Fasting for Orthodox Christians: Milk Alternatives

Having to do without dairy is difficult for me. Fortunately, there are a number of plant milks available, but they can be quite expensive. I recently decided to order a nut milk maker, and I'm really pleased with it. 

I made coconut milk with it and it was the best-tasting I had ever tried. Then I made oat milk (which turned out too thick, but that was easily corrected). This one makes 2 cups at a time, which is just about perfect for a person living alone.

There are numerous possibilities, and this also functions as an electric kettle, which is nice for those cold days!

With dairy alternative milks running $2-$3 per quart, even if a nut milk maker seems pricy, it may be worth it. 

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Potato Soup

With the no-oil days home cooking can be a bit difficult. Today was cold and I decided I was in the mood for potato soup.

Yes, there's a whole lot of dill, parsley, and black pepper in there.

If you follow this blog, you will know that I already tried to make this once and ended up making mashed potatoes instead because the cashew milk split. I still don't know what caused that, but today's experiment went quite a bit better.

I cooked 4 hefty potatoes in the pressure cooker on a rack (5 minutes, natural release) and left the skins on because I like it that way. I drained out the water and put the potatoes back in, minus the rack, and filled the pot with cashew milk about halfway up the sides of the potatoes, put it on to boil, added dill, parsley, black pepper, and two bay leaves. Once the cashew milk was boiling I lightly mashed the potatoes for a little body to the soup, served, and finished with a sprinkle of salt. That made two heaping bowls of soup. Just what I needed on a cold day!

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Fruit compote

So I had a tiny amount of wine left in a box, and a freezer full of partially-opened frozen fruit of various sorts.

Pull out a pot, add some honey or your favorite vegan sweetener: sugar, brown sugar, agave syrup, brown rice syrup, stevia, monkfruit, etc.;, a cinnamon stick; a sprinkle of black pepper; and a tiny bit of mace; and voila! Fruit compote. Heat everything up until the wine reduces and thickens (most of the alcohol will boil off). Just make sure you have disabled your carbon monoxide detectors before you start, and you have plenty of ventilation.

I started this off in the pressure cooker, but then I had second thoughts and decided just to cook it in an open pot.

It got topped off with a dehydrated orange slice from last year's dehydration marathon, and it's quite delicious!

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Sorry, no picture this time. I was too hungry!

This started out as potato soup and was a failure, so I turned it into mashed potatoes. Delicious!

I used potatoes, cut into chunks, and added cashew milk, along with a little garlic and some black pepper and dill weed. I cooked all that in the pressure cooker, and the cashew milk "split." Not being inclined to waste food. I got out my trusty potato masher and mashed the potatoes, added a little salt, and it was delicious!

Next, I'll be trying potato soup with cashew milk again, but this time I will add the cashew milk after the potatoes are cooked. Live and learn!

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Shrimp Coconut Curry in the Pressure Cooker

It's that time of year again, when the Orthodox world begins fasting, so here's another quick and easy recipe to get you through until Christmas!

This ranks among my easiest recipes, so feel free to throw this together when you have only minutes!

First, toast rice in your pressure cooker until the kernels give off a nutty aroma. Add a heaping spoon of curry powder and stir. Add coconut milk in the ratio of 1-1 liquid to rice, and a package of frozen spinach, and stir food again until well mixed. Lock the lid and cook on med (not high) until the pot reaches high pressure; for a stovetop cooker, lower the heat until the jiggler is barely rocking, time 18 minutes and then use natural release to unlock the lid (don't wait any longer!).
Open the lid, correct your seasonings (go easy on the salt) and add a package of frozen shrimp. Stir thoroughly and replace the pressure cooker lid. Wait ten minutes.
If the shrimp isn't cooked thoroughly at this point, heat the food in the pot for a few minutes until the shrimp are opaque and pink. Serve!

No pressure cooker? Toast rice and spices; cook rice in usual proportions with coconut milk instead of water. When done, add frozen spinach and shrimp, and stir; keep pot on low heat until shrimp is cooked.

Pressure Cooker Pork Loin

For Thanksgiving, my mother and I tried an experiment, which I called "duelling pork loins." She cooked hers in the oven, in the way she traditionally does it, with soaked dried apricots and fresh ginger. I bought her a stovetop pressure cooker a while ago, which she is too frightened to use by herself, but she will let me use it at her house, so I cooked a pork loin in it with rosemary (a herb my whole family loves).

