Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3 T vegetable oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 3 T grated ginger
• 2 T garam masala
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs 
• 1 T lime zest
• 1 T lime juice
• 1 can coconut milk
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup cilantro leaves
• 2 T butter (at finish)

Serve with rice and chapati.

Directions:

1. Saute onions in oil over medium-high heat until softened. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and ginger, and cook another 2 minutes. Add garam masala, tomato paste and salt; cook and stir 2 minutes.
2. In the slow cooker, combine the chicken pieces, tomato paste mixture, lime zest and juice, coconut milk and chicken stock. Stir everything together, cover and cook on low heat setting for about 5 hours.
3. Remove and chop chicken pieces, blend sauce in pot with immersion blender. 
4. Add butter, cilantro, and chopped chicken back to sauce. Serve.

Tortilla Soup in Pressure Cooker

Serves 6

Ingredients:
2 T vegetable oil
2 tomatoes, chopped (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
1 onion, chopped fine
1 jalepeno, seeded and minced (optional)
6 garlic cloves
2 T minced chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1 T tomato paste
6 cups chicken broth
10 (6in) corn tortillas (4 chopped up, 6 cut in 1/2 strips)
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
8 oz cojita cheese
1 avocado
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c minced cilantro
lime

1. Heat 1 T oil in pressure cooker on saute function. Add tomatoes, onion, jalepeno and cook until soft, 5min. Add garlic, chipotle, and tomato paste. Stir in broth and tortilla pieces, scraping pot clean of browned bits (if not carefully deglazed, pressure cooker function may detect burning). Season chicken with salt and pepper and nestle into cooker.

2. Cook on high pressure for 5min. Quick release pressure.

3. Toast tortilla strips in oven at 425 after tossing in oil and salt. About 10 minutes until crisp and golden.

4. Shred chicken, whisk soup, stir in 1 tsp extra chipotle (optional). Serve soup with cojita, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and lime juice.

Adapted from a cook's illustrated recipe.

Pear Tatin

Ingredients:
    2 firm pears
    4 whole star anise
    1 box puff pastry
    1/2 t vanilla extract
    1/2 C granulated sugar
    3/4 stick butter, cubed  (probably too much!)
    Splash of dark rum, cognac, brandy? (1.5 oz?)
    Powdered sugar, to cover tops

Hardware:
    cutting board for puff pastry
    10in cast iron pan (a heavy-bottom, oven-safe pan just big enough for 4 pear halves)
    lid for pan (for flambe)
    hemispherical 1/2 tsp measure

Steps:

1) roll out puff pastry, thawing as necessary

2) preheat oven 400F

3) Peal (optional) and halve pears. Scoop out seeds with a hemispherical 1/2 tsp measure. Insert anise into seed cavity.

3.5) (optional) cut pastry into four pieces and wrap the backs of each pear with dough. Trim excess, leaving 1/8 in overhang, wrap overhang around the front of pears. Place prepared pears in fridge.

4) scatter sugar in pan and cook over medium heat without stirring until sugar melts and browns, about 5 minutes

5) reduce heat to low, add vanilla and butter, stir until melted

6) add rum, quickly ignite, let alcohol burn off. Stir to loosen caramel.

7) add pears, cut-side down to pan (if you did not form fit it to the pears, add entire sheet of puff pastry to pan and squish down around the edges at this point)

8) dust pears with confectioners sugar

8) place pan in oven for 15 - 20 minutes (or whatever the pastry box says)

Cannellini beans in pressure cooker

Time: 45min
Yield: 8 servings, can be doubled

Ingredients:
For pressure cooker:
1 lb dried cannellini beans
5 garlic cloves, smashed
4 T olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
1 large sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 carrot
1 parmesan rind (optional)

For garlic olive oil:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
dash of salt
sundried tomatoes, sliced thin

For veggies:
1 large red onion, halved and sliced thin
broccoli, rabe, or zucchini
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

1) In the pressure cooker, combine all pressure cooker ingredients with about 4 cups of water (need to refine this). Tie the rosemary, bay leaf, and carrot together with kitchen twine. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes? (>30) and allow to release naturally.

