As you may or may not know, Cookbook Cooks has dedicated the month of March to the Queen of Pressure Cooking, Lorna Sass. Although Lorna was vegan for many years, a point reflected in her many vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, she also has a number of non-veg cookbooks (one of which won a James Beard award!). For a complete listing and description of her cookbooks take a look at her website. In case you are wondering, I figured that I couldn’t really do Lorna Sass Month justice if I did not touch on her other bodies of work – vegetarian or not. That is the purpose of this post.
Since I purchased a pressure cooker of my own at the beginning of the month, a popular topic of conversation with my coffee/lunch group at work has been pressure cooking. In fact, one of my meat-eating co-workers has even asked to borrow my pressure cooker when I take holidays this summer so he and his family can try it out! Being the nice guy that he is, he even asked if I was comfortable with him cooking meat in it. Of course I don’t mind, and I will be delighted to share my pressure cooker with him. Afterall, it really takes recipe sharing to the next level, and how much fun is that!
A considerable number of my readers are not vegetarians, so I thought it might be a good time to dispel any myths that pressure cookers are just for beans, vegetables, and grains.
Of course I cannot speak from cooking experience, but I have seen recipes for chicken, ribs, and meat based stews and soups in my pressure cooker instruction booklet. If I have peaked you interest, take at look at Lorna’s website and blog. Her website features such recipes as Southern Split Pea Soup with Ham and Chuckwagon Beef Stew with Cheddar Smashed Potatoes taken from her Pressure Perfect Cookbook and The Pressured Cook, respectively. Her blog even has a recipe for cooking Penne with Meat Sauce in the pressure cooker. Of course her cookbooks (and blog) also contain vegetarian recipes, so you can give these a try to find out how easy and tasty vegetarian cooking can be.
I am sure that these recipes will inspire you and make you a pressure cooker convert in no-time!
Oh, and if my husband is reading, don’t worry honey, I don’t have plans to become a meat eater any time soon!
Cookbook Cooks 