Lisa's Culinary Atrocities

     There’s nothing like chili on a chilly day.  It can certainly be worth the time and effort in preparing, but when done in a pressure cooker, it’s incredibly simple and flavorful, and ready to warm the tummy in a ridiculously short amount of time. 

Being someone who prefers to cook her own beans, it adds a whopping 2 minutes to the process, plus the act of pressure cooking infuses the flavors into the beans.  I could open the cans in that amount of time and it wouldn’t taste nearly as good!  Simply “pre-soak” the dried beans in the pressure cooker by bringing to pressure for 2 minutes, remove from heat and drain the water, then get on with it.

*note:  If you should be one of those people who experiences…um…wind…when eating beans, add a piece of kombu seaweed to the beans when cooking as it has gas-reducing properties and allows you to digest them properly.  You should be able to find this in most ‘health food’ stores. Hooray.

Oh, and what the frico is Frico?  It’s the fancy term for Parmesan crisps, I’m told. Using a Nordic Ware Waffled Pancake pan, let it heat on the stove to nearly medium high, put a mound of shredded Parmesan in each imprint, let it melt, and when the cheese starts to bubble, remove from the heat, allow to cool, and use a bamboo stick to lift of the crisp.

Putting a spoonful of chili onto a Parmesan crisp and taking a bite is a nice happy-mouth-experience as it adds a crisp element, as well as a sharp bite against the spicy/acidity of the chili.  Try it.  Or not.  Whatever.

Lisa’s Pressure Cooker Chili

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry kidney beans
• 1 cup dry black beans
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 5+ garlic cloves
• 1 pound cherry tomatoes
• 1 pound baby carrots
• 1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 Tablespoons chipotle powder
• 32 fluid ounces (1 quart) vegetable broth

Directions:

“Pre-soak” the beans in pressure cooker by bringing to pressure for 2 minutes, remove from heat and drain water.  Rinse beans, add all other ingredients, and pressure cook for 20 minutes.

Top with favorite cheese, if desired.  Shown above: Creamy Toscano soaked in Syrah.

I swear, that’s it!

Serves: Lisa for a week.

P.S. Someone needs to invent a cast-iron pressure cooker…talk about flavor.