Sunday Southern Days

I received a beautiful pressure cooker as a wedding gift four years ago. My parents have one, my grandmother has one, my mother-in-law, and so on -- and everyone raves about them. But how can such tender meat come from a pot after only 20 minutes together? The mystery of how the pressure cooker works, and my irrational fear of it exploding in my kitchen, have prevented me from trying it out -- until now. My husband loves my mother-in-law's beef tips over pasta, so I decided to give it a whirl. I received the recipe from her (she measured some things in a 'handful' or 'teacup' serving, so I have adapted the recipe to use standard measurements where possible). The Recipe for Beef Tips over Pasta (Mosxari kai Macaronia, for you Greeks at home) 1 1/2 lbs. stew beef or beef tips 1 small can tomato paste 1 1/2 c tomato sauce OR diced, stewed tomatoes in their juice, totalling 1 1/2 c liquid) 1 c chicken broth, beef broth, OR water (or any combination totalling 1 ...