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In , on December 8, 2016 with No Comments

Pressure Cooker Balsamic Maple Pork Roast

One of the first things I wanted to try in my new Instant Pot was a roast. We eat a lot of roast, both beef and pork, and I usually drag out my trusty Crock-Pot for these. It frees up my stove and oven, and I can put a roast on in the morning and go about my business without having to do anything else. I love my slow cooker so much that I have two of them, and I’ve often had two different recipes going at the same time simply because of the convenience they afford for meal prep.

With that said, my new favorite kitchen appliance is my Instant Pot. I cooked a huge pork roast the other night (7 pounds), and it was the best-tasting, most tender pork roast I’d ever made. My husband even commented (several times!) during dinner that it was the best pork roast he’d had. While I still love my Crock-Pot, it’s being moved to my basement shelving (sniff, sniff) to make room for the Instant Pot in my kitchen cupboards. Now I can’t wait to try a beef roast. I’m sure I’ll have the same wonderful results.




This pork roast marinade was simply an idea I had by looking in the cupboards to see what ingredients I had on hand. I knew I didn’t want barbecue or pulled pork (we have that a lot at our house), so I came up with this marinade. I pressure cooked my huge roast for 60 minutes, and it was tender and juicy, but if you have a “normal-sized” roast (3 to 4 pounds) you can bump back the cooking time to 50 minutes.

 

Pressure Cooker Balsamic Maple Pork Roast

7-pound pork butt (cut into pieces that fit in the pressure cooker pot)

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons stone-ground mustard

2 tablespoons coconut aminos or soy sauce

Place the pork butt in a large plastic bag. In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, and stir to thoroughly combine. Pour the sauce into the plastic bag with the pork butt, and seal. Turn the bag over a couple times to completely coat the roast, and marinate the roast in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

Place the marinated pork butt in the pressure cooker pot, and add the marinating liquid to the pot as well. Lock on the pressure cooker lid, and select the manual setting. Pressure cook the roast on high for 60 minutes. When the pressure cooker beeps, let it go to the keep warm setting, and let the pressure naturally release. When the pressure is reduced, remove the lid, and slice up the roast. Serve.

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In , , , on December 6, 2016 with No Comments

Pressure Cooker Jambalaya

I absolutely love jambalaya and any other Cajun-inspired dish. My family traveled to New Orleans after my senior year of high school, and I fell in love with the cuisine, so I’ve tried to recreate those flavors in my recipes.

My youngest son requested that I make jambalaya, so since I’d recently bought an Instant Pot, I decided it was high time I made this for dinner. The pressure cooker makes it super easy to pull this recipe together quickly, and in no time I had a delicious meal on the table.




You can certainly brown the meats in the pressure cooker using the sauté function, but I prefer to use my large cast iron skillet to brown the meat. I then added the meat to the recipe after the rice had finished pressure cooking.

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Pressure Cooker Jambalaya

1 pound chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch pieces

12 ounces Andouille sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces

8 ounces raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning, divided

1 teaspoon chipotle powder, divided

2 teaspoons dried thyme, divided

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 green bell pepper, diced

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 small onion, diced

2 cups diced tomatoes, drained (I used 1 quart of home-canned tomatoes)

2 cups Jasmine rice

2 cups chicken stock

Fresh parsley

 

In a cast iron skillet, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil, and brown the chicken and sausage pieces. Sprinkle the meat with half of the Cajun and chipotle seasonings and half the dried thyme. When just about browned, add the raw shrimp, and cook until the shrimp just turns pink. Set aside.

In the cooking pot of the pressure cooker, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Select the sauté function, and sauté the garlic, onion, and green pepper with the remaining Cajun and chipotle seasonings and half the dried thyme just until tender. Add the tomatoes, rice, and chicken stock, and stir to combine.

Lock the pressure cooker lid in place, and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes.

Use the quick-release setting to release the pressure. Remove the lid, and add in the cooked meats and the parsley to taste (I used about 3 tablespoons). Replace the lid, and let the jambalaya sit for 6 minutes on the warm function. Serve.

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In , on December 5, 2016 with No Comments

Pressure Cooker Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding

I absolutely love dessert, especially old-fashioned, comfort desserts, and rice pudding fits the bill of comfort food in my book. However, I don’t like having to babysit the rice to make the pudding, so I don’t often make it. That changed when I got an Instant Pot pressure cooker.




