All posts filed under: Pressure cooker

Cooked black beans in an orange bowl with a jar of chipotles behind it

Instant Pot Chipotle Beans

Published by Mike Vrobel

When I’m not busy being a food nerd, I’m a Science Fiction and Fantasy nerd. (I’m sure this is a shock to all of you.) One of my favorite authors is Ursala Vernon; her Clockwork Boys series were , and she mentioned “Chipotle Beans” on Twitter a while back. I immediately thought “What a great idea!” Instant Pot Chipotle Beans, here we come. So I made a batch – saute some aromatics, add chipotle, cook the beans in my magic bean cooker, the Instant Pot. They were fantastic…and it looks like I’m not the only one to think so. It turns out, Ursula’s husband Kevin got the recipe from the Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook. Which, I’m ashamed to say, has been on my Kindle for over a year now, but I never got around to opening it up. In other words, special thanks to Laurel Randolph’s cookbook for indirectly inspiring this recipe… What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below. Related Posts Instant Pot Pinto Beans Pressure …

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Instant Pot German Pot Roast with Mustard (Senfbraten)

Published by Mike Vrobel

Grandma said: If you want luck in the New Year, you have to have pork on New Year’s Day. Who am I to argue with Grandma? Here’s my New Year’s day recipe inspired by the German side of my family, Instant Pot German Pot Roast with Mustard. In Germany this is a Senfbraten, or mustard roast, pork rubbed with mustard and cooked with onions, carrots, and thyme. I use my Instant Pot Pot Roast trick of cutting the roast into pieces – it cooks faster and more evenly. Other than that, it’s a standard pot roast; brown it to add a flavorful crust, sauté the onions, simmer in a little wine, add the roast and some broth, and cook with carrots until falling-apart tender. (You don’t have to add the carrots, but they’re my wife’s favorite part. I get asked a lot of pointed questions if there aren’t carrots.) Oh, and of course I made a side of Sauerkraut and Kielbasa – Grandma says you need pork AND sauerkraut for luck in the new year. …

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Instant Pot Italian Ricotta Cheesecake

Published by Mike Vrobel

Reader Ray needs an Instant Pot Italian Ricotta Cheesecake recipe. I can’t let him down, can I? Of course not! I started researching recipes, which broke down into two major techniques. The first is all-ricotta-cheese cakes, usually with the egg separated, the egg whites whipped and folded into the cake. In other words, a ricotta soufflé. The other kind are Italian-American hybrids, using both cream cheese and ricotta cheese. That’s the kind I went with – I’ve never had much luck with soufflés, and separating and whipping seemed like too much work. After that it was pretty much my standard Instant Pot Cheesecake Technique, with ricotta mixed in. Oh, and a dusting of powdered sugar, and seedless raspberry jam as a topping. Looking for a cheesecake with Italian sprezzatura? Here it is. What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below. Related Posts Pressure Cooker Pumpkin Cheesecake Pressure Cooker New York Cheesecake Pressure Cooker Salted Caramel Cheesecake My other Pressure Cooker Recipes Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? …

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Fagor America is now Zavor

Published by Mike Vrobel

ZAVOR is the inspired creation of the team behind Fagor America. After closing its doors, the minds behind the top pressure cooker brand in the country put all their efforts into continuing the product line on their own terms, enter ZAVOR. ZavorAmerica.com I was worried we were losing the Fagor line of pressure cookers. Great news! I was wrong! Zavor has risen from the ashes of Fagor America. My long-time favorite stovetop cooker, the Fagor Duo, is back as the Zavor Duo (along with the Zavor Elite, a Macy’s exclusive, and the Versa, a Bed Bath and Beyond exclusive..) Even better, the Fagor Lux electric pressure cooker line is now the Zavor Lux, Lux Edge, and Lux LCD, all in 4-, 6-, and 8-quart sizes. They’re my favorite “Non Instant Pot” electric pressure cookers, and I’m glad they’re still around to keep Instant Pot on their toes. Zavor fixed a couple of my complaints from earlier models. They changed the gasket holder on the 8-quart lids, and they added a “Mute” feature to stop the …

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An aqua colored bowl full southwestern turkey soup, topped with shredded cabbage and cheese, with bowls of tortillas, limes, and shredded cabbage in the background, with the text Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Soup | DadCooksDinner underneath

Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Southwestern Soup

Published by Mike Vrobel

Did I remind you to save your Thanksgiving turkey carcass? No? Dang it, I slipped up this year. I hope you did save the bones, though, because here’s what to do with it. (I’ve got a spare carcass in my new freezer, so I can make another batch of soup in a month or so.) This is my day after Thanksgiving sorta-posole, a Southwestern style soup inspired by the cans of hominy in my pantry. Hey, Thanksgiving was busy, and I wanted an easy after-the-bird soup this year. While I was in the pantry, I grabbed a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes and a can of black beans and went to work. You have to be willing to get rough with the turkey carcass to fit it in a 6-quart pressure cooker; I break the backbone away from the breast to get it to fit. If you have an 8-quart cooker, you can just drop it in there. The key to this soup is the add-ins; I crumble tortilla chips into the bottom of the bowl, …

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Instant Pot Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce

