Shrimp Risotto

I’ve heard that the IP is fabulous for risotto, which I love. To try it out, I used a recipe I’d saved on Facebook (from a blog): 5-minute Shrimp Scampi Paella Risotto.  Love shrimp, love paella, love risotto.

I followed the recipe as written, including the writer’s strong recommendation to leave the shrimp in the shells while cooking, to get the flavors into the risotto.  The risotto part turned out great. I didn’t love the shrimp. For one thing, my husband hates peeling shrimp, so I peeled all of them after cooking, and since they were piping hot, this delayed getting dinner on the table and was messy and tedious. But I peeled them and put the shrimp back into the risotto.  I also found the shrimp a bit rubbery and bland.

I definitely will keep making risotto recipes in the IP. This turned out perfect. But I’m not sure about the shrimp–might be better to make it separately and mix it into the risotto at the end.

More from Laurel Randolph’s Book: Oatmeal & Fried Rice!

In my last post, I mentioned The Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph. I made two more recipes out of it over the last week.  Again, I’m not typing out exact recipes out of respect for her copyright.

Steel-Cut Oatmeal

I decided to try oatmeal (which I adore and eat almost daily in the winter), using the Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal recipe on p. 22.  It included steel-cut oats, chopped up and peeled fresh apple, cinnamon, and a bit of brown sugar. It cooked for 7 minutes–Manual setting–and then a 10-minute natural release.

I thought it tasted fine, though I found myself adding more brown sugar for topping–I wanted it a little sweeter.  It took a long time, though, and I’m not a big breakfast person, so I don’t know that I’d go to the trouble very often. Hubbs had a bowl, and I had a generous serving as leftovers a couple days later. I actually enjoyed it a bit more as leftovers.  So it was fine and the recipe worked perfectly, but I just don’t know that I loved it.

Fried Rice!

A few days ago, I made Faster-Than-Fast-Food Fried Rice (p. 63), to accompany orange-flavored chicken I was doing in the oven. A bit of background: I’m allergic to sesame and never eat at an Asian restaurant. This was an adult-onset allergy (mid-30s), and before that, we adored eating Chinese food. I loved the Panda Express Orange-Flavored Chicken, but I had a horrible allergic reaction from eating there. But I discovered that you can buy the orange sauce, bottled, at the checkstand there, and the sauce doesn’t have sesame. I found a recipe for Baked Orange Chicken, which I follow except that I use the Panda sauce instead of making my own. I’ve made this a number of times with great success.

I decided it would be fun to have fried rice to go with my orange chicken.  This recipe turned out great. Not much to it–white rice, water, salt, scallions/green onions, 2 eggs, and soy sauce.  You cook the rice, then push the steamed rice up the sides of the pot, leaving space at the bottom to cook the scallions and eggs on Saute.  You scramble the eggs and mix everything together and then throw in the soy sauce.

I thought it was great, and with the orange chicken, I really felt like I was eating Chinese food again.  The only downside was that the stuff stuck like crazy to the bottom of the pot and was a pain to clean. On a related note, I just found out from one of my IP Facebook groups that there’s a nonstick ceramic liner pot you can order. I ordered mine from the Instant Pot site (the Amazon site is severely back-ordered), and it should be here shortly ($29.95 with free shipping). This will be great for stickier stuff like the fried rice.

So I still think this cookbook is great, even if I didn’t love the oatmeal and my husband had to apply elbow grease to clean up after the fried rice. The recipes work perfectly so far.

P.S. I think I’m also going to experiment with making the orange chicken in the IP instead of the oven. I’d think the settings would be similar to the chicken tikka I made before.

 

 

Scrumptious Soup & Sides!

The Book

When I got my Instant Pot, the first thing I did was go on Amazon and order this book, Laurel Randolph’s best-seller, The Instant Pot(R) Electric Pressure Cookbook.  This week I dug into it and have tried three of the recipes, all with great success. Out of respect for copyright, I’m not going to retype the exact recipes, but I’ll make a couple of general comments.

Squash & Sausage Soup

This is a recipe that calls for butternut squash (4 cups of it) and about 3/4 of a pound of bulk sausage (I used mild Italian), plus other stuff (celery, onion, garlic, broth, and cream). What really puts it over the top is step one, in which you saute fresh sage leaves in olive oil (using the Saute function on the pot), fish them out and let them drain, and then crumble them over the bowls of soup to serve.

The sausage is then sauteed and removed.  Then the celery, onion, and garlic get a whirl on Saute. The squash and broth are added, and then the pot goes on Manual (high pressure, 15 minutes, quick release).  Add the cream and then use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  Add back the sausage, serve the soup, and crumble the sage on top.  Absolutely delicious.

