Pressure cooker and what you can do with it.

I arrived in Bogota in 1974 with a contract to work for a year. The year became almost three when I met Jean-Louis, who became my husband.
We lived on a 23rd floor flat in a modern building with a striking view in the Northern neighborhood of Bogota, on Carrera Septima - which added a little bit of height to the impressive 8,661.4 FT (2640 m) of the city.

You may know that at sea level, water boils at 212 F (100 C), but when altitude increases, the temperature at which water boils lowers. So in Bogota, water boils at 195 F (90 C). This means food takes (much) longer to boil.

Look at these artichokes in the Saumur market where I was last week!

Do you like artichokes? We love them and I challenge you to cook artichokes at 8,600 FT! My newly-wed-cook experience was a disaster!! At midnight, artichokes were not cooked yet.

That's how the pressure cooker became part of my kitchen. The following day, we bought one, and ate artichokes "for ever thereafter"! When we arrived in France, we bought a SEB stainless steel, triple bottom, pressure cooker, actually it is the one you see in the picture, and it is ... 32 years old.

Today, I cooked artichokes for lunch; we had them as an appetizer, with hazelnut oil, sea salt, and paprika.
I cooked them for 23 minutes in the pressure cooker (equals 1 hour in a pan). I let them cool, removed them and cleaned every leave leaving the soft part in a bowl, until you reach the heart. Then you clean the heart, season it, and place in on a plate. Mix in the bowl the soft part of the artichokes, and season with hazelnut oil, salt and paprika. Make a little mound with this on top of the heart. Serve cold or a little bit warm.