One problem I need to dispense with real quick is the whole "lunch" problem. Turns out there is perhaps three restaurants in a 2 mile radius in downtown Glendale that has something that I can eat.
Three.
So I'm going to be cooking a lot in the evening for my lunch in the afternoon.
To that end, I bought myself one of these: Cuisinart Pressure Cooker. Tonight I did the following:
- 1 pound stewing meat, cubed in 1 inch cubes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt plus additional to taste
- 1/2 cup green lentils (dry)
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 2 small red potatoes, chopped
So I first added the olive oil, meat, cumin, tumeric, and salt, and set the contraption to "sauté", allowing the meat to brown in the spices and oil. As soon as all sides are browed, I added a cup of water, then set the wizmo to 10 minutes of pressure cooking on high.
Once the 10 minutes elapses, quick release the pressure, then add the vegetables, lentils, and additional water, and salt to taste, then again set to pressure cook for another 10 minutes on high.
Quick release and done.
The meat was absolutely amazing! I've made slow-cooked stews on the stove before; they always take several hours just to get things to soften up a little bit. But here--25 minutes or so of elapsed cooking, and the stew is perfect, done, and the meat just falls apart in the mouth!
I am so converted to using a pressure cooker! I now have lunch ready for tomorrow (a container of stew), and I'm at the moment pressure cooking some raw chicken I picked up with a crust of rosemary and salt, with a touch of thyme.
Update on the chicken: meh. I think if I would have rolled it in crumbs with some sort of flour (like oat or potato), rosemary, salt and other spices, the chicken would have been absolutely amazing. But instead, I just dropped the chicken in, dumped the spices in, and called it a day. More than good enough to be pulled apart and tossed into a wrap, however.
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