Firstly, thank you for all the preorders and the lovely things some of you have said about Modern Pressure Cooking. I am afraid that from now until publication date I am going to be continually giving you the link for preorders, but of course you can go to your local independent too.
Someone asked me about demos - I am available, will travel and can do everything from one on one to large groups (think WI groups, food festivals etc). I can work in homes, village halls, kitchen shops, book shops, cafes, tents…please do get in touch to discuss. I also do online sessions, via Facetime, Zoom etc. These work especially well if you have a pressure cooker and are nervous about using it - I can talk you through it as you do it. It is a virtual handholding designed to give you confidence as you get started. Please message me privately if you are interested in any of this.
Onto last night’s dinner. I had in mind something much worthier for dinner last night. Or at least, it was something my kids consider to be much worthier - a dish of pearled spelt with chicken. Adam eats, but does not love, spelt, farro, barley, buckwheat groats, anything of that ilk. I like them all, but prefer them scattered through dishes - a handful in a salad, swollen but not prolific in a soup or stew - rather than risotto-esque. I find them just too filling to eat in quantity. Although I suppose that’s really a good thing.
Anyway, a bag of macaroni in the cupboard supplanted the spelt purely because I was starting dinner half an hour later than planned (I was hate watching/secretly very much enjoying the picturesque last episode of Emily in Paris) and Adam was due back from boxing training and he is always immediately and vociferously ravenous. So the spelt had a stay of execution and the macaroni was toast.
I do a million and one variations on a mac n cheese. Flavourings - any kind of smoked meat, hot sauce, kimchi, mustard. I have been commissioned to make luxurious lobster versions and love using crab or brown shrimp. You will find it Caribbean style in Modern Pressure Cooking with variations and a meaty one in Everyday Pressure Cooking which is ragu meets instant cheese sauce.
This one is a simpler affair, with ribs on the side for Adam as they were cooked and in the fridge. These were a bit of a recipe fail - I’m always trying new flavours with ribs - I can buy a rack of free range ones for around £3 from the farmers market - but these were not the best. But the mac n cheese made up for it.
Green (ish) Mac n Cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion or shallot, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
500g macaroni
750ml stock or water (I used some chicken stock so mine was green, not vegetarian)
8 cubes frozen spinach (preferably chopped, I used whole leaf which doesn’t combine as well as you can see from the photo, above)
250ml milk
1/2 Boursin (around 75g) or similar cream cheese (I used the herb/garlic one)
1 tsp Dijon mustard (optional, I like a little sharpness)
200g hard cheese - cheddar, gruyere, whatever you have, grated
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