Pineapple Marinara
| That is sage on top...I love pineapple and sage :) |
I
got a brand spankin new pressure cooker for Christmas, a Fagor Duo 8-Quart to be exact. I have been
busting to try it and I finally settled on making this delicious Pineapple
Marinara sauce for my hawaiian pizza (which I will post in the coming days).
Pressure cookers have been around for a long time, but they are starting have a
resurgence now do to their new safety measures (they won't explode in your
kitchen anymore) and lots of new publicity from major cookbooks and TV shows.
Pressure cookers are back baby! The beauty with pressure cookers is their
ability to cook anything at a higher temperature. You see, any food product
contains water and the boiling point of water is 212°F. So, therefore, nothing
can be cooked past that temperature while it contains water. You can put a
steak in an 800°F, but it will never pass 212°F, unless of course you
completely dehydrate it. Pressure Cookers can get us around that barrier.
Whenever you raise the pressure you essentially raise the boiling point. The
Fagor Duo 8-Quart is one of the best on the market and can reach full pressure
of 1 Bar, or 15 psi, which essentially increases the cooking environment to
250°F. Given this advantage, you can cook whatever it is your cooking 70% more
efficient and given the increased temperature, you can get a lot more depth of
flavor. I highly recommend everybody having a pressure cooker in your home, not
only are they extremely versatile, but extremely efficient. They are definitely
worth the cupboard space!
Ingredients
- 2 cups
yellow onion, large dice
- 1 cup
carrots, medium dice
- 5-6
cloves garlic
- 3 cups
pineapple, medium dice
- 1/2 cup
prosciutto, diced
- 1 1/2
tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large
can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
- Extra-virgin
olive oil, to taste
- Salt,
to taste
Directions
Add the onion, carrot, garlic,
pineapple and prosciutto to the bowl of a food processor and mince. Work in
batches if they don't all fit.
Add the olive oil to the base of the
pressure cooker and saute the minced vegetables over medium heat until the
onions turns translucent, about 4 minutes.
Stir in 1/2 the can of crushed
tomatoes, reserve the rest for another use. Pressure-cook at a gauge pressure
of 1 bar/15 psi for 45 minutes. Don't start timing until full pressure is
reached. Once 45 minutes has passed, depressurize the pressure cooker. Blend
sauce with an immersion blender until smooth. Season with EVOO and salt to
taste.
