Pressure Cookers take the pressure out of Christmas

A few tips and recipes

Choir of angels cabbage (look at the one on the right!)

Hello everyone - first of all a raft of thank yous. THANK YOU to everyone has sent good thoughts and wishes my way the past few weeks, you’ve all been very kind. THANK YOU to everyone who has commented, asked a question, shared, liked these posts, it really does make a difference to my morale as much as visibility. THANK YOU to everyone who has subscribed to Catherine is Under Pressure. And finally, THANK YOU to everyone who has bought a book/reviewed a book/talked about a book. In the words of Ted Lasso (which I am rewatching with Adam at the moment) I appreciate y’all.

It has been a bit of snakes and ladders week. Recovery sometimes feels like one step forward, two steps back, especially if you forget rules and do too much. Which I have done. My time is now divided between bed, bursts of kitchen supervision (I just got Adam to make cranberry sauce), and pacing up and down the landing for 5 minutes at a time like a caged animal. I am really missing my early morning walks and the ability to “nip out”. This morning as usual I watched the sun rise behind the rooftops I can see from my bedroom window and wondered how long it will be before I am out there again. I am realising that it won’t be quite as soon as I (wildly optimistically) expected.

These are predawn/dawn photos from last year:

Before I get onto the food, I feel compelled to share the actual best thing to happen last week, so please forgive this proud mum moment. After having a pretty rubbish time at school recently, Adam conquered his absolute terror of performing in a school environment and sang solo at his school’s winter showcase last week. Viva la Vida, accompanied by piano and cello and he got standing ovations - the first half way through his performance and again at the end. I was gutted I couldn’t be there, and had to make do with a very dodgy recording but also so many texts from friends - and people I hadn’t spoken to in months/years - telling me they had been in floods. I sat at home and sobbed.

Adam and Lilly are still doing a lot in the kitchen - novelty does not seem to have worn off - and are now confident at pressure cooking and much better than their dad who still can’t seem to get to grips with the basics. For example, no matter how many times I explain it to him, he can’t grasp that when a pressure cooker reaches high pressure, you need to turn the heat down to maintain, you don’t leave it on a high heat. It confuses him every time. It makes me worry that more people are not doing it right because he really isn’t a stupid person!

Anyway, Christmas this year - firstly:

If anyone wants pressure cooker help, the chat I have started on the app/website remains open. As I am sitting here trying to concentrate on Christmas films half the time, it really is not an intrusion to ask for help/advice/recipes over the next 2 days. In fact, it will be a welcome distraction. You can contact me all the usual ways too.

Unsurprisingly, I am not doing a big Christmas dinner - can’t physically, and I could sit in the kitchen and supervise Adam doing it, but that is also exhausting for more than 10 minutes at a time and - and this is a big and - we don’t usually do traditional dinner on Christmas day anyway. We stopped one year because I had had to do too many for work (Christmas dinner in summer, every year), and never went back. Now the tradition is to open up discussions about what everyone would like to eat on Christmas day and try and get some sort of consensus. It varies a lot. A couple of times we’ve had a fondue with some traditional sides - sauteed brussels sprouts, roast potatoes and parsnips, pigs in blankets.

A couple of times we had steak with dauphinois. There was the Christmas the kids wanted gumbo and I famously smashed the jar of duck confit I’d made for it.

Duck fondue, pre smash

Last year Adam said “can we just have lots of nice things all day long?” So Christmas turned into a day long grazing feast with fondue in the middle of it with a finale of flaming Christmas pudding. The trick to doing that kind of thing and not going crazy because you are spending the whole day cooking, is to prepare ahead and make sure some of the “nice things” are cold. A decent cheeseboard. A raised pie. Or things that cook really fast - our traditional breakfast, like a lot of people’s - is either smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, or warmed blini with salmon and a load of garnishes. And the other thing to remember is that you need plenty of things which will cut through the richness. This is probably why pickles are so popular at Christmas. I also make sure that there is a crisp salad of some sort - usually bitter leaves (maybe puntarelle, maybe some sort of endive). And lots of citrus fruit.

We do always buy either a capon/chapon every year and I usually roast it before Christmas so it can form part of the “nice things” on Christmas day but as cold cuts. This is because there is always a massive amount of fat on these birds which I like for roasting, and for making dripping. One of my favourite sandwiches contains chicken or capon with crisped up skin, dripping with some of the dark jelly underneath, and lettuce. The first will be just that. I might add a touch of mustard or cranberry sauce half way through. Maybe some stuffing. Crisped up chicken skin is one of life’s any pleasures and I never want to forgo it.

