The Pressure is Building… To Finish This Cookbook!

You know what totally does not sound appetizing when the temperatures outside reach three digits? Literally anything remotely warm. You know how the Instant Pot cooks food? Oh yeah… with immense heat! Ugh. On the one hand, using the IP to make dinner alleviates the need to fire up the oven or stand over a hot stove, so that’s a point in its favor. On the other hand, much of what comes out of said Instant Pot is going to be comfort food, stews, soups, hearty meals, etc… When all I want is a gallon of ranch dressing and something cold to pour it on. My original intention was to have this book completed by the end of June so I wouldn’t be pressure cooking during the Hades-like temps of Colorado in summer, but here I sit at just about the halfway mark. My best laid plans may have fallen short of the mark, but bear with me as I catch you up on some of the recipes I made in cooler times. Those chilly nights will be here again sooner than you think. (Or at least I keep telling myself that!)

One of my perennial favorites, and evidently as popular as Creme Brûlée for cookbook authors, good ol’ #24 Sausage & Spinach Soup (aka Zuppa Toscana; come at me Olive Garden!) Ok, so this version differed slightly than others I have made in the past, and at this point I think I am up to four different approaches. The “Holy Trinity” for this soup is Sausage-KALE-Potato, but as you can see right there in the title, Jeff swapped in spinach as his green of choice. Now, I could Google it and give you a detailed rundown of the health benefits and vitamin content of one vs. the other, but frankly if you care, you can do that yourself much faster than I can explain it. For those who don’t give a hoot and just want to know how it tastes, you’re in luck! That’s what I’m going with. The fact of the matter is I couldn’t tell a difference! Kale in its raw form is FAR tougher than delicate little spinach leaves, so I thought it would end up rather mushy in this soup, but I was pleasantly surprised. I’m 87.3% certain I used golden new potatoes instead of red potatoes (the usual for this recipe), and that turned out indistinguishable from the original as well. The bottom line is this soup is the bomb, and you can be successful with just about any reasonable substitutions. Now if Jeffrey can just publish a recipe for Endless Breadsticks…

Another two-fer meal! I did make #25 Refried Beans a day before I made #26 White Queso Chicken Enchilada Casserole due to time and cooker availability restrictions, but that is just an argument for having multiple IPs in your kitchen! First, the beans; personally I am a huge fan, whether they be homemade or plopped out of a Rosarita can. My husband could happily skip them, but he was a good sport to at least try these and I don’t recall complaints (except one, which I will cover later.) My kiddo snarfed these up and leftovers didn’t last long! 2-1, these were a winner. What I did not understand when I planned to make refried beans is that there is SO much more that goes into them! I always believed that it was pretty much pinto beans and some seasoning, cook forever, then mash. Oh how naive I was… This recipe called for no fewer than 10 ingredients, to include green chilies and bay leaves, which I did not see coming. Based on the flavor, I suggest you don’t argue and just put everything in; they were DELISH. The part I was less thrilled with was the texture. I don’t know if it was the mile-high Colorado altitude that caused an issue (I am not even certain that comes into play with pressure cooking, but I’m happy to blame every cooking failure on the altitude!) but the beans were not quite soft enough for my liking. I was able to mash a decent amount, but even with busting out the immersion blender to break them down further and snapping the lid back on for additional pressure cooking still resulted in a little kernel of hardness in the center of some of the beans. P.S. I don’t recommend that method, I was just giving it a whirl. Going forward, I will try a tiny bit more liquid and another 10-15 minutes of pressure BEFORE I natural-release for half an hour. That’s right, even in the IP, these beans will take you nearly two hours to prepare. Better than all day on the stovetop, right?? Just be sure to factor that into your dinner plans.

Now, about those enchiladas… It’s no secret they are just not my favorite and are a right pain in the butt to make, no matter whose recipe I am using. I don’t enjoy making them. There, I said it! One strike against them from an IP perspective is that in order to really make this work, you have to cook the chicken in the pot, then remove it, roll it in a tortilla and bake in the oven. Oh no you di’int Instant Pot! I demand ONE-POT WONDERS!! I don’t want to heat up the oven, and I don’t want to stick my hands into the hot chicken mixture to get it into the tortillas and end up with white queso sauce up to my elbows. But I did really want all that melty cheesy goodness on top, so I had to bite the bullet. But here’s the deal; first of all I think these were a little bland, so I would steal some of the seasoning that was so liberally and expertly applied in the beans and make sure the chicken gets the same treatment. Then I would make the recipe as directed, but skip the tortilla-wrapping altogether, melt the Mexican cheese blend on top in the IP, then serve the chicken mixture in a bowl with a tortilla on the side along with the beans. Boom. Workaround. And no elbow-queso!

I confess I was insanely eager to make #27 Spiced Short Ribs. Like I could not stop thinking about them for at least week before I got them in my mouth. Obsessed. The cookbook photo was one these bad boys nestled on a pillow of fluffy mashed potatoes (ok, actually it was cauliflower puree, but my brain interpreted potatoes) with a delicate sprinkle of freshly diced chives, and it was a centerfold worthy of Playboy back in the 50s. Classy yet sexy! The sauce was rich with warm aromas: allspice, Chinese five-spice, hoisin, cinnamon, honey, garlic and red wine. This did not disappoint when cooking! Oh, the heavenly scent!! Of course I started by seasoning the short ribs with S & P and then searing each side (a bit tedious since they were cubes and therefore took forever to get all six sides cooked equally), and the smell of sautéing beef just added to my anticipation. Since in my mind the perfect accompaniment was mashed taters and not some silly vegetable substitute, that’s what I made while the ribs cooked for an hour and a half of exquisite torture. So… Did it live up to the hype? Yes. Yes it did! The only downside for me is that this cut doesn’t have ENOUGH meat on its bone to satisfy me, and I could have let it pressure cook another 15-20 minutes to break down the connective tissue even more (stupid altitude again??) I wanted to gnaw every scrap of edible meat and leave nothing behind, so maybe next time I can try this idea on boneless (country style) ribs. Beef or pork, I think this is a Hall of Famer!

At last, we get to another Poker Night meal, #28 Jewish Brisket. You may have noticed an exceptional jump in my photography skills as you gaze in wonder at the tender beefiness above, but rest assured I had nothing to do with it. I had to steal the glamour shot straight from the cookbook! This recipe (which I DO take credit for preparing!) went so fast I couldn’t even snap a pic before it was just scraps. That should tell you all you need to know about how much of a hit this was. In fact I barely got any after my card-playing friends got in the buffet line! We made brisket sandwiches and topped with our favorite barbecue sauces and sliced pickles, but even without the addition of sauce, the flavor was on point and the meat was juicy and fall-apart tender. It was so simple too! I conveniently have a quarter of a cow stashed in my freezer(s), so at least I didn’t have to go out grocery shopping for an expensive cut right now; I used a 5-lb piece. Four coarsely chopped yellow onions were sandwiched between halves of the brisket, and then it was drenched in a sauce made from ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and garlic. I highly recommend making this traditional Jewish recipe regardless of religion, gender, creed, nationality, race, etc. YUM knows no boundaries!