Fissler is a Winner!!!

The Fissler Pressure Pan was selected as the Best Eco-Friendly Kitchen Product in the About.com Reader's Choice Awards! Read the About.com review of the Pressure Pan here. Many thanks to you, the Fissler Foodies, for voting for Fissler. Keep on saving the planet by saving energy when you cook in a pressure cooker!

Fissler Pressure Cooker a finalist at About.com! You can vote!

Yes Fissler Foodies: you can vote on your favorite eco-friendly kitchen product. And we know it's the Fissler Blue Point Pressure Cooker! Go to About.com to participate in the About.com Reader's Choice Awards for 2012. Why are Fissler Blue Point Pressure Cookers eco-friendly? Because pressure cookers save energy by reducing cooking time. And the thick CookStar base found on Fissler Blue Point pressure cookers retains more heat than thinner bases found on other brands. That means that even less fuel and energy is required for cooking. Thanks for voting!

The Veggie Queen's e-cookbook Guides You on Your Path to Quick Pressure Cooked meals!

If you are still on the fence about the value of a pressure cooker, invest $12.95 in Jill Nussinow’s e-cookbook, The New FastFood™: The Veggie Queen™ Pressure Cooks Whole Food Meals in Less than 30Minutes. Jill, a registered dietitian, known as The Veggie Queen™ presents all the information you need to help you select a pressure cooker (size, pressure settings, lock top), the advantages of pressure cooking (speed, ease, energy savings, taste, nutrition) and of course, dozens and dozens of delicious recipes.

I was especially pleased to find instructions on pressure cooking some unusual grains such as the Ethiopian grain teff and Italian farro. I think my favorite section though, is the dessert chapter. The pressure cooker is usually not the first kitchen tool you think of for dessert, but you would be amazed at the sweet treats that it can produce. Jill includes ten dessert recipes that are totally satisfying yet super healthy because of the grains and fruits that are their foundation.

There are some intriguing ideas presented here on why pressure cookers are more popular in Europe and why some of the best pressure cookers are manufactured there. Jill presents the theory that the availability of fast food and processed foods in the U.S. made the speed of pressure cooking less necessary. Europeans, without those “conveniences” took to pressure cooking more readily, to solve the problem of getting meals on the table quickly. And because pressure cooking was always more popular there, European cookers were manufactured to higher standards, with better materials (steel instead of aluminum) and with more innovations (spring valves instead of “jigglers” to release pressure). German pressure cookers by Fissler, such as Fissler’s Blue Point, are a good example.

So, visit Jill’s website (where you will find some preview recipes) and get a copy of The New Fast Food™ and then find the right pressure cooker from Fissler!

Cooking Under Pressure, 20 Years Young

The classic book "Cooking Under Pressure" is out now in an updated 20th anniversary edition. Author Lorna Sass happens to be a Fissler fan. In fact, she used Fissler's Blue Point pressure cookers in a class she taught this past year. If you've been hesitant about pressure cooking, get Lorna's book to guide you, and an easy-to-use Fissler pressure cooker. Fissler makes pressure cooking safe and fast, and Lorna's cookbook makes it delicious. Food Politics author Marion Nestle (second from the right in the group shot in our previous post from New York) said that, "“Anything Lorna Sass writes is a pleasure to read…She makes the cooking methods seem so easy that anyone who doesn’t own a pressure cooker will want one right away".
Here's a preview recipe courtesy of Lorna the "Queen of Pressure Cooking"!

RISOTTO WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES AND SMOKED MOZZARELLA
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil from sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup finely minced onion
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
3 1/2 to 4 cups vegetable broth
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and coarsely chopped
1 cup tightly packed, grated smoked mozzarella (5 ounces)
Salt to taste, if desired
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley (optional but pretty and delicious)
Heat the butter and oil in the cooker. Sauté the onion until soft but not browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rice, making sure to coat it thoroughly with the fat. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of the broth (watch for sputtering oil).
Lock the lid in place and over high heat. Bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain high pressure and cook for 4 minutes. Reduce pressure with a quick-release method. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape.
The risotto will be fairly soupy at this point. Set the cooker over medium-high heat and boil uncovered, stirring vigorously every minute, until the mixture thickens and the rice is tender but still chewy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add a bit more broth if the mixture becomes dry before the rice reaches the desired consistency. When the rice is ready, turn off the heat. Stir in the tomatoes and mozzarella, and add salt to taste and basil, if you wish. Serve immediately.
SERVES 6 AS AN APPETIZER, 4 AS A MAIN COURSE
Copyright, 2009, Lorna Sass, all rights reserved