Pressure Cooker "Viet" Beef Stew

Wonderfully complex flavor and sooo delicious, 10/10 all the way!!

Link to my video of preparation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lS23IpOGiEY

Original recipe: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/instant-pot-viet-beef-stew-star-anise-and-lemongrass

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. boneless beef chuck / stew meat, cut into 1 1/2" chunks

1/2 T. five spice powder

2 tsp. brown sugar (can be light or dark)

3 T. fish sauce

3 T. canola oil, plus more as needed

1 c. chopped onion

3 T. finely chopped fresh ginger

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped (~ 1 T.)

1 1/2 c. canned crushed tomatoes (or 2 c. chopped peeled tomatoes)

2 large or 3 medium lemongrass stalks, trimmed, cut in 3" lengths, bruised with meat mallet

2 whole star anise

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp. fine sea salt

2 c. water

1 lb. baby carrots (or regular carrots, peeled and cut in 1" chunks)

chopped fresh basil (or cilantro)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the beef, five-spice powder, brown sugar, and fish sauce.

***in progress, pardon my "dust"!

• Step 2

  Program a 6-quart programmable electric pressure cooker to sauté. Add canola oil; working in batches, sear beef on all sides, about 3 minutes, adding additional oil between batches as needed. Transfer seared beef to a plate. Reserve any leftover marinade in bowl.

• Step 3

  Reduce heat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic to pressure cooker, and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Increase heat to sauté; add tomatoes, lemongrass, star anise, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture resembles a rough wet paste, 4 to 6 minutes.

• Step 4

  Return beef and accumulated juices and any reserved marinade to cooker. Stir to combine, and add 2 1/2 cups water to cover beef. Lock lid. Program cooker to cook at high pressure 10 minutes. Turn it off or unplug it, and naturally depressurize for 18 minutes; carefully turn pressure release valve to venting position to release remaining pressure from cooker until float valve drops.

• Step 5

  Unlock lid. Beef should be chewy-tender and should feel firm but yield when pressed. Skim off fat, if needed, and add carrots. Set cooker to sauté, and cook, uncovered, until beef and vegetables are tender and sauce has intensified, about 30 minutes. Add additional water if sauce reduces too much. Let stew rest, uncovered, 5 to 10 minutes. Add additional salt or fish sauce to intensify flavor if needed, or splash in additional water to lighten it.

• Step 6

  Remove and discard lemongrass, bay leaf, and star anise (warn guests of potential lingering bits). Divide stew among shallow bowls, and garnish with cilantro. Serve warm.

Pizza Dough (using

Happy National Pepperoni Pizza day! Decided to try this recipe to compare it to our usual dough recipe, which uses the bread machine (recipe actually came in the machine's booklet). Really like this one, it's just as easy as the bread machine one and bakes more quickly. We will be using this regularly!

Original recipe link: https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/best-pizza-dough/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients:

2 c. water at 98-105°F

1 pinch sugar

1 1/2 T. active dry yeast

2 T. olive oil

630g (5 1/4 c.) all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)

1/2 T. salt

Directions:

1. Add the water to the bowl of a stand mixer, followed by sugar and yeast. Do not stir yet. Let sit for 10 min.

2. After waiting, stir mixture and equip mixer with dough hook. Add the olive oil, flour, and salt. Start mixer on speed 1 to combine ingredients. Stop and scrape down the sides of bowl, then put mixer on speed 2. Mix for 6 minutes.

3. Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer dough to bowl and cover with a towel (or plate, which is what I used). Let rest in a draft-free area. Note to self: I used the bread proof setting on my oven, left on for about 15-20 min, then turned off and left dough in the warmth for another 30 min or so. The dough had risen a lot already, so I took it out, punched it down, then left it on the stovetop. It was ready at about 1h45 min (original recipe said to go 2 hours).

4. To make pizza: Heat oven to 450°F. Lightly oil pizza pans (I used 2 circular 16" pans). Lightly dust your hands with flour and divide the dough into 2 (or 3) portions. Place each portion on its pan and dust lightly with a sprinkle of flour. Work and pat dough until it is even thickness and reaches the pan edge(s). 

5. Top with sauce and desired toppings except cheese* (see note at end of this direction). Bake for 8 minutes, then remove, top with cheese, and bake for 8-10 additional minutes.  *if you are doing cheese only, go ahead and add it, bake for whole 16-18 minutes with the cheese on*

6. Let rest on pan for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

 

Peanut Butter Temptations

Tempting, indeed! Another 10/10, so tasty and easy! Was a bit worried they were underdone when taking them out of oven, but they turned out great, would not change the baking time. I would not recommend, however, doing these unless you have the min-muffin pan, as the ones I did on baking sheet (as suggested for alternative in original recipe) just looked odd in comparison--the cookie doesn't stay around the peanut butter cups.

