Fava Bean in Sage Prosciutto Broth with Crispy Prosciutto

Finally bit the bullet and bought a pressure cooker, and now I'm asking myself why did I freaking wait this long. These things are incredible!

From gastronomic guesswork

In 20 minutes I made a perfect prosciutto broth, something that would normally take 2-3 hours. So much time and energy saved, a very GREEN investment I must say.

From gastronomic guesswork
With a 3/4 lb prosciutto hock I added 6 cups water, put the cooker on high until it reached 15 psi, then reduced heat to low for 20 minutes. At this point I depressurized using the gradual method (rapid depressurizing involves opening the valve like here, but then also running cold water over the lid and sides, however I'm discerning this approach is only useful for delicate things like veggies). The broth will have reduced by maybe a cup. I then added 1 cup dried fava beans, 6-8 fresh sage leaves, and chopped up the prosciutto hock remnant after trimming off the fat. Half the prosciutto bits were slowly crisped in a little olive oil over medium low heat. The other half went back in with the favas. The favas were pressure cooked for 12 minutes, then plated with a little bit of the broth and the crispy prosciutto.

It's worth noting that I researched the pressure cookers out there a bit, finally choosing the Fagor Duo Combi. The pan has an aluminum clad base and is heavy / seamingly well made, manufactured in Spain. The set is an absolute steal on Amazon at ~$110 (two pans, pressure lid, glass lid, steamer basket. Though not All-Clad, these are still pretty good pans when not pressure cooking. I also looked at the Kuhn Rikon, but was turned off by the hefty price tags ($200+ a pan) and they just didn't seem to be as well put together. Anyone else have an opinion on pressure cookers?


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