In preparation for this, I read a whole bunch of recipes. I got results ranging from "don't cook pork loin in the pressure cooker; it will be stringy and tough," to "cook for 15 minutes," to "cook for 3 hours." So I used my experience (which, incidentally, was zero when it came to cooking meat in the pressure cooker) and guesstimated the entire thing.

How did it turn out?

Delicious!

Here's what I did: I heated a little olive oil in the pressure cooker, and seared the pork loin on all sides. Except for the oil used in the initial searing, I added no oil or other fat. I took out the pork loin, let the pot cool, added four long branches of fresh rosemary, put in a steamer basket, added about 1 1/2 cups of water, and put the pork loin back in. I locked the lid, and let it cook for 20 minutes under pressure, then used natural release (actually we sat down and had a glass of iced tea, and when we went back to check on it the lid was unlocked). We temped the pork loin and found it was done. At that point we added salt and pepper and let it rest while we cooked sweet potatoes and zucchini. Yes, you read that right, I did not salt the pork loin before cooking!

The loin was tender and juicy, and every bite (even in the very middle of the innermost slice) was infused with fresh rosemary flavor. There was virtually no difference in texture or juiciness between the two loins and I'm sure we'll be doing this again!

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Thai-Inspired Peanut Butter Soup

This was a hit at trapeza the last time I took it there!

Thai-inspired peanut soup

Vegetable stock
Peanut butter (I prefer the crunchy kind because the little bits of peanuts add texture)
Coconut milk
Thai spice mix
Spinach, kale, carrots, celery or other vegetables, chopped, grated, or julienned

Put vegetable stock in pot. Add peanut butter and heat. It will look curdled at first but stir and keep stirring until smooth. Add spices and coconut milk to taste. Add chopped vegetables a few minutes before serving if you like them tender/crisp; otherwise add them earlier to cook and add any greens at the last few minutes.

I finished it off with fresh cilantro at the end.

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Shellfish

Even on no-oil days, Russian Orthodox Christians may eat shellfish. But how to prepare it without oil?

Whether you choose a pot on the stove or something more exotic, shrimp are easy to prepare without oil. For an Asian taste, you can simmer them in coconut milk and curry powder; use your vegetable stock and make them into soup; or add them to rice or rice and lentils. Stir in some cooked vegetables and you have a meal in a few minutes.

If you have shell-on shrimp, don't throw away those shells--yet. First transform them into a court-bouillon by boiling the shells in water until the shells release their flavor, about 10 minutes. Let the broth cool and strain into a container. (Okay, now you can throw away the shells.) Refrigerate, freeze, or use the broth as you would vegetable stock, including saving the broth for when you cook shrimp next.

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Vegetable Stock

Making your own vegetable stock is easy and fairly foolproof, but what you can do with it during a fasting period?

Make soup: add mushrooms, kale, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, or whatever you have handy. If you like you can thicken this with a little alternative milk (cashew milk works well).

Use as a flavoring agent for rice, lentils, beans, or whatever grains you enjoy such as quinoa, barley, buckwheat. In my house a pot of rice and lentils cooked with vegetable stock instead of water, mixed with a few salad greens to wilt at the end, and perhaps a leftover potato, is a favorite.

You can also use this as a broth to cook shellfish in (more on that next time).

So how do you make vegetable stock? You can use a pot on the stove, a slow cooker, or a pressure cooker.

Add trimmings from vegetables: root vegetable tops, trimmings from asparagus, celery leaves, or whatever else is left over after prepping vegetables. In a pot on the stove or slow cooker, cook until vegetables are mushy. In a pressure cooker, that's about twelve minutes on high. Remove from heat and let cool until you can sip it without burning yourself.

In my house we freeze this as is in freezer bags, so that we can spice it up according to the dish we're making with this. Think beyond salt and pepper; experiment with oriental spices, central American spices, until you find a combination that works for you. You'll find your dinners a lot more interesting!

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Potatoes

Potatoes without oil, sour cream, cheese, or butter? Yes, they can be delicious!

Mashed potatoes: cook potatoes in your usual way. Add alternative milk (unflavored, unsweetened cashew milk works well here), salt, garlic powder or garlic cloves, black pepper, some dry mustard, and a bit of nutmeg. Mash (with or without skins, up to you). Put under the broiler for a few minutes.

