My in-laws gave my husband, Keith, an Instant Pot for Christmas, and his favorite new toy has been life-changing for him. I admit, this new gadget is a game changer – the microwave oven of our generation.
Keith has even joined an Instant Pot group on Facebook to get new ideas and ask questions about certain recipes. I haven’t even introduced him to Pinterest yet – his head might explode with that recipe overload.
A few nights ago, I was working late and neither of us had thought about what we might prepare for dinner. We had a freezer full of food, but very little in our refrigerator.
When I got home, I was met by the most heavenly aroma – an aroma everyone can remember from childhood. The aroma of pot roast.
“What are you cooking?” I asked him.
“Mississippi pot roast,” he said with his chest puffed up with pride.
“Did we have a roast?”
“Yes, in the freezer.”
“You cooked a frozen roast?” I was a bit stunned, especially knowing what can happen when you deep fry a frozen turkey.
“Yes, and it only takes 90 minutes.”
The rest of the evening, Keith repeated to himself as he moved around the house. “90 minutes.” “90 minutes.”
I will say this, that roast was the bomb. It tasted just like he had slow cooked it all day. The Mississippi Pot Roast is one of our favorite dishes, and it is so worth a try. And the leftovers – you have never had a better sandwich. Oh and did I tell you, in the Instant Pot it only takes 90 minutes to cook the roast from frozen to fabulous.
Mississippi Pot Roast
1 chuck roast, frozen
1 stick butter
9 pepperoncini peppers
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
Remove roast from packaging. Make sure to remove moisture pad from under the roast. Put roast in the Instant Pot and top with other ingredients. Cook roast for 90 minutes high pressure, natural release.
One night, Keith decided to cook our entire dinner in the Instant Pot. Because we have only one Instant Pot, it took quite a long time. Note to self, by a second Instant Pot.
I found a recipe for a potato side dish on Pinterest, and it is about the best potato dish I’ve ever had. It is so decadent and pretty sensible on the diet.
Cheesy Ranch Potatoes
2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed
3 bacon strips
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
Cut the potatoes into about 1-inch pieces. Cut the bacon into small pieces.
Set the Instant Pot to “Sauté” and add bacon. Cook until nice and crisp. (TIP: If you have too much stuff stuck on the bottom of the pot, add 1/4 cup of water and scrape it to deglaze the bottom.)
Stir in potatoes, dried parsley, garlic powder and salt.
Add 1/3 cup of water. Set the Instant Pot to Manual for 7 minutes at high pressure (add about five minutes for the Instant pot to come to full pressure.) Do quick release the pressure and carefully open the lid. Add ranch dressing and cheese and stir to combine. Serve immediately.
On New Year’s Day, Keith used the Instant Pot on slow cooker mode to cook the traditional black-eyed peas, but he used the pressure cooker to make pork tenderloin. It seemed difficult, being the first time we cooked in the Instant Pot, and looking back, if we had known what we were doing, it wouldn’t have been such an ordeal.
The pork turned out pretty tasty, and we will use the Instant Pot to prepare it in the future.
Roasted Pork Tenderloin
1 pound pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chicken stock
Salt & black pepper to taste
Seasoning (we used Montreal Steak seasoning and Worcestershire sauce)
Put pork in plastic bag with seasonings. Let set.
Brown the pork tenderloin on all sides. Heat up Instant Pot using Sauté function. Wait until it says HOT. Drizzle the inner pot with olive oil. Then, brown all sides of the pork tenderloin, individually, two minutes per side.
Set aside the pork. Add 1 cup chicken stock, then deglaze the bottom of the pot. Turn off the heat briefly. Place pork in Instant Pot. Pressure cook at high pressure for 22 minute, then release the pressure. Do not let the meat do a nature release of pressure. This caused the tenderloin to be on the dry side that first time.
I come from a family of Scotch-Irish people. We love potatoes. Honestly, if rice isn’t wrapped up with seaweed and served with soy sauce, I’m have never been big fan of rice. However, my husband Keith – who would much rather have rice than a baked potato -- has turned me on to Jasmine Rice, and it has a great floral flavor. It isn’t bland like regular rice, and I do not mind the texture. But I do eat it with soy sauce, regardless of what else is served.
I absolutely can’t cook rice. When I do, it is a crunchy mess. Even if I follow the recipe TO THE LETTER, my rice isn’t going to be done.
The Instant Pot changed all that. No matter what, if you follow the recipe, you get perfect rice all the time. I plan on stocking up on soy sauce.
Perfect White Rice
2 cups white rice (not instant rice)
2 1/2 cups liquid water
Use a strainer and rinse your rice. Pour rinsed white rice into your Instant Pot. Pour water or broth on top of your rice. Close lid and steam valve, push rice button and wait until it beeps when done.
Do a quick release, and there you have it. The perfect pot of rice.
