foodiewife's Profile

From: Monterey, CA 93940

Joined: September 3rd, 2011

About me: I'm a self-taught home cook & baker and author of the Food Blog "A Feast for the Eyes". I live on the beautiful coastal area of the Monterey Peninsula of California. I'm undecided about which I enjoy the most-- learning food photography or trying out new recipes or techniques. Over the last several years, I've eliminated any processed foods or package mixes. Instead, I try to find ways to cook the way our grandmother's did-- from scratch! We have a small herb garden and grow our own tomatoes. Favorite cookbook authors: Ina Garten, Tyler Florence, Everyday Food and anything by Cook's Illustrated.

Favorite cookbook: Far too many to choose only one!

Favorite recipe: Ina Garten's Baked Scallops Gratin-- garlic!

Website:
www.foodiewife-kitchen.blogspo

Skillet Pasta Quattro Formaggi from The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook

Very easy to make, but I'd reduce the water from 4 cups to 3 cups. The sauce turned out a bit watery. I added some cooked shrimp for protein,and next time I'll add some steamed broccoli. What made this... read more >

recipe reviews (99)
book reviews (34)
useful review votes (43)

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foodiewife's Reviews

4 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 4Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Pressure Cooker Perfection

By Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Boston Common Press - 2013

Note to self: don't make the same mistake, again, by buying bone-in short ribs. The meat was a bit tough, though I bought them at Whole Foods as grass-fed quality short ribs.
Definitely, go for boneless short ribs!
The sauce was really good! Crazy good, and really simple to make.
I served this sticky rice.
Super easy to assemble, and only 35 minutes of P/C time.
Definitely a keeper recipe.

useful (0)  

Hands down, this is one of my favorite recipes that I've made from this book. It's a meatless dinner, but totally vegetarian because of the chicken broth.
The blend of shiitake, cremini and portobello mushrooms doesn't make me miss meat at all.
This was pretty fast to put together-- 20 minutes, tops, in choppping (I have pretty good knife skills). 25 minutes of PC cooking time, and this sauce was ready to go.
It reheated well, as leftovers.
Definitely a memorably good meal, that I will make again.

useful (1)  

Overall, this was a good recipe, but I would make a few adjustments. 90 minutes of pressure cooker time did not make sense to me. I reduced it to 75 minutes, and the pork was a bit on the dry side. I can make many braised dinners with 20 minutes of cooking time, so something seems really off with this recipe.
However, the green tea and liquid smoke braising liquid was good. The green tea is supposed to mimic pork being cooked in banana leaves. The liquid smoke was not overpowering at all.
The pineapple salsa got some tweaking for me. I like to use red onion and a lot more lime juice and I added mango to the mix. This is a very good salsa, if I do say so myself.
I'd probably make this again, but I think I'd like to sear the meat, first, then put it in the braising liquid. I would think I could reduce the P/C time to 30 minutes.

useful (1)  

This is the first recipe I've made from this cookbook. Oh, how I loved this recipe! I'm such a big fan of braised meats. I appreciate turning less expensive cuts of meats into tender bite-size meals. This took 15 minutes for me to prep. That included deboning the country-style pork ribs (Whole Foods didn't have boneless). I have an electric pressure cooker, that I adore. It took about 10 minutes for the ragu to come to pressure, and then 20 minutes to cook. The sauce was a beautiful reddish brown color, had just the right amount of thickness. The background flavor of the red wine, with just a hint of red pepper flakes-- the garlic, the pasta, the tender meat... so delicious! This recipe is a keeper, for sure.

useful (2)