Roasted potatoes: Cut potatoes into small chunks; brush each chunk with mustard thinned down with water. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and fresh or dried rosemary. Bake until they turn brown, correct seasoning and serve. You can use either ballpark (yellow) mustard or spicy brown mustard.

You can even use potatoes to fill vegan pierogi dough or ravioli dough!

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Avocados

What can't be done with avocados? You may or may not remember that avocado toast is a thing, and it's easy to dress up that toast into something pretty enticing.

Avocado toast is easy. Toast some bread. Cut open an avocado. Spread avocado on toast.

But making it tempting can be a bit more difficult. Fortunately, there's more than a few ways to make that avocado a bit more enticing.

Add salad greens on top
Add salsa on top
Mash the avocado with lemon or lime juice, and add black pepper. Top with olives, capers, or cooked or raw vegetables.

But avocados are great for other uses, too. You can make avocados into chocolate pudding by adding cocoa powder, sugar, alternative milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. Make smoothies and add whatever fruit or vegetable strikes your fancy (I make mine with coffee for the liquid). Use avocado in place of cheese or mayonnaise, including salad dressings, and you can even make a green alfredo sauce with avocado, basil, lemon or lime juice, and a garlic clove.

In short, the avocado satisfies your craving for fats and its mild taste is versatile enough to be used in all sorts of cooking.

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Pasta in Tomato Sauce

There are times when you just want to get dinner on the table fast, and this one-pot dish will do it. I've blogged about cooking pasta in sauce before, both in a traditional pot and in the pressure cooker.

Toast black pepper and garlic powder in dry pot for about 20 seconds, until you smell the spices. Add some canned or jarred tomato product (the kind doesn't matter; you can use canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, or jarred pasta sauce). Add pasta until pasta and sauce are level. Then add enough water to raise the liquid level about 1 inch over the pasta. Stir until pasta is evenly coated and water and tomato product are thoroughly mixed, and mixture begins to simmer. Add whatever herbs you may want to use (basil, parsley, italian seasoning, etc.)

If you're doing it in the pressure cooker, add water until the level of sauce and water is even with the pasta, stir until the mixture simmers, add herbs, put on the lid, bring to pressure, cook one minute, and use the natural release method.

If you're using a pot, continue stirring occasionally until pasta absorbs the water, about 8 minutes depending on whether you're using whole-grain pasta and how tender you want it.

Correct the seasoning, stir, and serve. If you've got some leftover raw or cooked vegetables, try stirring them in. They will parcook and add some nutrition and additional flavor.

Fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians: Hot Cocoa

Fasting in the Russian Orthodox Church has its challenges, but being that I'm holding myself out as an expert, I thought I'd give it a try. There are a lot of fasting, vegan and vegetarian cookbooks and recipes out there, and those are all well and good, but unhelpful for the particular requirements of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. So I thought I'd give things a go and help out.

The problem most of us run into is the strict fast days (no animal products except honey; no oil or wine). That leaves grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. Most of the fasting cookbooks use oil, but thanks to modern tastes, fasting is easier than ever!

Right now I'm drinking hot cocoa that is totally within the rules, easy, and fast. A breakfast drink that you will find comforting on chilly mornings!

Yield: 1 serving

2T cocoa powder (the type doesn't matter)
1T (adjust to taste) sugar
Coconut milk, almond milk, cashew milk, rice milk, or whatever alternative to milk you prefer (if you use the pre-sweetened kind add the sugar at the end).

Measure cocoa powder and sugar into a cup. Add a splash of alternative milk to moisten the cocoa and stir until you have a smooth paste.

For microwave: add alternative milk to fill up the cup. Stir and adjust ingredients as necessary. Heat in microwave for approximately 1 minute (microwave times vary).

For stovetop: measure out alternative milk into pot. Heat on stove until hot but not boiling. Slowly add to cup, stirring until smooth.

If you like, you can add spices to the mix, or substitute honey, maple syrup, or agave syrup for the sugar. If you're going for spices, experiment with black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, smoked paprika, fennel, star anise or anise, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, galangal or allspice.

Pressure Cooking Rice on the Induction Burner

One of my family's so-called "poverty meals" that turned out to be a favorite even in prosperous times is chili rice. Yep, rice with a can of chili and some fixings added to it.

