All posts filed under: Pressure cooker

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

Pressure Cooker Texas Red Chili 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: Everything in the pot Top 10 Chili Recipes Pressure Cooker Texas Red Chili – DadCooksDinnerPressure Cooker Quick Chili with Canned Beans – DadCooksDinnerPressure Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili) – DadCooksDinnerPressure Cooker 15 Bean Chili – DadCooksDinnerPressure Cooker Pork Chili with Beans – …

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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

Instant Pot Carnitas 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 …

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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

Instant Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham 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 …

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Instant Pot Sloppy Top Round Sandwich in a bun on a white plate with a pickle and potato chips, with a cola in the background

Instant Pot Sloppy Top Round Sandwiches with Certified Angus Beef® Brand

Published by Mike Vrobel

Instant Pot Sloppy Top Round Sandwiches  Photo courtesy of Certified Angus Beef® Brand  Instant Pot Sloppy Top Round Sandwiches. Recipe created for the Certified Angus Beef® Brand. Check them out at hashtag #BestAngusBeef and #SteakLover for more beef recipes, or join them in the Certified Angus Beef Kitchen group on Facebook. Sloppy Joes? Shredded beef? Why not both? My friends at Certified Angus Beef® Brand  commissioned me to write Instant Pot recipes using their fantastic beef, starting with these sloppy top round sandwiches. “Sloppy Tops,” as Chef Gavin Pinto calls them. Their version of the recipe is here: Instant Pot Sloppy Top Sandwiches [CertifiedAngusBeef.com] I also spent the a day at Certified Angus Beef® Brand headquarters (just down the road from me in Wooster, Ohio), doing a professional photo shoot of my recipes. I got to see how photographer Mark Merryweather worked with food stylist Bonnie, Chef Gavin, and Chef Michael Ollier to plate, style, and photograph these fantastic sandwiches. Thanks again for the pictures, and enjoy the recipe, everyone! What do you think? Questions? …

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A teal bowl of cooked flageolet beans with chunks of lamb and carrot and a sprinkling of thyme leaves on top from the recipe Instant Pot Flageolet Beans with Lamb

Instant Pot Flageolet Beans with Lamb

Published by Mike Vrobel

Instant Pot Flageolet Beans with Lamb I got a bag of flageolet beans in my Rancho Gordo bean box and immediately thought of France. Instant Pot Flageolet Beans with Lamb, here we come! This recipe is in memory of Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence. He is a large part of why I’m writing this blog; I vicariously visited the south of France through his books, dreaming of lavender and sunshine. Ten years ago I got to live that dream, traveling to Provence and Paris, and taking cooking classes. Six months after that, energized by the trip, I started writing Dad Cooks Dinner. Unfortunately, Mr. Mayle passed away last month at age 78. His last book, My Twenty-Five Years in Provence, is sitting unread on my bedside table. I don’t have the courage to open it yet. Au revoir, Mr. Mayle, and thank you for the inspiration. Flageolet beans (pronounced Fla-zhoh-lay) are small beans, some white, some pale green. They remind me a lot of navy beans and are as Traditional French as …

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An orange bowl full of cilantro lime rice with a text block on the bottom saying: Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice

Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice

Published by Mike Vrobel

Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice This recipe for Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice came from my kids’ love of Chipotle burritos. I knew I could make them at home, but the kids didn’t believe me. And…ahem…they were right. Until I got the rice right, they kept saying “these are good…but can we go to Chipotle now?” Now they ask “can you make burritos for dinner?” (I have to go on a rant here. It kills me that my kids still think of “Chipotle Burritos” when they’re really Mission Street Burritos. I even took them to a burrito joint in San Francisco, on our one trip to the West Coast, to show them where burritos as big as your head came from. They still think of them as Chipotle burritos. Not that there’s anything wrong with Chipotle; it’s the principle of the thing. San Francisco! Mission street! Authentic burritos! It goes right over their heads. I’ll remind them of the San Francisco visit, and they’ll say “Oh yeah, I loved those!”, and then go right back …

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Keep Warm mode and Natural Pressure Release

Throwback Thursday: Instant Pot Natural Pressure Release – Leave Warming Mode On

Published by Mike Vrobel

After Tuesday’s Instant Pot Hard-Boiled Eggs post, a few people asked about Natural Pressure Release and Keep Warm mode: Question: for the 5 mins natural release, do you leave the “warmer” on to count up to 5, or do you shut down the power completely? Reader Warren I had the same question, so I did some testing a few years back. The results: Keep Warm mode does not change Natural Pressure Release time. It takes Here’s the original post, and a video of my testing: Should I cancel Keep Warm mode for a Natural Pressure Release? (No.) [DadCooksDinner.com] Video: Instant Pot Pressure Cooker – Natural Pressure Release – Keep Warm Mode On or Off [YouTube.com] What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below. Related Posts Should I cancel Keep Warm mode for a Natural Pressure Release? (No.) How to fix Instant Pot Overheating What to do if I Dump Liquid into my Instant Pot without the Pot Liner My list of Pressure Cooker Recipes Enjoyed this post? Want to …

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