Dateline: March 5, 2021 What to do with 1/2 a turkey breast? Sheet Pan Dinner #6

I had 1/2 of a turkey breast left over from last nights Indian Night.  What could I do with it quick, as we were on a zoom call until 7 pm. 

I sliced the breast into 4 1-in  thick cutlets, cut up a mess o' potatoes and cauliflower.  These got dumped on a sheet pan, oiled up, salted, peppered and then I realized that the meal was too white.  Yes too white in color, so I made a space between the potatoes and cauliflower and added in 1 lb of trimmed asparagus spears then oiling and salting them as the other veggies were.  I oiled the cutlets and salted and peppered and then realized I had 1/2 a packet of a spice mix from Pensey's that should be used.  I sprinkled that over every thing.  The cutlets went over the asparagus and it was still too white for me, so I grabbed a pint of grape tomatoes and sprinkled them all over the pan.  The palette of the eye was now somewhat soothed.

Into a 400° oven it went for 30 minutes.  By 8 we were sitting down to eat.  Noice!

Dateline: March 4, 2021 Indian Night

On a phone call with friends I said I was making Indian food that night, Lyn asked what was on the menu.  I rattled off a list of dishes that I was jonesing for, such as dal, turkey vindaloo, palak paneer, aloo gobi or aloo jeera, and Bill stopped me in my tracks and said, "That's a lot of food for 2".  Sadly, he was right, and I pared the menu down to turkey vindaloo, palak paneer, and rice.  

I used a new vindaloo recipe that I was not too thrilled with, it lacked the depth of flavor that I usually get when I make pork vindaloo.  I attribute this to the microwave browning of the onions and garlic.  Needless to say, I will not share that particular recipe as it did not meet my incredibly high standards of practice.

My issue with the vindaloo was that it was orange....I know, I should not judge a dish by its color, but it was really jarring to me....I've only eaten vindaloos that are a deep greenish brown.  The dark color is because you brown the onions until they are a very dark brown and the spice mix is dark in color, and perhaps just the hint of some molasses darkens things up.  The vinegar sharpness was also quite pronounced.  While I like the vinegar in a vindaloo, I feel it should be amalgamated into the total and not discernible along with each other element.  Sadly, the sum of the parts did not live up to my expectation.  Next time, I will not take short cuts and use Madhur Jaffrey's recipe for pork vindaloo instead and sub in the poultry for the pork.

The palak paneer recipe was a good one, and I've made it before.  It's from Urvashi Pitre's Indian Instant Pot Cooking.  The ingredients are what you may already have around the house, frozen spinach, onions, garlic, ginger, canned tomatoes, hot peppers, etc.  The only ingredient that may be somewhat esoteric is the paneer.  You could easily substitute firm tofu and the dish would be just as tasty.  It helps to have an Instant Pot, but this can be done on the stove top without much thought, it might even be better that way!  Another important tool for this is an immersion blender.  It makes the puree-ing of the spinach much easier than loading the hot stuff into a blender and doing it that way.  

The left overs are also delicious the next day, so if you make tons, it's good eating.

October 28, 2020 Roasted Buttermilk Chicken

I had a quart of buttermilk that needed to be used.  I don't remember why I ordered it, but there it was!  I saw on NTYCooking a roasted buttermilk recipe from Samin Nosrat and jumped at it.   

I doctored the brine a little with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, granulated onion and garlic, and a couple of rosemary sprigs.  It has been in the fridge for almost 36 hrs.....

This was a wonderful recipe!  

Bill exclaimed at the first bite, "this is wonderful, soooo moist".  He is a white meat guy, so this meant a lot.  

I did wipe off the top of the bird after it was in a pan.  This allowed it to brown up fabulously.  When I make it again, I will put the chicken on a bed of veggies so that the back can get delicious as well.  Dead easy and sooo delicious.

October 26, 2020 Chicken Thighs and White Beans

 I had a package of chicken thighs in the fridge and figured I should cook them.  I wanted something interesting and relatively easy.  I wanted some beans too!  I know, I know, I think I was a Tuscan in a previous life.  I Love Beans!  And not just for their music!