I hadn't tried rice in the pressure cooker yet, so I decided to go all in and try the pressure cooker and the induction burner. Now, my Presto pressure cooker advises that you cook the rice in a bowl, but I didn't have a bowl big enough for two cups of cooked rice that will fit in the pot, so I decided to cook it in the pot itself.

Because you don't lose water (much) during pressure cooking, you don't need much to begin with. Since I was a child, I've always used the formula 2 parts of liquid per one part of rice. But with the pressure cooker, you need only 1 1/4 cups of liquid per one cup of rice (kind of).

I toasted the rice for a while, then added the liquid. I stirred for a bit until the dish reached a simmer, then locked the lid, set it on 212F while the water came up to a boil, then set it on 248F to come up to pressure.

Now here was my problem: I can either set the burner at 212F, which is not enough to jiggle the rocker, or at 248F, which is violently jiggling the rocker. So I tried to compromise, and alternated every minute or so between 212 and 248. Then the phone rang when it was set at 248, and, well . . . a few minutes later I noticed that the noise from the rocker had ceased. The formula I had said to set the timer for 18 minutes but it still said 6 minutes to go.

So I turned off the burner, waited for the lid to release, and held my breath to see what had happened.  (That's the part I hate about pressure cooking--not being able to see what is going on!) The rice turned out beautifully, and here is the finished dish:

Gorgeous, right?

And the moral of the story is: do your homework, but remember at some point you're going to have to improvise!

Omelets, Cast Iron, and the Induction Burner

With the Nativity fast coming up, it's time to clean out the fridge. I had a dozen eggs laughing at me, so I decided to try omelets in the cast iron skillet on my induction burner.

I decided first to try the traditional method of cooking in a hot pan (well, 284F). That worked fine, but then I remembered reading that eggs cook at 160F. My induction burner has 140F and 176F, so I tried 176F (low and slow, like for tough meat).

Note: When I make omelets, I add lots of salty ingredients to the filling, so I don't add them to the eggs.

The low and slow method produced eggs that were just as good as the hot pan, plus I got the chance to try flipping the omelet (which worked great, thanks to the nonstick qualities of well-seasoned cast iron). The eggs flipped out the pan without sticking (I couldn't blow them out because I had three eggs in the pan). Additionally, I got the eggs done without being too browned on the bottom (just a tiny bit for the Maillard effect).

If you don't want to try flipping, put a lid on the cast-iron pan.

Next I'm going to heat the pan and see how evenly it heats on induction with my laser thermometer. I don't know what the results will be, but that's the fun of science!

Pressure Cooker + Induction Burner, part 2

So we had a cold day here and I happened to look at the weather forecast in time, and I had a pound of black beans on hand, so I decided to make black bean soup. I soaked the beans for approximately 24 hours (draining the bean soaking liquid into my garden) and then added the soaked beans to the pressure cooker, added water and spices to the level of the beans, which made it just to the halfway mark on my 4-quart Presto pressure cooker, and put it on the induction burner to heat at 212 degrees. After four minutes it was simmering, so I increased the heat to 284 degrees and put on the lid. It took about seven minutes to come up to pressure, then I reduced the heat to 248 degrees and set the timer for four minutes.

And here's the result:

Yep, perfectly cooked, tender beans. I have the feeling I'm going to be doing a lot more of this this winter!

Pressure Cooker + Induction Burner

So those of you who have been following my adventures in pressure cooking know that I have tried pasta in sauce to great effect. Well, last week I acquired an induction burner, so you know I had to try this out!

First off, let me say that the dish turned out exactly as I intended. I had read about pressure cookers and induction burners earlier, so I chopped mushrooms and opened the jar of sauce (okay, I was in a hurry to get dinner done). I added oil and turned the burner on. In 15 seconds the oil was hot, and I sauteed the mushrooms. That took about a minute.

Then I turned off the burner to add sauce, pasta, water, and wine. I stirred the pasta for a bit until it was all coated with the sauce, then turned the burner on to 248 degrees F and let it go until the sauce was bubbling, stirring all the while. When the sauce started to simmer (about a minute) I popped on the lid and turned the burner to 284F. The pot took about four minutes to come up to pressure, and then I turned off the burner and waited.

At the end I stirred in some leftover kale salad and here is the result:

Well, it was good enough that I'm eating the leftovers for breakfast!

So, a point: the food gets hot really fast, so have your prep all done first. If you don't, be prepared to turn off the burner and wait. I always used the heating the pot time to do my prep, but there isn't any heating the pot time.