Anyway, enough of my plans, here are a few tips/timings and recipes for you which should help make life easier this Christmas:

1: Parboiling/steaming for roasting Potatoes and Parsnips

Potatoes and parsnips can be par steamed in the pressure cooker. Best to do this in steamer baskets, because if you do in the base, the bottom layer of potatoes is likely to overcook/disintegrate. Remember to salt. These timings are enough to make sure that the edges are soft enough for roughing up. You can do these in well in advance - and you can even freeze them (I open freeze and then decant so they don’t stick together) and roast from frozen. Not sure it’s worth it now, just mentioning if you want to get ahead and have run out of fridge space.

Potatoes - 1 minute HP, fast release

Parsnips - zero minutes HP, fast release

If you find that they aren’t quite done enough, bring up to high pressure again - that should definitely do it. But go on these timings first, you don’t want to overcook.

Also, if you want to pressure roast parsnips, or a mixture of carrots and parsnips, there is a recipe in Everyday Pressure Cooking.

2. Mashed Swede and Carrots

I tend to steam these too, because swede especially gets water logged. Swede takes longer, so put on the bottom - a fairly small dice. Carrots on top. Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes, fast or natural release is fine. Mash with LOTS OF BUTTER.

A couple of swede tips - the first perhaps a bit late for now, next time - an old swede that has started to wrinkle slightly is my preference for 2 reasons. Firstly, it is much, much easier to peel cut up and 2, it has lost water content so is much better for mashing. When I mash a swede with a high water content, I put it in a ricer, squeeze gently until a load of water comes out, strain that off, and then push the flesh through. If you have a very fresh swede and you are struggling to peel/slice it, put it in your pressure cooker for a minute at high pressure - you will find it will have softened up considerably and will be much easier to manage.

3. Brussels Sprouts

To simply steam, you can put in a steamer basket and cook for 2 minutes HP, fast release. Very occasionally they will need longer, so just return to pressure and fast release again. Then add butter. And as I was listening to Anne Enright’s The Green Road yesterday and the mother adds a grating of nutmeg, I’m going to try that next time too.

My preferred method is to saute and I have written lots of recipes for this:

Miso Roast in EPC

Roast with Bacon, Chestnuts and Cranberries in MPC (prunes also good in this one)

Just in case you don’t have MPC, here is a (slightly amended) recipe:

1 tbsp olive oil

100g smoked bacon lardons

500g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

50g dried cranberries or pitted prunes (firm best)

100g roast chestnuts, vacuum packed or see below

100ml sherry (I like olo rosso for this)/marsala or white wine

Heat your pressure cooker and add the olive oil. Add the bacon and saute until much of the fat has rendered out and it is crisp. Push the bacon to one side and add the brussels sprouts, arranging cut side down as much as possible, and sauteeing for a couple more minutes at a high heat until they have taken on some colour. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the chestnuts and cranberries or prunes. Pour in the sherry or marsala and make sure the base is deglazed. Close the lid and bring up to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain the pressure, then cook for 1 minute for al dente, 1.5mins for slightly softer. Fast release.This year we are having bavette for our lunch and I am making the above, but if everyone is agreeable, turning it into this gratin:

Brussels Sprouts Gratin

So I will make the above in the shallowest pressure cooker. When it is cooked, I’m going to stir in:

150ml double cream

75ml creme fraiche

2 tsp Dijon mustard

100g hard cheese (possibly a mixture of Lincolnshire poacher and Ogelshield, whatever Shariq gets from Neal’s Yard today)

And stir on a low heat until the cheese has melted. Then I’m going to mix:

100g hard cheese (same as above)

50g breadcrumbs, sauteed in butter and 1 clove garlic

Leaves from a sprig of thyme

Leaves from a sprig of tarragon, finely chopped

Sprinkle over the sprouts, wrap the handles of the pressure cooker and put under a hot grill. You can of course decant the lot to an oven dish and grill or oven bake - in which case I would whisk 2 tsp plain flour into the cream to help stop it splitting. OR you can use an air fryer lid. OR you can decide not to use breadcrumbs and just let the cheese melt gently over the top (put the lid on to help it).

Other Gratins: Cauliflower Cheese

Quite a few of you will be making cauliflower cheese, I imagine:

Cook cauliflower: cut up into florets, stems and leaves and put in the base of a heated pressure cooker with a splash of water. Bring up to high pressure and fast release.

To get a bit of extra flavour into it, saute it first in a bit of olive oil, add some butter and let it melt, foam, start to brown, then the splash of water.

Other Gratins: Leeks or Endive

There are recipes for braised leeks and caramelised endives in MPC which can be used as a base for cheese or cream gratin.

Other Gratins: Potato

There is a type of tartiflette thing here (one of my favourite posts, that one).