I was perusing the NYTCooking app, and saw a bean recipe with broccoli rabe from Melissa Clark.  I didn't have any rabe, but I did have escarole.  Bingo!  This made the best beans I have ever done in the Instant pot. Only change I made was to cook under pressure for 30 minutes and allow to release naturally.  Hands Down.  The texture was smooth and luscious, and the addition of carrots and rosemary provided some contrasting flavor and color.  It is a keeper.  The thighs were inspired by this recipe.  Bill does not like mustard, tant pis, but I decided to use my preserved lemon marinade instead of mustard.  I had red cabbage and red onions!  

This was a most satisfying meal.  We were both happy and smiling.  The beans were my fave, where Bill favored the chicken.  

Before

Silky Beans

After

October 20, 2020 Thai Red Curry Chicken and Veggies

I was craving something spicy.  There wasn't too much in the fridge, but in the freezer I found some chicken thighs and chicken stock.  I opted for the instant pot, but the meat was frozen, and I was getting hungry.

Flash of brilliance, I put the frozen stock and thighs in the instant pot and set the pressure for 8 minutes.  Not enough to cook them, put certainly enough to thaw them.  After 8 minutes, I quick released the pressure and removed the contents to a bowl.  I discarded the skin off the thighs and held them in the broth.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs

2 c chicken stock

2 T red curry paste

1 can coconut milk, do not shake

chopped ginger

chopped garlic

chopped jalapeno

kaffir lime leaves

1 lime zested and juiced

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

1 broccoli crown, chopped

1 red bell pepper

2 onions, halved and cut into wedges through the root

basil leaves, thai if you have them otherwise italian basil is just fine

fish sauce

                                                                                    sugar, if needed

Method

1.  Heat instant pot on saute mode.  If you defrosted the thighs and stock in the instant pot, wipe is dry.

2.  From the top of the coconut milk, spoon off the cream and add to the pot.  When it bubbles all over the surface, add the curry paste and cook until the oil separates.

3.  Add ginger, garlic, jalapeno, and lime leaves.  Mix well and cook for a minute or so.  

4.  Add vegetables, lime zest, and chicken into the pot.  

5.  It will thicken up, add the broth.  If you defrosted the thighs, add reserved broth.  Mix well.  If you need more liquid, add some of the coconut milk.

6.  Cancel saute.

7.  Set pressure to high and time to 8 minutes.  Replace lid.

8.  Allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes.  Quick release any remaining pressure.  Open lid.

9.  Taste.  Add lime juice.  It will need salt, that is where the fish sauce comes in.  Add about 1 T to start.  Taste again.  You may need more.  If it is too spicy, then add a little bit of sugar.  Keep tasting until it pleases you. Add in basil leaves.

10.  If the broth is too loose, you can reduce it using the saute function until it reaches a consistency that pleases you.

11.  Serve with rice or over noodles.

Nota Bene:

The veggies will all but disintegrate.  If that isn't what you would want, then do not add them in step 4.  Add them after 5 minutes of pressure cooking, by using quick release, then throw in veggies and set for an additional 3 minutes.  Proceed from step 8.

Dateline: October 5, 2020 Spicy Sichuan Turkey and Tofu

I had taken out of the freezer a package of turkey tenderloins and was trying to figure out what to do with them when it occurred to me that I could grind the turkey and make Mapo Tofu using the turkey.

I cut up the still semi frozen turkey into smallish cubes and ground 3/4 of it twice through the fine die.  I added some of my mala powder, mixed sichuan and black pepper roasted and then ground, into the meat for the second grind.  I then ground the remain 1/4 through the fine dice just once, but added a peeled shallot into the grinder as well.

 I chopped up some fresh ginger into slivers, sliced up some garlic, and had some sichuan pepper chunks for my aromatics.  They got fried up in some canola oil.  After they were fragrant, I added the ground turkey and cooked that until it was opaque.  Next went in the pixian paste, a heaping tablespoon, along with a spoon of the Lao Gan Ma chili crisp.  This was all mushed together to coat all of the turkey with the spicy goodness before adding the mustard greens and the chicken stock.

I had some of this preserved mustard greens, which I decided to use this time in the mapo.  What I forgot to do was to rinse it.  It made the dish when coupled with the pixian paste, below, very salty.  I remedied that by adding more chicken stock and some agave syrup.  Having copious amounts of rice also helped greatly.  I also used a glug of rice vinegar to help tame the saltiness.  With rice it was quite tasty.  

I used this oxymoronic box of tofu.  Yes, the texture was that of silken tofu, but it was much firmer and it was the best choice for the job.  Good on me for picking it up somewhere!