I saw a bunch of recipes on Pinterest for rice pudding, and believe me you can find just about any flavor combination you want on Pinterest, but I wanted a plain, old-fashioned rice pudding recipe. I found one at Pressure Cooking Today’s website, and it’s a keeper. I’ve made this twice, and I haven’t even had my Instant Pot for a week! The first time I made the recipe as is, with the exception of using heavy cream for half of the milk the recipe calls for, but with my family, this didn’t make nearly enough. The second time I made it, I doubled all the ingredients and extended the pressure cooking time by 1 minute. It turned out perfectly delicious.

You can use whatever kind of rice you want in this, but I used Arborio rice, the kind you use to make risotto. It gives the pudding a creamier texture

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Pressure Cooker Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding

1 cup Arborio rice

1-1/2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole milk, divided (I used 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk)

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon good vanilla

3/4 cup raisins (optional)

 

In a pressure cooking pot, combine the rice, water, and salt. Lock the lid in place, and select High Pressure and 3 minutes of cook time. When the beep sounds after pressure cooking is completed, turn off the pressure cooker, and use a natural pressure release for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, use the quick-release feature to release any remaining pressure.

Add 1-1/2 cups milk and the sugar to the rice in the pressure cooking pot, stirring to combine.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the remaining 1/2 cup milk and the vanilla until thoroughly combined. Add mixture to the rice in the cooking pot.

Select the sauté function and cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to boil. Turn off the pressure cooker. Remove the cooking pot from the pressure cooker, and stir in the raisins if using.

Serve hot or refrigerate until chilled and serve. I let the pudding sit for 15 to 20 minutes after I added the raisins and then served, but it’s good either hot or cold.

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In , , , on December 5, 2016 with No Comments

Pressure Cooker Beef Stew

I love quick and easy recipes given my busy work schedule. Even though I work from home, it seems like I have less time to cook a delicious meal than I did when I worked outside the house, so I’m always looking for ways to speed up the process. I’d been looking at different pressure cookers for some time but never could decide on a stovetop version or an electric cooker, but when Amazon had a deal on CyberMonday on Instant Pot pressure cookers, I decided to take the plunge and get one.

I’m so hooked on this Instant Pot, and I can’t believe it took me this long to actually get one. It really does deliver a taste that you think took all day to achieve but in the fraction of the time. The first recipe I tried was a traditional beef stew. I had a cheaper cut of beefsteak plus some leftover prime rib to use in my stew, and to be honest, you really couldn’t tell the difference between the two in the finished product as far as tenderness, although you could still tell which type of beef it was based on texture. This Instant Pot is going to be a great way to buy more inexpensive cuts of meat and still end up with a tender bite in the end, and I can’t wait to try a beef roast in this.




I looked at various recipes on Pinterest for pressure cooker beef stew, mostly to get an idea of the times each stage of cooking would take. Some recipes called for adding all ingredients at the same time to the pressure cooker, but I decided to pressure cook the beef first and add the rest of the vegetables at a later stage. If you have an Instant Pot, it has a sauté feature where you can brown your meat in the pot itself, but I like to brown meat in my cast iron skillet. I then added the browned meat to the Instant Pot and continued as the recipe says. It turned out fantastic.

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Pressure Cooker Beef Stew

2 pounds beef roast, cubed into 1-inch pieces

About 2 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and black pepper

8 ounces beef stock

8 ounces dry red wine (I used a Merlot)

1 pound carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 large onion, diced into medium-sized pieces

2 cups of medium-diced potatoes (about 4 to 5 potatoes)

1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)

1-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or to taste)

 

Select the sauté function on the Instant Pot, and add the olive oil. Dredge beef cubes in the flour, and sauté beef in the olive oil until browned on all sides. Salt and pepper the beef to taste as it browns. Add the beef stock and wine, and place the lid on the pot, making sure the lever is set to the pressurize setting. Using the manual button, cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Using the quick-release valve, release the built-up pressure, and remove the lid. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Replace the lid. Again using the manual setting, cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Either let the pressure naturally release, or you can use the quick-release function again to release the pressure. Remove the lid and serve the stew.
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