Smoky Brisket (PCP)

• 1 (2- to 3- pound) beef brisket, preferably flat cut, fat trimmed to 1/4 inch
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

Mise en place.

Browning the brisket.

Softening the onions.

Cooking the copious amount of aromatics until fragrant.

Throw it all back in and cook under pressure for a whopping 1 1/2 hours.  Let rest in sauce for 1 hour before proceeding.

Clearly I didn't get very fancy with sides though if I had thought ahead, I could've easily made my first cornbread.  I don't know how long BBQ brisket usually takes, but overall it was pretty well done.

Shredded Pork Soft Tacos (PCP)

• 1 (4-pound) boneless pork butt roast, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 onion, peeled and halved through root end, plus 1 onion chopped fined for serving
• 1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce [Sadly didn't have any on hand.  I used dried pequin chiles instead.]
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 orange, halved
• 2 tablespoons lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
• 1/8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
• Fresh cilantro leaves
• Thinly sliced radishes

Mise en place.

Dump in basically everything except for the lime, cilantro, and radishes.  Cook under pressure for 25 minutes and naturally release pressure.

The results.  Mash up the pork into bite-size pieces, thicken liquid, and season with salt and pepper.

Lovely texture and flavor even with the chipotle though that would've been preferred.  I eventually got sick of eating so many tacos.  As I often do with radishes in this sense, I quick pickled them with lime and kosher salt.

Chipotle Pork and Hominy Stew (PCP)

• 3 pounds boneless pork butt roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced 1 inch thick
• 2 bay leaves
•  2 (15-ounce) cans white or yellow hominy, rinse
• 1/3 cup minced fresh cilantro [Eh]

Mise en place.

Brown half the pork on all sides over medium-high heat.

Soften onions over medium heat.

Stir in jalapenos, garlic, chipotle, and oregano and cook until fragrant.

Stir in flour and cook for one minute.  Whisk in wine, scrape up fond, and reduce for 1 minute.

Stir in broth, carrots, bay leaves, browned pork with any accumulated juices, and remaining pork.

Bring to high pressure.  Naturally release pressure after 30 minutes.

Stir in hominy and season.

I'm pretty sure I've made some version of pozole in the past though that must've been before I started this blog.  I remember not thinking much of the dish.
But from the moment I ladled out this unctuous dish, I knew I had a winner.  Brilliant flavor from such a simple ingredients list again.

Mole Chicken Chili (PCP)

• 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons chili powder [of course I added substantially more of the spicier stuff up front and then later]
• 2 tablespoons cocoa [Hmm, simple ingredient.  Apparently only available at convetional supermarkets as a store brand product.]
• 2 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
•  2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup raisins [Didn't have raisins.  Figured currants would work approximately well.  Now I have neither.]
• 1/4 cup peanut butter [Really?]
• 4 pounds bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed, trimmed
• Salt and pepper
• 1 onion, halved and sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro [Cilantro went bad by the time I got around to cooking this.]

Sauce mise en place.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat until shimmering.  Add chili powder, cocoa, garlic, chipotle, cinnamon and cloves and cook until fragrant.

Stir in broth, tomatoes, raisins, and peanut butter, scraping up any fond.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

Puree in blender until smooth.

Mise en place.

Skinning and trimming the chicken thighs.

Stir in sauce and add chicken to pot.  Bring to high pressure and cook for 25 minutes.  Quick release pressure cooker.

Grease slick.

 

Yeah, it's amazing what you can do with a pressure cooker, but this was kind of the flattest mole I've ever had which all the inauthentic ingredients and shortcuts.  Maybe some day I'll adapt a proper mole recipe to be cooked in a pressure cooker, but we'll see.

It's a fine dish overall if you don't have much experience with the cuisine.

Chipotle Quinoa with Corn and Black Beans and Shrimp (FM)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 (or more) canned chiles, minced, with some of their adobo sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried [I used Mexican oregano since I have it and this is a Mexican dish]
• 3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 cup cooked or canned black beans, drained
• 1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen are fine)
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock, beer, [I had an odd bottle of Sam Adams lying around.] or water
• Lime wedges [eh]
• 8 ounces peeled shrimp, chopped

Mise en place.

Cook onion and garlic over medium heat until onion is soft.

Add chipotles and adobo and continue cooking for 1 minute.

I interpreted 2 or more as potentially double.  I found five chiles in the can and added all of them.  Held back on the adobo until the final seasoning, but I'm pretty sure I used most of it.

Add quinoa, salt, and pepper.  Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes.

Add beans, corn, beer, and salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Stir, cover, and cook on low heat for 15 minutes.

When quinoa is almost tender, add shrimp and cover covered for an additional 5 minutes.

Quinoa is another grain I've had lying around forever, unused.  There was no clear expiration date on the package, but I had told my friends I'd  be trying to pass it off to that I had had it for years.  I mean, there's nothing wrong with how it looks or smells so it should be fine?

A very nice dish,  I tried to achieve a heat level that was quite nearly too spicy to eat, which is generally how I like spicy food.  Mission accomplished.

Camarones Enchipotlados (Chipotle Shrimp)

from the Rick Bayless iPad app:
recipe to follow as per Joe A's request

• 1 15-ounce can diced canned tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted), drained OR 1 pound (about 2 medium-large round or 4 or 5 plum) ripe tomatoes, roasted and peeled [They didn't have fire-roasted tomatoes at Stop and Shop, so I broiled some cheapo tomatoes since the techniques really concentrates their flavors anyway]
  
• 2 or 3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo
• 1 tablespoon chipotle canning sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• About 1 1/2 cups fish or chicken broth or water [Somehow didn't really occur to me to boil the shrimp shells from prepping the dish and making a broth from that. Silly Judy.]
  
• Salt
• 1 to 1/4 pounds medium-large shrimp (21 to 25 shrimp per pound), peeled and deveined, tail left on if you wish
• About 1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

1. Puree the tomatoes and chiles. Pour the drained tomatoes into a blender or food processor. Add the chipotle chiles and chipotle canning sauce and process until smooth.
2. Sautee the garlic. In a very large (12-inch) skillet, heat the oil over medium. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant and golden, about 1 minute.
3. Cook down the base for the sauce. Pour the tomato mixture into the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes as the pureee thickens and the flavors meld.
4. Finish the sauce. Add enough broth or water to achieve a light tomato sauce consistency. Taste and season highly with salt, usually about 1 teaspoon.
5. Cook the shrimp. Add the shrimp to the pan. Cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the shirmp are cooked through, about 4 minutes. Stir in a little more broth or water if the sauce has thickened too much. Scoop onto dinner plates and sprinkle with cilantro leaves.

Tomatoes on my trusty quarter-sheet cake pan.
Which will soon get a couple workouts for its intended purpose this month. Blog entry on Apple Cake (MMB) quite soon.


About 15 minutes under the broiler. It would have probably been easier to core the tomatoes when they were raw, but... Next time.


The peeled shrimps and their shells. I read somewhere that leaving the tails on promotes better cooking of the shrimp.
Should've used those shells to make stock for the broth but I just threw them out.


Blended sauce.


Sauteing garlic for the Nth time.


Cooking down the sauce a bit to concentrate the flavors.


Thinning out the resulting mixture with boxed chicken broth and cooking the shrimp.


Mmm, quite good and simple to put it off. I will definitely cook it again.
Joe A. was there and the recipe struck him as simple enough that he would want to cook the dish. When asked if he could help, I had him pick off the cilantro leaves.
However, I realize that every time I use fresh herbs I should practice chiffonading them.