The recipe was pretty much perfect, and my husband really liked it, too. He said he doesn’t usually like butternut squash soup because it’s too sweet; this was savory. For the future, I might add a bit more sausage (I was wishing for more) and I’ll remember that I seasoned with 1/2 t kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper before the pressure cooking and again before serving.   Big success, and I’m eating a bowl of leftover soup for lunch today. (I’d say it makes four generous main-dish servings or maybe six first-course servings.)

Sides: Fingerling Potatoes and Spicy Carrots

I made both of these to accompany a skillet sloppy joes dinner.  The potatoes were easy (small fingerling potatoes, salt, butter, pepper). You brown them and crisp them a bit on the Saute function in butter (about ten minutes). They cooked 7 minutes on Manual/high pressure and then a 10-minute natural release.  So this is not really a last-minute side dish, but still quicker than oven-roasting..  They came out fine and tasted good.

The carrots were amazing. The biggest time eater is peeling and slicing the carrots, and you could probably dispense with that by simply using peeled baby carrots instead. They cooked for 2 minutes (!!) in a steamer basket on Steam/high pressure, then a quick release, and then, after draining the carrots, they’re sauteed with butter, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper, and honey.  They were cooked perfectly and the seasonings were delicious. My husband called them “Mexican carrots.”  This one was a real keeper.

I’m a happy Instant Pot camper this week, and the book so far is a hit. I plan to try a lot more recipes from it.  It’s currently under $10 on Amazon, so I’d grab if you have an IP or another electric pressure cooker.

 

 

 

 

 

Instant Pot Chicken Tikka FTW!

I was going to make chicken tikka masala in the slow cooker today.  I love Indian food, but I can’t eat in Indian restaurants anymore due to my severe sesame allergy.  I’ve tried several chicken tikka recipes at home and even ordered garam masala and tandoori masala from Amazon so that I could make it and other recipes.

I had my day planned: I was going to get the ingredients together starting at 10:30 a.m., so I could have the slow cooker going by 11:00.  The slow cooker recipe calls for 6-8 hours on low plus a final 30 minutes to add cream and cilantro and lemon and thicken, and I’ve learned that if I don’t go on the low end of my slow cooker ranges, it turns my chicken breast into leather.

So…my house cleaners showed up at 10:20. (I never know exactly when to expect them. Sometimes it’s Wednesday, not Tuesday.) No slow cooker prep for me today.

Got home from work around 3:30 and decided not to give up on my chicken tikka. I’d read an article about how to convert slow cooker recipes to the Instant Pot, and then I looked up specific recipes for chicken tikka for the IP.  I had a plan.

Here’s what I did:  I prepped the ingredients, using my favorite slow cooker chicken tikka recipe.  Didn’t change a thing. Then I put everything into the Instant Pot, locked the lid and sealed it, and pushed the “poultry” button.  When time was up (about 10 minutes to come to pressure and 15 minutes to cook), I quick-released the steam. Then I added the heavy cream, lemon juice, and cilantro (see the recipe), and switched the IP to slow cook (venting valve on “venting,” not “sealing”), for 30 minutes, just as the slow cooker recipe directs.

It came out…PERFECT.  If anything, it was a little better than when I’ve made it in the slow cooker because my chicken didn’t get too dry.  And it took less than an hour to cook instead of 6.5 hours in the slow cooker!

I’m seriously fired up about this, if you can’t tell.  🙂

 

Baked Potatoes

I’m trying to make sure I don’t fall off the learning curve, so I decided to try another basic item from The First Seven Things article: baked potatoes. I’d made Slow Cooker Crack Chicken over the weekend, partly to get the jump on the week and partly to have a Super Bowl fallback in case my Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Chili didn’t work out.  I thought the “crack” chicken might be good served over baked potatoes.

Instructions

1. Scrub the potatoes and prick them all over with a fork.
2. Put them into the Instant Pot on a steamer basket.
3. Add 1 c. of water.
4. Lock and seal the Instant Pot lid.
5. On Manual setting, set 12-20 min. depending on the size of the potatoes.
6. If desired, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
7. When timer goes off, do a quick release of the steam.
8. Carefully (with gloves or tongs), remove the potatoes.
9. Optional: Finish the potatoes (to crisp up the skins) in the oven; rub with olive oil and salt before putting into the oven.  15 minutes in the 400-degree oven.

How It Turned Out

OK. My potatoes were on the medium-to-large side, so I tried them for 16 minutes in the IP, then 15 min. in the oven.  They were slightly undercooked–edible enough to serve, but I would have liked them softer.  Next time I’ll probably set a longer time for the IP, and I might skip the oven step altogether, especially if I’m just using the potatoes as a base for something else.

The “crack” chicken was pretty good, and I still have more to serve on buns or in tortillas as wraps.