Also, I just used the minimum heat necessary to get the pressure. Anything more is overkill. Many of us start the pan off screaming hot and then turn down the heat. Instead, set the temperature on your induction burner to just enough to bring the pot to pressure. After all, the food needs time to cook; especially with foods that have to absorb liquid, give it that little extra time.

So This Post Was Inevitable . . .

It's Lent, which means no meat or dairy, which means pasta, among other things. And once I experimented with cooking pasta in its sauce, and then I got a pressure cooker, well, you can guess the next step: pressure cooker pasta in sauce.

Sorry, I was hungry and forgot to take pictures. Next time.

First off: yes, it works. I used Kroger whole grain pasta; a can of diced tomatoes; some seasonings; a little wine (because it was a weekend, and I'm trying to use up the last of a box); and a little water.

Of course I had made a few attempts already that had gone wrong, so here's what worked. In the stovetop, I added pasta, diced tomatoes, seasonings (in that order) and then filled up the cooker with wine and water until the level of the liquid was almost to the top of the pasta.

I turned on the electric burner, set the cooker on it, and let the liquid reach a fast simmer, stirring all the while. When the liquid reached a fast simmer, I put on the lid. Once the cooker had reached full pressure I let it go about a minute and turned off the heat and walked away, leaving the cooker on the burner.

When the lid unlocked, I had perfectly-cooked pasta in sauce. Total burner time: 6 minutes.
This may not seem like much of a big deal, but with summer coming, you don't want to heat up the house, so instead of waiting for a pot of water to boil, and then cooking pasta for another 8 minutes, and cooking sauce in a separate pan, you'll be reducing your cooling bills significantly. And while this method may not be any faster (you still need the cool-down time), it's a lot less hands-on.

Perfect Pressure Cooker Potatoes

Okay, I think I've nailed it. It took me three tries to get the recipe perfect but I'm thrilled.

1. Slice small potatoes in half lengthways (for maximum surface area). Heat a little olive oil to shimmering in the pressure cooker and add garlic and black pepper. Place potatoes cut side down and brown.
2. When browned, flip potatoes over (skin side down). Add rosemary or italian seasoning, and for one pound of potatoes, a half cup of water. Put the lid on the pressure cooker.
3. Wait until the rocker begins to rock, then turn heat down until the rocker slows. Set your kitchen timer for three minutes.
4. When timer dings, remove pot from heat and release pressure. Place potatoes in serving dish and salt to taste.

The mouth-watering result:

Sorry for the weird bluish tint—there's something weird going on with my cell phone camera. As you can see, these came out beautifully!

Experiments in Pressure Cooking

I finally got brave enough to order and use this pressure cooker from Presto. Following the recommendations from America's Test Kitchen, I got a stovetop model in stainless steel (for the far-off day when I get an induction cooktop).



So far, I've cooked pasta, potatoes, and lentils in the cooker. With those experiments, I'm ready for a few recommendations.

• Don't accidentally knock off that little part in the center unless you want steam shooting up 8 feet in the air.
• If you're using a pressure cooker to save energy or time, it's best used for things that take a long cooking time rather than a shorter cooking time. There may be other reasons to cook Brussels sprouts in a pressure cooker, but you won't save time. Think pot roasts, stews, soups, stocks, etc.
• Experiment with small amounts of food and short cooking times first. 
• Read a bunch of blogs and other people's advice, but remember, Your Mileage May Vary.
• Read the instruction book.
• Read the instruction book. (This bears repeating.)
• Don't believe everything you read.

If you want pasta in the pressure cooker, you need to put in much less liquid than you would for cooking pasta in sauce, because, remember, almost all the liquid gets retained and goes into the pasta. You'll still probably need to drain some out.

Potatoes came out great. I used potatoes that were 1-2 inches in diameter, cooked perfectly in eight minutes (but there was a little too much liquid left in the pressure cooker at halfway up the potatoes, as originally advised. I tried browning the potatoes in a little olive oil first; I don't think I let them brown long enough the first time. There's a little bit of discoloration on the bottom of the pressure cooker from that, but hey, in my kitchen, stuff gets used.

I let lentils cool naturally and I think they were well beyond overcooked at 3 minutes. Also they were a little watery, but then I used soaked lentils instead of bone-dry ones.

I'll keep everyone updated as I try more things after the holidays!