2) While the beans cook, heat 1/2 cup oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Stir in the sliced garlic and salt and saute until golden. Transfer the garlic oil to a bowl for serving and add the sundried tomatoes.

3) In skillet on med-high, saute veggies with onion and more oil.

Serve with crusty bread, all drizzled with garlic oil.

Adapted from recipe by Melissa Clark.

Dmitry's Borscht

4 carrots (grated)
2 medium onions (1/2 cm chunks)
6 beets with greens (roots grated, stems chopped, leaves sliced in thin strips)
1 can kidney beans
6 medium thin skinned potatoes (quartered and sliced)
1-2 T lemon juice
sour cream
dill (lots, chopped fine)
vegetable broth
olive or sunflower oil

1. Saute onions in oil in large dutch oven
2. add carrots and cook till softened a little
3. add beet roots and stems and splash in lemon juice and soften
4. add broth until doubled volume in pot (approx 5-6 cups, half broth, half water), add potatoes.
5. taste broth to ensure lemon juice is noticeable - add more if not. salt (or soy sauce) to taste.
6. bring to boil and reduce to simmer
7. simmer 10-15min until potatoes done.
8. add kidney beans and beet greens, cover, allow to wilt. stir once wilted.
9. serve with dill and sour cream

note: the lemon juice fixes the red color from the beets.

Brisket in the slow cooker

Ingredients

3 lbs beef brisket
Salt and ground black pepper
4 tsp vegetable oil
4 large onions, halved and sliced thin
3 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots or parsnips, chopped
6 garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press
½ cup dry red wine
1 ¾ cups beef broth
1 cup chicken broth
2 T brown sugar
1 tsp tomato paste
4 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ cup flour
2 T cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Dry the brisket with paper towels, then salt and pepper. Brown the brisket thoroughly on both sides, in 2 tsp of oil, reducing the heat if the fat begins to smoke heavily, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer it to a slow cooker.

2. Saute the onions, celery, and carrots in 2 tsp oil until lightly browned. Add garlic, then the wine and cook about 1 minute. Add 1 cup of the beef broth, the chicken broth, brown sugar, tomato paste, bay leaves, and thyme; bring to a boil. Transfer to the slow cooker.

3. Cover and cook (low for 8-9hrs, or high for 5-6hrs

4. Transfer the brisket to a carving board and tent loosely with foil. Set the slow cooker to high. Whisk the flour with the remaining ¾ cup of beef broth until smooth, then stir it into the slow cooker. Continue to cook on high until the sauce has thickened and no longer tastes of flour, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Stir in the vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Slice the brisket thin across the grain. Serve with sauce and vegetables.

Serves 4+

Based on a Cook's Illustrated recipe.

Braised Greens

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, minced (about 1 cup)
5 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bunch greens, ribs removed, leaves chopped into 2-inch squares
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Table salt
2t lemon juice

Note: for thicker greens like collards or kale, increase cooking time by up to 10 minutes, add 1 cup water

Heat 1 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven or non-stick skillet over medium heat until shimmering.
Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and beginning to brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
Add garlic and pepper flakes; cook until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add half of greens and stir until beginning to wilt, about 1 minute.
Add remaining greens, broth, water, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; quickly cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until greens are tender:
    25 to 35 minutes for kale
    35 to 45 minutes for collards.
    10 to 20 minutes for cabbage collards, or dino kale, or other thin greens


Remove lid and increase heat to medium-high.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of liquid has evaporated (bottom of pot will be almost dry and greens will begin to sizzle), 8 to 12 minutes.
Remove pot from heat; stir in half lemon juice and remaining olive oil.
Season with salt, pepper, and remaining teaspoon lemon juice.