Serves 4 to 6, depending on your fondness for beans.

Beans and Greens Salad

2 c. dried navy or Great Northern beans, or 4 c. cooked
1/2 c. dried tomatoes
1/2 lb or so fresh greens (beet greens, spinach, chard, kale, etc.) or 1 c. frozen
1 clove garlic, minced
handful of basil leaves, chopped or chiffonaded
1 T + 1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

1) If using dried beans, cook via your preferred method. I like to soak them, then cook 5 minutes in a pressure cooker at 15 pounds of pressure. Rinse. If using canned beans, be sure to rinse them well to remove excess salt.

2) Rehydrate your tomatoes. Cover the tomatoes with boiling water. Let them steep for about 10 minutes. Drain, saving the delicious tomato water for another purpose.

3) If using fresh greens: Wash in several changes of water until the water is clean. Remove large stems, if necessary. Give the leaves a few big whacks with the knife to make them more manageable. If you’re using chard, save them stems and dice them. If using frozen greens: remove from the freezer bag and chop them up to ensure a more even thaw in the pan. Heat up the 1 T oil in a large pot and add the garlic and chard stems (if using). Cook carefully for about 5 minutes, making sure to not let the garlic burn. Turn down the heat, add the leaves, stir to coat with the oil and garlic, and cover. The remaining water on the leaves should be sufficient to steam them, but add more if necessary. Just cook until wilted or tender, depending on the heartiness of the green. Frozen greens won’t need much time at all—the goal is basically to warm them up.

4) Make your vinaigrette. Whisk the remaining oil into the vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5) Toss everything together. If time allows, let the flavors marry for at least 20 minutes before adjusting the seasonings.

My problem, it turns out, is that I added turnip greens at the beginning, right along with the split peas, the potatoes, etc. Although we don’t think of them as such, it turns out that turnip greens are quite high in acid. The acid, in turn, makes it difficult for the split peas to absorb water. How difficult? Well. Let me tell you. These split peas—pre-soaked, mind you!—were still hard as rocks after 8 hours in the crockpot, at which point I turned it to low and we went out for pizza at our local brew pub instead. I let it cook overnight. The peas were still mostly hard the next morning, but by now the mixture had started to turn an alarming color. Determined not to waste food, I decided to pressure cook the whole thing. Five minutes at 15 pounds pressure did virtually nothing to the peas. After another 10 minutes, they were starting to soften, but still not done. Finally, after another 10 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure, they were finally soft enough to eat. They were also not very pretty.

The end product was edible, sort of, if you smother a bowl of the stuff with yogurt and chutney. But it is not something I will repeat.

The lesson? Only add acidic things (tomatoes, greens, lemon juice, etc.) to legumes after they’re cooked. This is the logic that explains, among other things, why recipes for baked beans usually either have you start with cooked beans or include a cooking time of several hours. Great mysteries revealed!

Now, to be honest, I’ve often had trouble getting beans soft in the crockpot, which is one of oh-so-many reasons I usually prefer the pressure cooker instead. How does this work, exactly? What tricks do you use?

A note on meat vs. non-meat: I like my pork. Sometimes I throw in a ham end. Sometimes I use bacon. Sometimes I use bacon fat. And sometimes, I make it vegan. What you do is up to do.

Split Pea Soup in the Pressure Cooker

2 c. dried split peas
1 T. bacon fat or olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium or 1 large carrot, chopped
1 medium turnip, chopped
1 medium potato, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, chopped
a few sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper

1. Put the split peas with 4 c. water in a covered heat-proof bowl on the steamer rack in your pressure cooker. If you don’t have an appropriate bowl with a lid, just use a small mixing bowl covered with foil. (See pictures of this technique on this post on barley in the pressure cooker.) Add 1 c. water to the pressure cooker to create steam. Cover and lock the lid. Cook at 15 pounds pressure for 10 minutes.

2. Release the pressure and take the bowl out of the pressure cooker. Drain the liquid at the bottom of the pressure cooker, but keep the liquid in the split pea bowl. Set it aside.

3. Meanwhile, saute the onions and garlic in your chosen fat. I let mine get fairly brown. If you want to save time, do this in a separate pan while the split peas cook; if you want to save dishes, wait, and fry them up in the pressure cooker itself once you’ve taken out the bowl.

4. Combine the onions, the split peas and their liquid, the thyme, and all the vegetables in the pressure cooker. Add another cup of water or so. Close and lock the lid. Bring to pressure and cook for 3 mintes. Let the pressure drop of its own accord, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Variations: It’s soup. It’s mean to be flexible. Add or subtract soup vegetables as desired.