 

 

 

Eggs, Part 2

Having mostly figured out my Instant Pot, I decided to try hard-boiling eggs again, following the instructions in the article I mentioned in Putting All My Eggs in One Basket (about the first seven things to make in the IP).

Original Instructions

1. Let the eggs come to room temperature (I did 45-50 min.). (I read this advice on the IP Facebook page, not the “first seven things” article. Don’t know if this is strictly necessary.)
2. Put however many eggs you want into the IP in a steamer basket (I used the one that came with the IP) and add 1 c. water.
3. Lock the lead and seal the vent (see, I’m learning).
4. Use the Manual button and set for five minutes.
5. When the timer goes off, use quick pressure release (turn valve to venting).
6. Take off lid, remove eggs with gloves or tongs, immediately submerge in an ice water bath.
7. Serve immediately or transfer to fridge for later.

What Happened

Everything went as planned, but my eggs were medium-boiled, not hard-boiled.  However, the shell did come off easily, as advertised. Just tap gently once with a table knife, and the egg peeled beautifully.

Research

I went back to the Facebook group and used its search tool to look for posts on hard-boiled eggs.  This is what I found and what I’ll try next (but not right now because I’m a little burned out on trying to hard-boil eggs this weekend, especially since I have a Krups electric egg cooker that works perfectly and is easy to use).

The problem with the original instructions was lack of specificity: how long with the quick pressure release, how long in the ice bath.  This is what is suggested:

1. Cook as described above for five minutes.
2. Two minutes on quick pressure release
3. Six minutes in the ice bath

I think I’ll also skip having the eggs come to room temperature and see what happens. If I have to plan 45 minutes in advance, I’m losing one of the advantages of the IP–getting things done quickly.

EDIT: OK, just found This blog post that suggests 8 minutes of cooking for hard-boiled eggs…hmmmm.

 

My First Meal

Previously on “Dana Tries Pot”

• I tried unsuccessfully to hard-boil some eggs.
• I finally figured out how to make the thing turn on and cook something.
• I am humbled and fully convinced of my need to read instructions (and sometimes to watch Youtube videos).

The Recipe

Since it’s Super Bowl weekend, I wanted to make something for the game tomorrow. Buffalo wings are pretty traditional fare for the Super Bowl, but hubbs doesn’t like wings much. So I found a recipe called Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Chili and thought that might be both easy and a Super Bowl-ish compromise.

You can see the original recipe in the link, and here’s how I did mine “to taste”:

Ingredients

cooking spray

1 c. carrots, peeled and sliced

1 c. celery, chopped

about 3/4 c. chopped onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1.5 lbs ground chicken

2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes

2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1/3 c. hot buffalo wing sauce (I used a bottled brand called Wing Time)

1/2 c plain Greek yogurt

1/3 c goat cheese crumbles (because I hate blue cheese)

chopped chives for garnish

Directions

1. Spray the inside of the Instant Pot with cooking spray.
2. Put in the ground chicken and turn the Pot to Saute. Saute with the lid off, stirring, until the chicken is lightly browned.
3. Add the onion and stir with the chicken for about 2 minutes.
4. Add the carrots, celery, and garlic and stir. Switch the pot to “keep warm.”
5. Put the diced tomatoes into a blender. Pulse briefly so that the tomatoes are the consistency of chunky tomato juice. Two cans yields a little over 3 c. of liquid.
6. Add the tomatoes, chili powder, hot sauce, and garlic to the chicken and vegetable mixture and stir in.
7. Lock the lid in place and turn the venting valve into sealing position.
8. Using the Manual button, set the timer for 25 minutes. It will take an extra ten minutes or so for the pot to come to pressure. You will hear steam happening once the pressure cooking begins.
9. When the timer goes off, release the pressure using quick release. (Turn the venting valve to “venting,” but be careful because hot steam will escape from the lid. I used silicone oven mitts and kept my arms, face, etc. at a safe distance.)  It took maybe 10 minutes for the pressure to release.  Then I turned the pot off (it will default to “keep warm”) because we’re not eating the stuff until tomorrow.
10. Top with the cheese crumbles mixed into the Greek yogurt, plus chopped chives for garnish.

After 25 minutes, the veggies are tender and the meat appears properly cooked. I tasted it briefly, and it’s HOT. I think we’ll like that Greek yogurt mix-in when the time comes.

So…it’s done. The thing is out of the box, it’s assembled, and it cooked me something!  Hurray!

EDIT: Reheated the chili today using the slow cooker function on the Instant Pot. We ate it during the Super Bowl. It was really good!  My tweaks gave it the right amount of heat, especially with the yogurt/cheese crumbles sauce stirred into individual servings. I thought the amount of liquid was about right, but I could see going with even a bit less, say 2-2 1/2 cups, for a thicker sauce.