This was my pint container of homemade chicken stock!

the finished dish and the rice.

Dateline: October 1, 2020 Buttermilk Chicken

 

I had a whole chicken in the fridge that needed to be cooked.  I had contemplated grilling on grill #1, but opted to spatchcock it and grill it on grill #2.  I was intrigued by Nigella Lawson's recipe, so I used it.  

I only marinated it for a couple of hours, but it was sufficient to hint at the suppleness that reviewers mentioned.  I would certainly do it again when I have some buttermilk that is calling out to be used and enough planning ahead to hold it over night.

The meat was perfectly done, even though the photo shows some pink, that was smoke ring I believe.  I served it with some grilled cauliflower and microwaved, yes, microwaved, sweet and white potatoes.  10 minutes in a brown paper bag.  Perfection!

All in all, a very satisfying dinner, with plenty of leftovers for Bill's breakfast meals.

Dateline: September 23, 2020 Testing Out Grill Number 1

Bill always makes sure to tell any new visitors, and some returnees, that I have 3 grills.  Grill #1, Grill #2, and Grill #3.  I decided to give the unused, untested Grill #1 a run last night.

I was inspired by a suggestion from Servet that he could bring a made-to-order grill back from Turkey.  I got excited and then starting designing one.   As, I was undertaking that, I sadly realized, that the weight of it would be prohibitive in terms of stowing in your luggage or in a large box in cargo! 

I then started researching gaucho grills, which are the Argentinean style open grills with a moveable grill that you can raise and lower according to the heat and desired effect you'd like.  In comparing those to what I had decided to design, and lo and behold, they were quite similar.  I wanted to see if I could modify Grill #1 to be more like a gaucho style grill.  This is what I came up with.

If I add more thermal mass, it will hold the heat better but the trade off is that it will take longer to come to temperature and need more fuel.  I needed to see how Grill #1 ran in order to make some decisions.  D'uh!

The fire burned hot.  I used a chimney to start the lump charcoal and baby it was hot.  As the embers died down it became a more manageable fire.  I am still learning how to deal with open fire boxes!  I also have to deal with my impatience in terms of starting the cook.  I need to let the fire die a bit and cook over a slower fire.

I had a chicken in the fridge so, I was hoping to rotisserie it, but we couldn't locate the motors at the moment.  So I spatchcocked it and grilled it.  I dusted it with Galena Street from Penzey's and got out the pencil asparagus and left over delicata squash, and bingo, dinner was planned.

The pictures above are from 2 different sides of the grill.  The grill is basically a metal trough .

Here we are near the end of the cooking of the chicken.  It was moist and tasty with more than enough charry goodness to make me happy.

The modification I decided I would make was inserting a fire grate/ash pan combo unit so that I can empty the ashes out easily as there is no way to sweep out the ashes now, they have to be scooped or shoveled out.  This new contraption can be lifted out and dumped into the ash can.  It also has the added benefit of catching the grease and keeping the bottom of the grill less oily.

Next spin will be with the rotisserie.  We just need to locate the motors!

Dateline: August 19, 2020 Preserved Lemon Chicken Thighs, Roasted Potatoes, and Zesty Collards

It was a whirlwind of a Saturday.  I had to run into see my GP for a pulmonary test.  Nothing horrid, just a routine test or blowing into things and trying not to pass out.  Which almost happened twice!  Then race home for a zoom call and prepare dinner.  Only after the call was over did I think about eating dinner.

I basically made the usual preserved lemon marinade, lemon, garlic, hot peppers, and olive oil.  I smeared the tights with this and put them on a sheet pan.  I also added some small white potatoes, for Bill, and I put some sweet potatoes on for me.  Into the oven it went, and we sat down to our zoom call.

What I Learned From This

1.  If you are going to be busy and cannot attend to the cooking process, use a lower oven temp.  By the time the call was over, the thighs were just short of shoe leather!  Tasty shoe leather, but not what I had hoped for.  The potatoes were perfect.  Add with the collards and we were set for a great dinner.  

2.  If you are going to have a drink, made sure that you have prepared everything ahead of time.  Trying to clear your head and chop a salad, not a great combo.

Dateline: September 9, 2020 Chicken, but which side of the road????

 I have a lovely whole chicken that I intend to either grill or rotisserie.  Which will be dependent on the weather.  Right now, it is clouding over and looking quite gray.  Last thing I want to be doing in a down pour is pulling a half cooked chicken off the grill.  It is not supposed to rain, but there is a 50% chance.  That has sealed it.  Rotisseried in the oven it is.  

