If you’ve been following me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve seen the posts about how MAD I am about my new pressure cooker. Crazy mad. And crazy good. It took me months to find one that was TrulyTina. It needed to have a stainless steel interior (I don’t trust non-stick at super high temps). But most of all it needed to be easy to use.
I finally settled on the 6-quart Fagor “old-style” stove top cooker, and I knew I was on to something when I saw it on a recent episode of Top Chef Texas. I was doubly happy when I realized that purchasing it qualified me for a free mail-in recipe guide. ‘Cause if it’s free, it’s for me!
So off I went on my trial-and-error pressure cooking adventure, using the timing guidelines from the manual that came with the pot, and ideas from a recipe book I got for Christmas. I’ve had to modify a lot of the recipes from the book to keep them to whole foods instead of pre-made, packaged or processed foods. After cooking with it several times a week for the last month or so, I think I’ve finally hit the ball out of park last night when – on a whim – I made this potato and broccoli cheese soup recipe.
OK to be fair, I did cheat a little and used one pre-made ingredient from a can. I mean you could get REALLY technical here and say lots of the ingredients are not whole because I used frozen organic broccoli instead of fresh, store-bought stock, butter and cheese, and minced garlic from the jar. But all-in-all, this recipe is gonna be better for you than that off the shelf can of Campbell’s Chunky Potato Soup.
A little disclaimer before we start, I’m the kind of cook that never measures ingredients, so you may have to change the spice amounts to fit your tastes. Also, if you don’t have a pressure cooker, with a little modification you could easily turn this recipe into one that you can do stove top in a stock pot. So, here we go!
POTATO BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP
2-3 large baking potatoes, diced with skins on
1-1/2 c frozen broccoli florets
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup organic vegetable broth
2/3 cup water
1/2 can low sodium cream of chicken soup
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
1 tbs salt
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp black pepper
1 tbs parsley
Tabasco, to taste
Optional garnishes: crispy crumbled bacon, sour cream, chives
- In the pressure cooker, saute garlic in the olive oil and butter.
- Add all other ingredients except cheese and stir well.
- Set the pressure cooker on highest setting, per you cooker’s directions. Cook for 6-8 minutes.
- Release pressure and safely remove lid. Check that the potatoes are soft.
- Add cheese and stir until melted. (Stirring will also break down the broccoli. Your kids will never know it’s in there!)
- Serve in a soup bowl or crock. Garnish as desired.
Tina Roper
mrseanroper
