Pressure Cooker Black Beans

It's been a cold, cold week, and I've been making a lot of soup.
Earlier this week I made this recipe, but instead of using canned black beans, I made them in my pressure cooker. I made a double recipe of the soup so I would have enough to take dinner to my friends who've just had a baby. The black bean recipe I used called for 1 pound of dried beans, which cost about $1.40 and made about 7 cups of cooked beans. 7 cups of beans is a little less than 5 standard cans. The canned beans I normally use are about $2.00 each, which would have equaled about $10.00 just for the beans, so using a pressure cooker really is quite a savings. The other awesome thing about cooking beans at home is that you can season the beans any way you like, the texture of the beans is much better, and homemade beans usually have a lot less sodium than canned beans. The recipe I used calls for a ham hock(1 lb. if you are going to use this), which I don't eat. To give this vegetarian version a little more flavor, I added 2 tsp of smoked paprika, a few extra cloves of garlic, and a tsp of porcini mushroom powder (a great gift from my mom).
Easy Pressure Cooker Black Beans
adapted from foodnetwork.com

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp porcini powder

1 bay leaf

2 cups (about 1 pound) dried black beans, picked over and rinsed

6 cups water

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a 6-quart pressure cooker over medium-high heat, pour in 3 tablespoons oil. Add the onions and cook until they are golden, about 5 minutes. Throw in the garlic, smoked paprika, porcini powder, and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute more. Add the beans and give a good stir. Pour in the water; add the remaining tablespoon of oil, 1 tablespoon of salt, and a couple of grindings of pepper. Following the manufacturer's instructions, cover, lock the lid, and bring to high pressure. Lower heat to maintain pressure and start timing. Cook at high pressure for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 15 minutes. Release the steam, again following the manufacturer's directions.Taste and adjust seasoning. Eat beans as they are or add to any recipe that calls for canned black beans.