Stews and braises. The perfect end to a tough cut of meat.
For the times when I don't have half a day to simmer a stew low and slow, I turn to one of my trusty pressure cookers to help me bend time. Using a kind of ragu pasta sauce as an example, I'll demonstrate a way to get a decent stew in just over half an hour.
Ingredients
- 1lb cubed stew meat. Beef, lamb, goat, venison, pork -- whatever you have handy.
- 1 12oz can tomatoes (diced, crushed, whatever)
- 1/2 an onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic crushed or chopped
- Any other vegetables finely diced (I often use carrots, capsicum / bell pepper, zucchini)
- 1/3oz dried porcini mushrooms
- 1tbsp dried thyme
- 1tbsp dried oregano
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
Steps
- Reconstitute the mushrooms in a small amount of hot water.
- For a smoother texture, blend the tomato and vegetables (optional).
- Over high heat, brown the meat in some oil in the open pressure cooker.
- Reduce to medium-high heat and add the onion until translucent.
- Add the garlic, tomato and vegetables.
- Finely chop the now-soft porcini mushrooms and add to the pressure cooker along with the liquid.
- Add the herbs, tomato paste, the wine and the worcestershire sauce.
- Close the pressure cooker lid and bring up to pressure.
- Once at pressure, reduce the heat to maintain pressure and cook for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow the pressure to dissipate.
It will need a stir once the lid comes off and if there's too much liquid a quick simmer should take care of that. A knob of butter never hurt matters either :).
Serve with pasta and parmesan cheese or cracked pepper to your liking.
The tomato paste, worcestershire and porcini mushrooms give you a big umami kick right in the glutamates.