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J: Here are the notes from last week. I was planning to make a full Sunday Dinner, but only four people were going to be there (again!). Joe and AnnMarie were still unpacking from their move, but they were planning to order Chinese food and watch the Braves-Cardinals playoff game so they invited us up there. Since I'd already bought stuff to make soup, and it was easy enough to bring along, that's what I did. I already had some vegetable stock that I'd made the day before that I was planning to use for risotto, but since risotto was off the menu, I used the stock for the soup. I made the stock in the pressure cooker. It's a ten quart model. I filled it half way with assorted vegetables, cut up, that had been sitting in my refrigerator: about six carrots, half a bunch of celery, half a bunch of parsley, a leek, one and a half onions, one and a half tomatoes, and half a cucumber. To this I added a teaspoon of dried thyme, a bay leaf, a crushed clove of garlic, and a teaspoon of whole black pepper. I filled the pot with water to the "max" line and put it on the stove. When it started boiling, I locked down the lid, and when it reached pressure after about ten minutes, I turned down the heat and let it cook away. After twenty minutes I took it off the stove and let it cool down and drop pressure for another twenty minutes. Then I took the lid off, strained the stock, and put it in the refrigerator to cool. It took about an hour from start to finish. The soup I made was also a pressure cooker recipe, from the book _Cooking Under Pressure_ by Lorna Sass. It's really excellent Minestrone. I don't know how to convert it to non-pressure cooker, but here it is anyway: 3/4 cup dried navy beans 3 Tbsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 large onion, coarsley chopped 3 carrots, 1/2 inch slices 1 medium leek, thinly sliced 3 stalks celery, 1 inch slices 1 cup tightly packed basil or Italian parsley 1 tsp dried thyme or oregano 1 14 oz can Italian plum tomatoes with juice 3 cups water 3 cups vegetable stock 6 oz green beans cut in thirds 1/2 cup orzo 2 large zucchini, 1/2 inch slices 3 cups loosely packed shredded cabbage 1 tsp salt Fresh ground pepper Parmesan cheese Soak beans, rinse, drain. Saute garlic and onion in the pressure cooker in olive oil until limp. Add carrots, leek, celery, half the basil, thyme, beans, tomatoes with juice, water and stock. Lock lid and bring to high pressure, cook for 20 minutes. Release pressure, or cool under running water and remove lid. Add green beans and orzo and cook over medium heat for five minutes, stirring so orzo doesn't sink and burn. Add zucchini, cabbage, remaining basil, salt and pepper and cook until zucchini and green beans are tender, about five minutes. Serve with parmesan. Notes: I multiplied the whole thing by one and a half, except the tomatoes, which I doubled. It made a lot of leftovers. There was about 7-8 quarts of soup to go with the chinese food. I think it could have fed the six of us without anything else. I used all stock and no water. I used a combination of basil and regular curled parsley. I used both thyme and oregano I filled the pot with the first stuff and took it over to Joe and AnnMarie's and cooked it there. I carried the other stuff over in tupperware and added it at the end and everything came out perfect. Get a pressure cooker. You'll love it. Bruce