Link to my YouTube video of preparation: https://youtu.be/OpRXedJZbNQ

Original recipe credit: https://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/cookies/peanut-butter-temptations/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

~48 mini Reese's peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar until creamy and fluffy.

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease the cups of two mini muffin pans (if you only have one, you'll have to do two cycles/batches).

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the mixture in the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix on low speed until just combined.

5. Shape dough into 1" balls. Place each ball in a cup of the mini muffin pan.

6. Bake 8 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

7. Right after removing from oven, press an unwrapped mini Reese's cup into the center of each baked ball. Leave in pan to cool.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcakes

Very good! And a yummy way to use up a zucchini :) 9.5/10 (can't give every recipe a full 10!)

Link to YouTube video of preparation: https://youtu.be/W8AquEA5pVA

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 T. Dutch-processed cocoa

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 c. + 2 T. sugar

1/2 c. canola oil

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. coarsely grated zucchini

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners (and have spares ready in case your batter makes 14 like mine did!)

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the sugar, canola oil, egg, and vanilla for 2-3 minutes.

4. On low speed, mix in the reserved dry ingredient mixture until just incorporated.

5. By hand, stir in the zucchini, then the chocolate chips.

6. Pour mixture into the cupcake liners, dividing as evenly as possible (mine came out about 3/4 full each, had 14 total cupcakes).

7. Bake for 30-35 min, until tops spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan 5 minutes after removing from oven, then remove cupcakes from pan and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Bite-Size Meringues

Got some leftover egg whites to use up? Want a light and airy treat? Here's your recipe! These are like the meringues that you can get at French pastry shops, only a much smaller version (thus you will not feel you've gone on a sugar bender eating one lol). The resulting texture will depend a lot on the level of humidity in your kitchen; no matter what, they are far from heavy. If you feel they need a little something extra, you can dip them in melted chocolate or garnish as you like (I have seen M&M's and all sorts of bits mixed in the ones of the bakeries in France). You could also change up the flavor by using a different extract instead of vanilla.

Original recipe credit: https://stressbaking.com/french-meringue-cookies/

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

pinch of kosher salt

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 drop food coloring (if desired)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 200°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Add the egg whites, cream of tartar, and kosher salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix ingredients on medium-high speed until frothy and soft peaks form (around 30-60 seconds).

3. Leave mixer running and begin adding sugar 1 teaspoon at a time, letting mix in after each addition (yes, this takes time, but it's necessary!).

4. After all sugar has been mixed in, keep mixer going and add the vanilla extract (and food coloring, if using). Continue mixing until glossy with stiff peaks (takes around 10 minutes total, be patient :))

5. Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large round or star tip. Pipe mixture into desired shapes on prepared baking sheets (I made small "mounds" that were about 2" in diameter). These won't spread at all, so you won't need them to be far apart from each other (mine were maybe 1/2" apart). **Pic is after they baked and 2 had been sampled lol**

6. Bake both sheets at same time (I put two racks fairly close to each other in middle of oven) for 1 hour.

7. When time is up, do NOT open the oven. Turn it OFF and let the meringues rest in oven to finish with the residual heat for at least 1 additional hour.

8. Remove from oven and transfer to an airtight container. Enjoy!

Creamy Mushroom Shrimp Pasta

This makes more than expected, is super delicious and filling -- 10/10! Made this mom and thought we needed to do 1.5 times the original...we ended up with leftovers (not complaining!) Thus, I am listing the original recipe amounts below (instead of what we used). 

Original recipe credit: https://www.eatwell101.com/tuscan-shrimp-pasta-recipe

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients;

8 oz. dry spaghetti

2 T. olive oil

1 lb. jumbo shrimp

2 c. baby spinach (rinsed and drained)

7 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

4 oz. sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), chopped

3/4 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. chicken stock

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T. Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/8 tsp. paprika

grated parmesan & fresh chopped parsley, for serving/garnish

Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. When draining, reserve at least 1 c. of the pasta cooking water.

2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and half of the minced garlic to pan. Season with the salt while it cooks. Flip shrimp and cook for 1 minute on other side (both sides should be slightly golden and pink). Transfer shrimp to a plate and set aside, leaving oil and garlic in pan.

3. Add the sun-dried tomatoes to the skillet, plus the remaining half of the garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring often.

4. Stir in the heavy cream and chicken stock. Bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium.

5. Stir in the mozzarella until melted completely and combined in sauce. If sauce is too thick (ours was), stir in a bit of the pasta cooking water.

6. Stir the spinach until wilted in the sauce.

7. Add the Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and paprika.

8. Stir in pasta cooking water until desired thickness is reached. 

9. Return shrimp to the pan and stir into the sauce. Let cook for a minute or two.

10. Add the pasta to the pan and stir to coat in the sauce. Serve topped with parmesan and parsley. Enjoy!