Published by Mike Vrobel

Marcella Hazan’s three-ingredient tomato sauce is famous, and rightfully so. Butter, onion, and canned whole tomatoes make a simple, yet fantastic sauce. Let’s try it in a pressure cooker with Instant Pot Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce. The only tricky part of this recipe was getting the timing down. 30 minutes under pressure is the Goldilocks zone: a balance of breaking down the tomatoes into a sauce without overcooking and losing the bright, tomato flavor. Marcella recommends Italian San Marzano DOP tomatoes, which are fantastic…and expensive. I get good results with American brands of canned plum tomatoes, which are less than half the price of San Marzano tomatoes. (I usually go with American canned tomatoes.) The big difference between Italian and American canned tomatoes was the amount of salt in the can. Italian tomatoes don’t have salt; they need some, or the sauce comes out tasting a little flat. Looking for a simple tomato sauce that replaces hours of simmering with 30 minutes of pressure? Try this one out. Thanks, Marcella! What do you think? Questions? …

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A red plate of bright yellow risotto Milanese sprinkled with grated cheese, with a napkin, spoon, and instant pot in the background

Instant Pot Risotto Milanese (Risotto alla Milanese)

Published by Mike Vrobel

When I say “Italy,” what starch pops into your head? Pasta, of course. But, as I found out on my trip to Venice, Italy is much more diverse than the “pizza, pasta, and meatballs” I grew up with. Northern Italy is all about rice. Milan, in Northwest Italy, is famous for fashion – it’s from Milan, dahling – and for bright yellow Risotto alla Milanese, rice colored with a pinch of saffron, the world’s most expensive spice. Saffron is made of the stigmas of the saffron crocus flower, three tiny threads in the center of the bulb. These threads must be harvested by hand, and roughly 5,000 flowers yield one ounce of dried saffron threads. The half-gram jar of Saffron I bought for this recipe cost $10. (That’s right – it’s even more expensive than movie theater popcorn.) How did Milan become famous for saffron risotto? Well, there’s a great story: The legend of Risotto alla Milanese In the 1600s, Mastro Valerio of Flanders led a team of workmen, creating stained glass windows for the …

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Pressure Cooker Texas Red Chili | DadCooksDinner.com

Throwback Thursday: Top 10 Pressure Cooker Chili Recipes

Published by Mike Vrobel

I can feel it in the evening, smell it in the air. I see it in the trees – a few, on the edges, are turning from green to brilliant orange. Fall is here. Fall is chili time – the crisp weather is perfect for a spicy stew. It’s also when I host my annual ChiliFest at work, asking everyone to bring in a pot of their favorite chili. Most of my co-workers bring in a slow cooker of chili; years ago, I switched from all-day simmering to pressure cooking, so I bring my Instant Pots. The crowd favorite is my Texas Red chili, but I almost always make a second pot so I can try out a new recipe. Here are my top 10 favorite chilies: Top 10 Chili Recipes Pressure Cooker Texas Red Chili – DadCooksDinner Pressure Cooker Quick Chili with Canned Beans – DadCooksDinner Pressure Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili) – DadCooksDinner Pressure Cooker 15 Bean Chili – DadCooksDinner Pressure Cooker Pork Chili with Beans – DadCooksDinner Pressure Cooker Frito Pie …

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A pile of pork carnitas on shredded lettuce, piled on a tortilla, on an aqua plate

Instant Pot Carnitas

Published by Mike Vrobel

Carnitas are Mexican pork candy. Cubes of pork shoulder, simmered until tender, and then fried in their own rendered pork fat. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, I’ve tried Instant Pot Carnitas many times, but the results were not what I wanted…until now. The problem was, I kept trying to make this a one-pot meal, and fry the pork cubes in the Instant Pot by simmering off the liquid. There were two problems. First, the pork would always burn on the bottom of the pot, no matter how carefully I watched it. Second, pressure cooker pots (like the Instant Pot) are not that wide – at best, I could fit 2 pounds of pork in a single layer on the bottom. That’s not enough to satisfy my hungry crowd of kids. My breakthrough was giving up on the authentic, one-pot approach. Mexican kitchens cook carnitas in wide, shallow pots, so there’s plenty of room to fry the pork. Me? I brought out my frypan, and use vegetable oil or lard instead of the …

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Red bowl full of green split pea soup on a wooden table

Instant Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham

Published by Mike Vrobel

Thanks to a tip from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, I can make Instant Pot split pea soup as thick as any fog.1 That tip? Make sure to quick release the pressure. The pressure release starts a vigorous boil inside the pot, boiling, roughing up the peas and releasing their starch into the soup. My pea soups used to be a little watery; now I can practically stand a spoon in them. (Not really, but you know what I mean.) Pork and peas are a perfect pair, so I add pork in two different ways. A smoked pork hock gives up its flavor to the peas, and cubed ham adds meaty bites to the soup. I also sauté my vegetables – a mix of onion, celery, carrot, and garlic – to add a sweet undertone to the bowl. Don’t skip the sauté step – the soup will be bland without it. What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below. Related Posts Pressure Cooker Senate Bean SoupPressure Cooker Bean Mix SoupPressure Cooker …

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