Beef Stew – Pressure Cooker Style
This recipe brings back warm memories of my mother’s over used pressure cooker. The pressure cooker was an equipment favorite in our home. It got lots of use feeding six (6) hungry children.
The sound of the menacing “hiss and jiggle” as the pressure weight rocked back and forth. Living on the edge of danger as the pot could explode, if not properly attended. We did have one incident when the safety plug blew and there was liquid from ceiling to floor. What a mess! But, we saved dinner.
A cool autumn late afternoon with the rich sent of beef stew wafting in the air, is awesome! You’ll need a thick slice of chewy artisan bread to sop-up the velvety gravy and maybe a glass of Merlot to finish.
Just remember to make sure that the gasket on your pressure cooker lid doesn’t have any cracks, slits, cuts and fits tightly into the cover. You don’t need to be cleaning the kitchen ceiling.
Keep Food Frolicking and enjoy the savory, rich flavor of this comforting recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Beef (inexpensive cuts work well and are more flavorful)
- 4 tablespoons Oil (prefer Olive Oil)
- 6 Carrots
- 3-4 large Potatoes (any waxy type: red, yellow, fingerling, etc)
- 1 large Onion
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 1 teaspoon Parsley Flakes (optional)
- 2 cups Beef Broth
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- Pepper to taste
- 1 cup Frozen Peas
- 4 tablespoons Instant Potato Flakes (no cornstarch or rue)
Directions
- The Pressure Cooker will make almost any meat tender. Remember, you're cooking with "moist pressure."
- 1Cut your beef, carrots and potatoes into bite size pieces
- 2Medium dice the onion and mince the garlic
- 3Heat the pressure cooker (without the lid) to medium high, add the oil, beef and onion; stirring until the meat is browned and the onion is translucent.
- 4Add the carrots, potatoes, garlic, tomato paste, parsley,beef broth, salt and pepper.
- 5Place the lid securely on the Pressure Cooker per the manufactures instructions. Continue medium high heat until you hear the "hissing" sound and the pressure wright begins to "rock." Turn the temperature to medium and cook for 15 minutes
- 6After 15 minutes remove the Pressure Cooker from the heat source and allow it to cool. Once you no longer hear the hissing sound and the pressure eases; gently open and remove the lid.
- 7Add the frozen peas to the hot stew
- 8Stir in the Potato Flakes and reheat the stew. The potato flakes will naturally thicken the gravy. Adding more or less flakes to thicken.