I am thinking a reprieve of the preserved lemon rub and sliced taters below to roast along with the chicken drippings and lemony goodness.  I think I will also make some lemony wilted greens with garlic to finish off the plan.

Ingredients

Lemon Paste Marinade

1-2 preserved lemons

1/2 seeded jalapeno or calabrian hot pepper paste

1 garlic clove, peeled 

olive oil

Blitz everything together and if necessary, thin with more olive oil.  Reserve about 2 T for the greens, the rest can be schmeered all over the chicken and potatoes.

1 roasting chicken, rinsed, patted dry and rubbed inside and out with the lemon paste

5 or 6 small potatoes, cut in half or quarters, depending on size.  You want sort of uniform pieces

1/2 head of cabbage, sliced into thin ribbons

1 bunch tuscan kale, stripped and sliced into thin ribbons

1 small onion, chopped

lemon paste

olive oil

1/1 cup water or chicken stock

Method

1.  Rub the chicken inside and out with the lemon paste.  Set aside.  Save some to rub on the potatoes and about 2T for the greens.  Spit the chicken and truss if necessary to the spit.

2.   Prepare the potatoes by rubbing them with some of the lemon paste and a small douse of olive oil, pepper, and place in the bottom of a roasting pan that will sit under the rotating chicken to catch all of the goodness that drips from the chicken on to the taters.  

3.  Set oven to 325° F.  My rotisserie spit is difficult to work with and needs to be played with to make it fit into the particular slot it needs to be in.  This is why I am not preheating the oven.  I have spent too much time on my hands and knees in front of a hot oven, cursing the damn spit, to even recount.  Now I spit it, THEN heat the oven.  Roast for an hour, checking on everything to make sure that nothing is getting too dark or burned.  When chicken thighs have gotten to 175-180 and breast near the wing bone is about the same temp, AND the juices in the cavity are brown, THEN she is done.  Remove chicken to a cutting board and scrape up the taters into a serving bowl.  You can pour the chicken juices over the taters before carving it up into pieces.  Or use the chicken juice over the greens for some extra flavor.

4.  For the greens, heat a pan over medium heat and add olive oil and onions.  Saute until they soften a bit.   When fragrant, add the ribbons of greens.  Stir to coat liberally with the flavorful oil and lid the pan.  Turn the heat to low and let the greens steam for a while.  Check on the greens and if they are getting dry, add water or chicken stock about 1/4 c at a time.  Lid the pan again and continue checking in on the greens.  When they are wilted and almost tender, add the lemon paste and stir well.  Turn off the burner, cover the pan and let the greens hang out until the chicken is finished.

   

The potatoes were addictive, what's not to love about crusty potatoes!  The greens were quite good, even Bill took a second helping!  The chicken was quite moist and perfectly cooked.  The skin was not as crispy as I like, in fact, it wasn't crispy at all, just browned.  I think a blast at the beginning of 400-450° F heat for 15 minutes and then back it down to 325° would solve the problem.

Dateline: September 1, 2020 Chicken Thighs and Greens

I had a hankering for lemon, preserved lemon, and decided to take one out of the jar in the fridge and blitz it with 3 big cloves of garlic and a bit of a hot pepper that was in the brine.  After it was ground up, I added some olive oil and blitzed again.  A chunky luscious puree was the result.

   

This puree was then the marinade on chicken thighs and added to collards and kale cut into ribbons with 1/4 an onion thinly sliced, plus some olive oil and hot pepper flakes.  Oh my, this was tasty.

I grilled the thighs over a hot fire and they got beautifully browned and crisped edges.  These were naked thighs so I had to be careful about letting them cook too long.  Stringy thighs might work on 

models, but not on a dinner plate.

Speaking of dinner plates, I ate on Uncle Ho's face!  Not to disrespect him, but his face is everywhere on the set of commemorative plates we bought in Hanoi.

This dinner turned out fabulously.  Bill, who really does not see lemon as an essential ingredient, found the greens to be wonderful...had multiple servings!  That's my indicator on the like or no like meter.  I even got him to put some of the surplus marinade on the crunchy salad.  I thought it was an exquisite addition with that extra hit of salt and tart.

