Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Food, Drink and Cooking What are you making/having for dinner tonight?

At $3 a quart that adds about $6 to the price of a big pot of mashed potatoes. Then the broth gets poured down the drain?
Not in my budget, Joe. Maybe a bouillon cube?

yeah like gold is cheaper than broth......

im actually intrigued by this. not one for everyday but perhaps one for a special occasion.

My bad. I do my mashed potatoes in a pressure cooker. I forgot that most people boil them first. After I peel and wash about 6 potatoes, I slice them, drop them in the pressure cooker, add a couple cloves of garlic, and anywhere from 10-15 oz. chicken broth. I pressure cook on high for about 7 minutes and then quickly lower the temp of the pressure cooker by running cold water on it. The potatoes absorb all the broth and I don't even have to mash or just slightly mash. Sometimes I add a little extra broth. I then add butter, salt, and pepper. I also use this method with rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, etc. It's quite good. If I was boiling the potatoes, after draining, I'd pour in some broth as I mashed them. I'd add enough to get to the consistency that I like.

Joe, I'm sure those are world class mashed potatoes but I don't have and don't feel a pressing need to acquire a pressure cooker for boiling veggies. Maybe someday If I see one at a thrift store I'll give it a try though. I generally like to keep my mashed tatties somewhat pristine since, more often than not, they will be flavored with whatever gravy or sauce I choose to serve with them. Last nights mashed potatoes were served beside braised Lamb Shanks with a gravy made from olive oil and the de-fattted braising liquid.

yup mash needs to be firm, like a castle in a gravy moat.


ahh the childhood memories

I've got a couple of TriTips just about done on the smoker, and a big pot of tarted-up pinto beans on the stove. TriTip for $1.99/pound at Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery this week! We'll eat one and freeze the other in individual serving portions for quick meals during the work week.

I made a turkey burger, steamed veggies, and two frozen biscuits for dinner last night and tonight I had Van de Kamp fish sticks and steam veggies.

Budget eating these days.

Probably 'Select' grade beef

I use my presser cooker to make risotto. I can make creamy risotto in about 8 mins.

Yes, it probably was Select. (Normal price for Choice, Angus, etc. runs as high as $8/pound.) But an untrimmed TriTip has a thick layer of fat on one side. I smoke them for about 4 hours fat-side-up using indirect heat from charcoal and wet hickory chips. All that fat is gradually rendered and the finished meat is fantastic. I don't see how Choice could come out any better.

I've found the pressure cooker to be the key to getting non-crunchy pinto beans. Sometimes you can simmer them for several hours and they still come out hard. 15 minutes in the pressure cooker at the start and they always come out with a soft texture. Then a couple of hours of simmering with the bacon, onions, etc. to develop the flavor.