inch lengths.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 2 teaspoons salt per quart, and boil the green beans five minutes.  Drain them well and cool them quickly under running cold water.

Drain and rinse the canned beans well.  In a large bowl, combine the green beans and white beans.  Toss with 1/4 cup of the oil and the remaining ingredients, except the onion, and let them marinate at least one hour. 

Peel the onion and cut off the stem and flower ends.  Cut it crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.  When the barbecue coals are just starting to ash over, brush the onion slices with some of the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and brown them lightly on both sides, about five minutes per side.  Cut the slices in quarters and toss them with the beans.

Greek Salad
This was the first time I did this recipe..  don't worry about being too exact!

4 tomatoes, chopped (or can use 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved)
½ cup chopped mint
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
½ teaspoon salt, more to taste
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
6 oz Feta cheese
1 lemon zested (about 1 tablespoon) and juiced (about ½ cup)
1 English cucumber, lightly peeled and chopped into ½ inch dice
4 scallions, chopped (about ½ cup)
~ 1 cup Kalamata olives (pitted).
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Mix together, let sit for an hour at room temperature before serving.