My potluck guests scarfed it down before I could get a picture, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Crockpot Chili with Sweet Pepper Salsa

2 c. dried kidney beans or 4 cups cooked
1 medium onion, chopped
2 T mild chili powder
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 jar of homemade pepper salsa
a few dried peppers (your choice)
1 small handful of dehydrated tomatoes
1/4 c. bulgar

1. If using dried beans, cook them in the pressure cooker. I find you need about 9 minutes at 15 lbs. pressure for unsoaked beans, but 5 minutes should be plenty if you plan ahead and soak them.

2. Combine everything in the crockpot. Stir well.

3. Cook on low for 6–10 hours, adding water occasionally if necessary.

I love my chili with mac and cheese, but the folks on Twitter tell me this is weird. What do you put on yours?

Now, you may ask, what do I do with these berries? For starters, you can just eat them. They also make really lovely winter fruit compotes when combined with dried apricots. But personally, I love them in meat stews.

Beef Stew with Dried Fruit

2 lbs beef stew meat
1 c red wine
salt and pepper
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 c combined dried fruit (cherries, apples, apricots, and/or prunes)
About 2 c. of assorted stew vegetables, chopped (carrots, turnips, parsnips, etc.)
1 T cornstarch (optional)

1) At least an hour or up to 12 hours before cooking, season the meat with salt and pepper and marinate in the wine. Nestle the thyme sprigs in the meat.

2) Saute the onion in the oil in your pressure cooker (using it as a pot) for a few minutes, until translucent. Add the meat and the juices (including the wine and the thyme). Add another cup of water. Screw on and lock the lid. Cook at 15 pounds of pressure for 8 minutes, then release the pressure quickly. (For refreshers on pressure cooking, see this post.)

3) CAREFULLY open the lid and add the dried fruit and chopped vegetables. Put the lid back on. Bring back up to pressure and cook 2 minutes more, then release the pressure quickly.

4) CAREFULLY open the lid. Now you’re going to use the pressure cooker like a big pot again. Bring the mixture back up to a boil and cook until the liquid is reduced to the consistency that you like. If you prefer, mix up a little bit of cornstarch in a couple of tablespoons of cold water and add that to the pot.

I like to eat this over couscous, but it would work equally well with polenta or rice if you’re gluten free. It’s also a terrific way to eat venison. Just cook it a little longer (more like 15 minutes in the first round) to make sure that it gets tender.

Pressure-Cooked Spelt

1) Put 1 c. spelt and 2 c. water in a small metal or glass bowl that will fit inside your pressure cooker. Cover it with foil. Set it on top of your pressure cooker’s steamer rack and add 2 cups of water to the pot.

2) Close and lock the lid and crank up the heat. Cook at 15 lbs. pressure for 25 minutes and let the pressure drop of its own accord. For a refresher on pressure cooker basics, click here.

Chickpea and Spinach Stew (in the pressure cooker)

(All amounts are approximate.)

1 1/2 c. dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (if using canned or previously cooked, you’ll need 2–3 cups)
2 T or so olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4–6 cloves garlic, cut into hunks
2 T paprika (or less of a more flavorful smoked Spanish paprika)
salt
about 1 c. of chopped parsley, divided into two
10 whole peppercorns
1/2 t. dried thyme, or 1 T fresh
red pepper flakes, to taste
1 pt jar canned tomatoes and their juice (if using store-bought, use 15 oz)
6 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1–2 bunches spinach, to taste
1/2 a preserved lemon, or to taste, chopped

1) Using your pressure cooker as a cooking pot, start sauteing the onion in the oil. Meanwhile, grind the garlic, salt, half the parsley, and the paprika into a paste in a mortar and pestle, like this:

If you’ve never done this before, here’s a tip: start by putting the salt on the garlic. It creates additional grit to help break down the garlic.

2) Stir the paste, peppercorns, pepper flakes, and thyme into the onions. Cook one minute. (If you’re adding additional vegetables, like carrots or celery, you should add them now, too.)

3) Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, and stock. Screw on the lid, lock it, and bring the pressure cooker up to pressure. Cook for 12 minutes at pressure. (For a refresher on pressure cooker basics, see this post.) Let the pressure drop of its own accord.

4) Are the chickpeas done? If not, bring it up to pressure again and cook for a couple of minutes more. Otherwise go on to the next step.

5) Add the spinach, torn into pieces as big or as small as you like them. Cook until it’s wilted. If there’s too much liquid and you don’t mind limp spinach, cook more; if it’s on the dry side, add more stock.

6) Freshen it up with the preserved lemon and the parsley and serve.