Dateline: August 14-15, 2020 Chicken Brats! Yeah, Baby

A while ago, I had deboned and froze a bunch of chicken dark and white meat with skin to make chicken brats.  Friday was the day.  I took the meat out of the freezer along with some reserved beef fat and diced it up to make sausage.  

Ingredients

5 lbs chicken meat, both white and dark with skin, diced into 1 inch cubes                                                    1 lb beef fat, diced into 1 inch cubes                                                                                                               4 t kosher salt                                                                                                                                                     2 t ground white pepper                                                                                                                                     1.5 t caraway seeds                                                                                                                                           1.5 t dried marjoram                                                                                                                                           1.5 t ground allspice

Sheep or hog casing, soaked and flushed

Method

1.  Grind chicken through fine disk of a meat grinder

2.  In a large bowl, combine chicken, salt, pepper, caraway, marjoram, and allspice, mix well using your hands.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes, along with parts of your grinder.

3.  Grind mixture through the fine disk again.

4.  Stuff mixture into prepped casings.  Twist into lengths of your choice and prick any air pockets with sterilized sausage pricker.

5.  Place links on a wire rack in the refrigerator uncovered over night.

6.  Cut links apart and either keep wrapped tightly in plastic in fridge for up to 3 days, or vacuum seal and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw in fridge prior to use.

7.  Cook as desired to internal temp of 165°F.  Suggested is pan fried or grilled.

I tasted a patty prior to stuffing, and boy, oh, boy, were these tasty.

Dateline: August 14, 2020 Lemon Chicken Pasta with Garden Greens

My friend Rich gave me some preserved lemon marinade and some chimichurri that he made.  I marinaded some chicken thighs in the lemon on along with some olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Ingredients 

Boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 1 - 1.5 lbs  cut into bite sized pieces                                                 Preserved Lemon Marinade                                                                                                                            Olive oil                                                                                                                                                            1/2 lb penne pasta                                                                                                                                           1/2 Sweet Onion cut into half moons about 1/8 inch thick                                                                              1/2 hot pepper, sliced thinly                                                                                                                             3 fat cloves of garlic, smashed                                                                                                                   About 10 yellow pear tomatoes cut in half                                                                                                    Splash of vodka                                                                                                                                               Mixed herbs, I used parsley, mint, basil, and rosemary

Method

1.  In a plastic bag marinate chicken thighs in about 1/3 c of lemon marinade with some olive oil for a couple of hours.

2.  Cook pasta according to package instruction in well salted boiling water.  Cook 1 minute less than suggested time.

3.  While pasta is cooking, heat up a pan large enough to hold sauce AND pasta, add olive oil and marinated chicken thighs and saute until cooked through.  Add onions, peppers, garlic and tomatoes.

4.  While pasta and sauce cooks, chop herbs up, and add to chicken and sauce.

5.  Add pasta and 2/3 - 1 cup pasta cooking water to sauce and cook until thickened and the pasta is cooked through.  Serve.

Sauce ready for pasta

Pasta added in and stirred in the sauce.

Dateline: August 7, 2020 It's a crappy day here, so Let's Eat Indian Food

I have been cooking for about 2 hours,  and dinner is ready, way too early for us to eat.  I will make myself a drink after writing this up and sit and relax and ponder the downright English weather we are experiencing today, 75° F and cloudy.  Our British friends are experiencing 100° F weather.... no fun.  

On the menu is Turkey Tenderloin Achari, Sweet and Sour Bhindi (Okra), and red lentils with cabbage and onions.

I am totally psyched about dinner tonight.

Recipe for Achari

Recipe for Bhindi

Recipe for Lentils and Cabbage

Bhindi

Turkey Achari

Red Lentils with Cabbage and Onions

Lordy, we are eating good tonight!

Dateline: July 18, 2020 Chicken Shawarma to shake the blues away

I decided to make this on the grill instead of turning on the oven in this heat.  Oh man, oh man, oh man, this is a tasty, tasty meal.

The recipe is from the New York Times Cooking from Sam Sifton: Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma

I urge you to try it whether indoors or out, it is the bomb!

I marinated the chicken in the prescribed marinade and added the onion cut into eighths just before putting it on the grill.  At the front of the grill where it was hottest, I put the chicken thighs and at the back, the onions.

