Pressure/Instapot Cooked Black beans

 

Cuban Style Black Beans 

Serve With Afro's Fish Tacos

• 1 pound dried black beans  about 2 cups, no need to soak
• 1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion diced
• 1 teaspoon pecan smoked salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves garlic minced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 3 and 3/4 cups water

• Rinse and drain the beans and pick out any stones or bad, cracked-looking beans. Set aside.
• To pressure cooker- 
• Add 3 and 3/4c water, oil onion, smoked salt, oregano, bay leaves, garlic cloves bring to boil with lid on but not locked. After its boiling, then add beans and lock lid on. Pressure cook for 20 min
• 
  
• • Add the water and beans and stir. Cover and seal the Instant Pot. Cook on HIGH pressure for 35 minutes. When the timer goes off, allow the steam to release naturally for 20 additional minutes. Remove the lid. Remove the bay leaves and discard them. Enjoy warm or let cool completely and store in individual containers.

  Can Add to the pressure cooker/instapot- 

  • 1 green bell pepper cored, seeded, and diced, 
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Turkey Brine

Pioneer Woman

1 10-15 lb turkey

2 chopped onions

2 chopped apples (or 1-2  cups Apple Juice Or Apple Cider)
4 cups of boiling water, 4 c cold water
2 T powdered Rosemary  (or 4 Tablespoons Fresh Rosemary Leaves)
5 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 cup Kosher Salt
1 cup white sugar  (or Brown Sugar), next time do a 1/2c
1/2-1T powdered pepper (or 3 Tablespoons Peppercorns)
5 whole Bay Leaves
Peel Of 2 Large Oranges

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Stir until salt and sugar dissolve. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and cover.

Allow to cool completely, then pour into a large brining bag or pot. (I didn't allow mixture to cool completely, I just put the bird in the hot water and put it in the fridge and went to bed.)

Place uncooked turkey in brine solution, then refrigerate for 16 to 24 hours.

When ready to roast turkey, remove turkey from brine. Submerge turkey in a pot or sink of fresh, cold water. Allow to sit in clean water for 15 minutes to remove excess salt from the outside. 

Discard brine. Remove turkey from clean water, pat dry, and cook according to your normal roasting method.

TO COOK TURKEY

11/13/18 next time use a turkey cooking bag. Otherwise it was good.
Preheat oven to 275.

If you brined your turkey, rinse it well under cold water. Fill the sink with fresh cold water and allow the turkey to soak for 15 to 20 minutes to remove any saltiness (i forgot to do this and it turned out good). Pat the turkey dry and place it on a roasting rack, breast side up. Cross the legs and tie them together with kitchen twine. Cover the whole pan with heavy aluminum foil, tucking it underneath the pan. Roast for the first stage for about 10 minutes per pound (so, for a 20 pound turkey, about 3 1/2 hours.
After the first stage of cooking, remove the turkey from the oven and remove the foil (turkey will still be pale.) Smear the butter mixture all over the skin, in crevices, etc so that it's totally covered. Insert a meat thermometer into the thigh, increase the oven temperature to 350, and return the turkey to the oven, basting every 30 minutes. Continue roasting the turkey until the thermometer reads 165 to 168, then remove the turkey from the oven. Possibly cooking 1 and 1/2 hours more depending on size of turkey. Cover loosely with clean aluminum foil until you're ready to carve!

Spaghetti sauce

Pioneer Woman

1 pound Ground Beef, optional can add 1lb of sausage
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 whole Large Yellow Onions, Diced
1 whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced
6 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 cup White Wine (or Low Sodium Beef Broth If You Prefer)
2 cans 28 Ounce Crushed Tomatoes (or 12-20 chopped tomatoes)
1 can (small, 4-ounce) Tomato Paste
1 jar Good Storebought Marinara Sauce
1 teaspoon Ground Oregano
1 teaspoon Ground Thyme
4 whole Bay Leaves
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper (optional)
1/4 cup Finely Minced Fresh Parsley (or 3 Tablespoons Parsley Flakes), More To Taste
1 whole Rind From One Wedge Parmesan (optional)
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (optional)
2 pounds Spaghetti, Cooked Al Dente And Tossed With Olive Oil
Extra Minced Parsley, For Serving
Extra Parmesan Cheese, For Serving

In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the sausage and beef. Put meat into a separate bowl on the side.  Then cook the onion till translucent, and garlic until well browned; drain fat, add the meat back in. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Mix in sugar and all the seasonings, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

A I have roasted the chopped tomatoes,  zucchini and peppers on broil in oven for 20min with salt, pepper, oil, and garlic before I add to the sauce.  It gives a deeper intense flavor

Serve with Cheesy bake tortellini or Chicken Parmesan or Lasagna Rolls or Lasagna

Cooking a turkey

1 turkey
1 turkey cooking bag
1 cookie sheet or roasting pan

There are so many opinions about how to cook a turkey. Some say start at 425 others say start at 275 and some say baste and other say that dries out the turkey, whatever, either way it will turnout cooked. The thighs take the longest to cook so make sure their temperature is 170°-175°

1/2/19 I decided not to brine this time.
1 onion
5 celery leaves chopped
sage, thyme, oregano, onion powder, 5 garlic cloves (1 t powder), salt and pepper
5 bay leaves
oil
I put the turkey in a turkey bag, then separated the skin from the meat on the breast top and sprinkled salt and oil. Then added all the above additions around the outside of the turkey, then added more salt and oil to the outside of the turkey.

275 for 3 hours
Then take out the turkey and Smear the butter mixture all over the skin, in crevices, etc so that it's totally covered. Insert a meat thermometer into the thigh, increase the oven temperature to 350, and return the turkey to the oven, basting every 30 minutes for an hour to 1 and 1/2 hours.

Brine-
1c salt
2 oranges
1/2c any type of vinegar (red wine, white or apple cider)
3 bay leaves
1 chopped onion
1/2c chopped garlic

Fill a large pot with water, dissolve the salt in boiling water.  Add all ingredients to pot and boil 5 min.
Put turkey and the brine in a bucket, let sit at least 3 hours, preferably overnite.  I put the bucket with the turkey inside, outside in the backyard and covered with a tower of snow and left overnite. (I think next time put turkey in fridge or bucket ice, just not outside)

In the morning- drain the liquid and reserve the onion, garlic, bay leaves to roast in the oven with the turkey. Put turkey in the turkey bag, then sprinkle the onion, garlic, bay leaves around the turkey.

To roast the turkey, put chunks of butter on turkey. Sprinkle with sage, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Roasted on 200 degrees for 4 hours, then 350 for 1/2hr -1 hour.  Open the turkey bag the last 1/2 hour to crisp the skin.

At about hour 4 of cooking the turkey, I wanted to make the gravy b4 the turkey was finished cooking.  So I opened the turkey bag and used a measuring cup to get the drippings (turkey juice).  But, some of the turkey drippings, dripped on to the bottom of the oven and started a fire in the oven.  I had to turn off the oven, pull out the turkey, take off the bottom oven shelf, and put new aluminum foil under the heating element, where the fire started.  Then resumed cooking the turkey. Phew.....

I put the drippings in a pan to cook. The drippings were surprisingly bland, so I added garlic powder, rosemary, sage, oregano, salt and pepper. Then to a separate bowl whisked cold water and flour and slowly added to the pan to thicken the  gravy.

the Brine seems to really moisten the turkey, not add much flavor.  Everyone loved the turkey especially my nephew- Porter, who is a picky eater, So at least he had something desirable to eat.

Goes well with- Cranberry Sauce, Mashed potatoes