I’d eat this again. I like making chili and have a few recipes in my rotation, but I think this one is worthy.

 

 

 

I’m an Idiot

Seriously, an idiot.  Who knew that the “Timer” button wasn’t meant to set the cooking time (like on my microwave, my oven, etc.)?  It’s for setting the timer in advance for delayed cooking (like on my coffeemaker).  I get it now!

So the Manual button is my new best friend. THAT’s how I tell the thing how long it should cook. When I did that, the pot beeped three times and displayed a very reassuring “ON” message on the screen.  And it’s making noises, like there’s steam escaping. Pressure cooking, ya know.

So I have something cooking in the pot now.  It’s this recipe for buffalo chicken chili.  We’ll see if it actually cooks this time!

Putting All My Eggs in One Basket

I thought the easiest thing to start with would be hard-boiled eggs. I love them, for one thing, and it made sense to try something really basic for my first attempt. Plus I found this article, which listed eggs as one of “the first seven things to make with your new Instant Pot.”

I have learned some things about myself today.  First, I’m really impatient and should read instructions.  I didn’t know, for example, that after pushing a function button, you have only 10 seconds to adjust the timer.  I couldn’t figure out how to get the $*&% thing going and had to resort to…well…reading the manual.

Then I thought I’d followed instructions. I put four eggs , which I’d gotten to room temperature per suggestions I’d read in the Instant Pot Facebook Community page,into the steaming basket that came with the pot. I added a cup of water, per instructions. I put it on the manual setting and set it for five minutes (as the “first seven things”) article specified.

Then I waited and…nothing happened. The second thing I learned about myself is that I’m not very intuitive and my instincts are nearly always wrong.  The “first seven things” article said “Close the pot” (check), “close the vent valve…” and…um. I didn’t know which way to close the vent valve, which is on the top of the pot. There’s a setting for venting and a setting for sealing.  Since it said “close the vent valve,” I assumed that meant “turn the valve to venting.”  WRONG.  Again, reading the (not very clear) manual made this more apparent.

Now I’m on Round 2 with the eggs. The valve is set to “sealing.”  It beeped three times after I set the timer for five minutes.

And…I realized that I set the timer for five hours, but it wasn’t doing anything anyway. I canceled the job, and now I think I’ve killed it. It won’t turn on at all!

EDIT:  OK, haha.  It’s not dead. I just managed to knock the power cord loose in all my flailing around with the lid.  I gave up on the eggs and have moved onto my Super Bowl chili.  See next post.

So far I seem to be better at blogging than the Instant Pot. WordPress is pretty easy to use!

Stay tuned…

 

 

OK, It’s Out of the Box

The day after I wrote my first post, I came down with a virus. Yes, That One. I was sick in bed for more than a week and dragging around for the next week. It was also the very beginning of winter quarter, so I was sick AND busy. And the weather was awful.

You get the picture. There was practically no cooking whatsoever of any description in the month of January, and there was certainly no mental space for a new cooking toy.  But now it’s the first weekend of February, and it’s time to get this party started.  Tomorrow’s Super Bowl Sunday, and I thought it would be fun to try something in the Instant Pot for the game.

Setting it Up

I’d found a link to a Youtube video called Instant Pot Unboxing & Assembly.  I watched the first 30 seconds of it and rolled my eyes:  She actually demonstrated how to use a box knife and how to open the box.  I can handle this on my own, I thought. There’s a manual, I can read, and I certainly know how to take things out of boxes without watching a (seven-minute!) video.

Well…I was right.  Sort of.  I got the stuff out of the box, got rid of the plastic wrap and cardboard inserts.  Not rocket science.  So the “unboxing” thing was done.  I gleefully took photos of the different components as I unearthed them.

The manual had steps for how to get the thing up and running.  Wash and dry the inside liner bowl and the inside of the lid, using warm, soapy water. Check.

Then I hit a snag.  “Install the Condensation Collector,” it said.  I was able to figure out what that was–it’s a little plastic cup thingy–kind of oval-shaped, not to be confused with the rice cup that comes with  it (that’s a normally shaped rice cup).  But the manual’s cryptic directions: “slide it into the slot on the cooker housing” and very generic drawing were not self-explanatory enough for me. (I should say that I’m hopelessly challenged when it comes to using diagrams to accomplish things. I’m a verbal person.)

After a few minutes of having no idea whatsoever where to install this thing, I…gave up and watched the Youtube video.  And it helped!  Not only did I understand where to put the condensation collector, but as a bonus, she explained that there’s invisible plastic over the control panel on the front that has to be peeled off.  Done!  I also went back to it to watch how to put the lid on properly.

So…it’s out and it’s assembled.  So far, so good.  Now it’s time to cook something!