The chicken remained moist and yet also crispy.  There was a nice piquant bite to it.  Instead of chili powder, I used my home smoked fresh ground chipotle peppers.  The other tweak I did was to add a big pinch of chicken adobe spice to the marinade.  The chicken was in said marinade for about 5 - 6 hours and then cooked up rather quickly on a hot grill.

We ate this with steamed green beans and we were both quite happy with the yasso yogurt snack buddy bar as dessert!

A definite keeper!

Dateline: July 14, 2020 Homemade Turkey Sausage and what to do with it?

I ordered from FD some turkey breast and tenderloins, to which I added another tenderloin package from the freezer, this gave me 5 lbs of lean turkey to make sausage with.  

Smoked Sicilian-Style Turkey Sausage 

Makes 5 pounds 

Sicilian sausages rely principally upon fennel seeds for their distinctive taste. Here, the hot smoking cooks the sausage and adds its own inimitable flavor. 

Ingredients 

5 feet small hog or sheep casing 

5 pounds boneless, skin-on turkey (mixture of dark and light meat) 

2 tablespoons kosher salt 

2 teaspoons crushed fennel seeds 

2 teaspoons whole fennel seeds 

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper (optional) 

2 garlic cloves, minced 

Instructions 

1. Prepare the casing​. 

2. Cut the turkey into 1-inch cubes. Freeze for 30 minutes. 

3. Grind the turkey through the fine disk of a meat grinder. 

4. In a large bowl, combine the turkey, salt, crushed and whole fennel seeds, black pepper, crushed red pepper (if using), and garlic. Freeze for 30 minutes. 

5. Grind the mixture through the fine disk of the grinder. 

6. Stuff the mixture into the prepared casing, prick air pockets, and twist off into 3-inch links. 

7. Place the sausage on a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack and refrigerate, uncovered, for 1 day. 

8. Hot-smoke the sausages at 180 to 190ºF (73 to 88ºC) for 2 to 4 hours, until an instant-read thermometer shows an internal temperature of 165ºF (74ºC). 

9. Cut the links apart. Refrigerate, wrapped in plastic, for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 2 months; thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

Reavis, Charles G.. Home Sausage Making, 4th Edition: From Fresh and Cooked to Smoked, Dried, and Cured: 100 Specialty Recipes . Storey Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition. 

My modifications to this recipe:

I used collagen casings.  I had some and had never tried them.  They are going to be used only when I need to make sure that there are no pork products in what I am making.  They do not hold a twist well and they are not as strong as natural casings.  

I used only lean white meat and supplemented with 80g of duck fat from making confit.  Going forward I would use what was specified in the recipe, a mix of meats with skin (and probably some duck fat as well)

These are the smoked and grilled links.  After smoking I gave them a soak in ice water to prevent the casing from shrinking away from the meat.  

Now the big question was what to do with these links?

I wanted pasta, so I created a sauce of veggies cooked in the instant pot.

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

3-4 anchovy fillets

red pepper flakes

3/4 red bell pepper, diced

2 small zucchini, diced

handful of fresh parsley, chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1 qt homemade chicken stock

1 oz half and half

1/2 c dry white wine

salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and thyme to taste

1/2 lb long pasta, broken in half.  (I used bucatini)

4 links Italian Turkey Sausage, sliced into rounds

any diced cooked vegetables of your choice (clean out the fridge of those tiny containers of left-over veggies)

grated cheese of your choice

Method

1.  Heat Instant Pot on saute.  When hot, add olive oil, onions, garlic, anchovies, and red pepper flakes.  Cook until softened.

2.  Add raw vegetables, parsley, dried spices, salt and pepper and cook until they start to soften.  Add wine to deglaze and then add the stock.  Taste and adjust seasonings

this is just before pressure cooking

3.  Cancel saute, and set up for Pressure Cook 11-12 minutes.  

4.  When Pressure Cook is finished quick release the pressure and puree with a stick blender to your desired degree of smoothness.  Add half and half and stir.

5.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  (I found that it needed salt)

6.  Add in sausage, cooked veggies and broken pasta.  Set pressure on high for 5 minutes.

chopped cooked veggies

sliced sausages

7.  When Pressure Cook is finished, quick release and stir.  Let sit for a couple of minutes to help the starches from the pasta thicken the sauce a bit.  Add some of the cheese to help in that process.  Taste again, and adjust seasonings.

8.  Serve and pass the cheese!

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but here is what was left in the pot!  

This was really delicious and I know my husband had no idea about the anchovies and zucchini!