How To Get The Best Out Of Your Pressure Cooker: Three Recipes

As Jamie Oliver loves to say, having appropriate tools makes you at least 10% better at your cooking. Today we will top that, and explain what wonders can you prepare in a record period of time, just by using your trusty friend, the pressure cooker.

What pressure cooker does is it combines steam and pressure, obviously, which helps all the flavors to soak in your ingredients, speeds up the whole process significantly, and the result is lovely, tasty meals that will amaze your friends and family when they come over for a dinner. Here, below, you can find recipes that you can make even if you are not a world-known chef, with minimum effort, and all you need to care about is decoration and serving.

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli

• 1 large spoon of oil, preferably olive oil,
• 1 large spoon of butter,
• 500gr of chicken breasts, boneless,
• 1 medium sized chopped onion,
• 1 teaspoon of salt,
• 1 teaspoon of pepper,
• A pinch of red pepper,
• A pinch of basal,
• A pinch of parsley,
• 100 grams of cream cheese,
• 100 grams of gouda cheese,
• 1 medium sized broccoli chopped and steamed.

The first thing to do is to season chicken breasts, let it soak in for a while and you can cut them into smaller pieces for the convenience of serving. By that time pour oil and butter into your cooking pot. Butter is the preferable choice of every chef, you should know that it will make your meat even softer, and you won’t go wrong if you choose to use no oil but only butter. Put the breasts in first, let them pick up a little color, and then add onion, salt, pepper, red pepper, basal and parsley. The basal is the healthiest ingredient in this recipe, and mixed with cheese it will really make your meal as sweet as it gets, but be careful not to add too much of it or it will become a dominant flavor. Cook for five minutes on high pressure, and then add all cheese, stir it until everything is melted together, and then throw in the broccoli. Cook for about five more minutes, and after that you can serve it with rice or mash potatoes. A quick, healthy meal that is as tasty as it gets.

BBQ Pork Sandwich

• 1 kg of pork butt,
• 1 chopped onion,
• 1 clove of garlic,
• 1 large spoon of olive oil,
• 1 cup of water,
• Sauce and salad of your choice,

This is a really easy recipe, and although you will need to throw those seasoned pork chops on a pan to pick up some color initially, on one of those thick bottoms Jamie Oliver cookware pans, well preheated, after that everything is smooth sailing. The preparing method is simple, throw everything in your pressure cooker, add all ingredients including the sauce, and cook for 60 minutes at the lowest possible setting. The result is sweet and tender pork, like the one you would grill on the BBQ, but with no fire and all the additional hassle. Cut those buns, add salad, and enjoy. 

Chocolate Lava Cake

• ½ cup of chocolate chips,
• 2 large spoons of soft flour,
• ¼ cup of powder sugar,
• 4 large spoons of butter,
• 1 egg.

Simple as it can be, your pressure cooker can replace your oven in various situations. This one is no different, as long as your cake mold can fit, just make a stand so that your mold is not on the very bottom of the cooker and add some water. After that, the procedure is simple, same as it is for any other lava cake. Place chocolate chips and butter in a bowl, melt everything down and mix together, add egg and mix with a blender or by hand. After that, add sugar and flour. Cook everything on a high heat for 7 minutes and that’s all folks. This is a great treat if your guests surprise you and you have to come up with something fast.

The best thing about pressure cooker meals is that they use really small amounts of fat, and if you do own a pressure cooker then you know how much flavor you keep in those veggies and meat by preparing them on this way. If you don’t own a pressure cooker, definitely think about getting one, it will change your life.