And Everyday Pressure Cooking has a recipe for a type of dauphinoise and a potato and camembert gratin which I am DEFINITELY getting Adam to make this holiday.

4. Red Cabbage

For years I used to make Delia’s famous red cabbage casserole in advance and freeze it in portions as no one ever ate much of it on Christmas day. It pretty much has to be done in advance if you only have one oven and you need it for everything else. But then I started experimenting with red cabbage in the pressure cooker and reduced the time from up to 2.5 hours cooking time to well under 10 minutes. Here is a recipe from The Pressure Cooker Cookbook:

1 large red cabbage, cored and shredded

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1cm piece root ginger, finely chopped

1 eating apple, peeled, cored and finely diced

pinch of ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp crushed juniper (optional)

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)

1 tbsp light soft brown sugar

150ml apple juice or a combination of apple juice and cider

1 tbsp cider vinegar

50g butter, diced

Simply put all the ingredients into your pressure cooker, season with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Close the lid and bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain the pressure and cook for 2 minutes. Allow to drop pressure naturally. Alternatively, cook for 3 minutes at high pressure and fast release.

5. “Roast” shallots/onions

This is a good one to do ahead if you have limited oven space. Of course, you can put sliced onions under whatever you are roasting too - I’m afraid I see this as a bit of a chef’s perk so they don’t often get to table.

To saute whole shallots or small onions, heat your pressure cooker, add 1 tbsp olive oil and add the shallots, shaking regularly until brown in patches. Add 25g butter and 1 tsp sugar and shake gently until both have melted. Season with salt and pepper and add some thyme, fresh or dried, if you like. Pour in 75-100ml port, sherry, wine, water or stock. Close the lid and bring up to high pressure. Cook for 4 minutes for small shallots, 5 minutes for larger ones or onions. Leave to drop pressure naturally.

6. Cranberry Sauce

SO EASY!

Cranberries have loads of pectin so a sauce will jellify as it sets. I sometimes leave as it is, sometimes reheat with a splash of port when I use it. I add a bit of ginger because I like it but it is entirely optional.

250g cranberries

juice and zest of 1 small orange or a clementine or mandarin

150g caster or light soft brown sugar

1 tsp grated ginger (optional)

Put all the ingredients in your pressure cooker. Stir on a low heat until the sugar has started to dissolve and the mixture looks like wet sand. Close the lid, bring up to high pressure and immediately remove from the heat. Leave to drop pressure naturally. The cranberries will have burst. Give a quick stir and decant into jars. It will thicken as it cools. Or, it is so quick and easy you can make it on the day.

7. Gravy

Best advice I can give for this is to make a decent stock in advance - you can then add this to the roasting tin. I strain off any liquid in the roasting tin, stir in a bit of flour, deglaze with wine or stock, then transfer to a saucepan (I don’t sieve!). Then add back the skimmed liquid and add as much stock as I need. When I say a decent stock, what I really mean is one that I have reduced down a bit, usually to around half its volume. It really makes a difference.

If you want to part make a gravy in advance, the best way to do it is to make a roux with flour and water, add enough stock to make half the amount you want, and finish off from the roasting pan on the day.

8. Chestnuts

If you add chestnuts to your Brussel sprouts, or your stuffing, or you are making some kind of nut roast thing and you happen to have a bag of unroasted chestnuts which you need to use up instead of buying vacuum packed ones, you can pressure cook. Simple score a cross or even just a single cut across each chestnut. Heat some olive oil in your pressure cooker and toss the chestnuts around for a couple of minutes just to get a bit of charring. Add some water, bring up to high pressure and cook for 5 minutes, natural release. You will find that the skins slip off very easily and you can then use the chestnuts in all your recipes.

9. Blini

If you are wanting to reheat blini (or anything else of that ilk, including dumplings) and your oven is either full or you don’t want to turn it on just to heat blini, you can do it in the pressure cooker. Wrap the blini in foil, put some water in the base, then either drop on top or suspend on a trivet. Bring up to high pressure and immediately fast release. Much faster than steaming.

And finally….

10. Christmas Pudding

Remember that you can reheat your Christmas Pudding in the pressure cooker:

Mini puddings - 10 mins HP

Medium/large - 30 minutes

Extra large - 45 mins (only because someone did a 2 litre one which I think we’ll all agree is pretty massive!)

And natural release for them all.

And remember that for a longer lasting flame, according to Nigella, and I concur, vodka works best!

I think that is just about everything I can think of for now. Remember that I’m at hand to answer any questions/give advice if you need it. But for now, I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas if you are celebrating it, and a restful time of it if you are not. Thank you again for reading. Please remember to like and to share with anyone who you think might find this post useful because it is free to read!