In Which I Make Vegetables Taste Less Terrible than Usual

There's nothing I love more than a big plate of beautiful, fresh-cut vegetables.  Hahaha, just kidding, I hate vegetables.  I mean, honestly, it's not the vegetables' fault.  Mother Nature made them very important nutritionally, but she also generally made them taste awful.  That's just rude.  So I'm always on the lookout for ways to actually enjoy eating vegetables since I would prefer to not be a fat slob.  One of my favorite ways to do that is with stir fry.  I make a darn good stir fry, but I was looking for a quick, hands-off, less oil-consuming way to enjoy some of the same flavors.  Less splatter on my stove would be appreciated, too.  Sounds like a job for Instant Pot!

In regards to not being a fat slob, I recently started following Weight Watchers.  I did it once before about 10 years ago, and I remember always being hungry and crabby.  But I heard they had made some big changes recently, and I was pretty desperate to not feel like a gross blob anymore, so I jumped in with both feet.  So far, I am liking it a lot.  I feel like it's teaching me to be more mindful about what I eat and drink.  And given how much I love to cook, I needed a plan that let me still have some freedom to cook with all the food groups and be as creative as possible.  Telling me I have to eliminate dairy, or gluten, or whatever is guaranteed to make me cry.  (Believe me.  It's happened.)  So, hey, if you're doing Weight Watchers, this makes 6 servings which are 5 SmartPoints each, according to their points calculator.  Let the good times roll.

I call this dish "teriyaki."  Is that really what it is?  I have no idea.  I think traditional teriyaki sauce has mirin in it, and not pineapple juice.  Probably no lemongrass either.  But the flavor profile is exactly what I was going for, and the little baby cans of pineapple juice in my pantry got a chance to do something other than make cocktails.

 Pressure Cooker Teriyaki Chicken & Rice with Non-Terrible Tasting Vegetables

I used my 6 quart Instant Pot.  You'll need a steamer basket that fits inside your pot.  I have the Oxo Good Grips stainless steel steamer and it's awesome.  Cut the chicken into very thin strips and this will be plenty of time for them to cook through.  I actually started with chicken cutlets, so they were really thin.  If you want bigger pieces of chicken, you should probably brown them on saute mode first to make sure they get cooked through in time.  I like to use the ginger and lemongrass paste that comes in a tube because it's so easy and ready to go.  They will probably be in a refrigerated area of your produce section.

2 tsp. canola oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. ginger paste
2 tsp. lemongrass paste
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 Tbs. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
1 1/2 lb. chicken cutlets (or breasts), cut into very thin strips
1 cup baby carrots, cut into thirds (about 1/2" long pieces)
2 cups small broccoli florets
1/2 cup sugar snap peas, cut in half
1/2 cup red bell pepper strips
chopped green onions for garnish (optional)

Turn the pressure cooker to saute mode and add the oil.  Once the oil is hot, add the onion and a pinch of salt.  Cook until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, ginger, and lemongrass and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  If any fond has developed on the bottom of the pot, add about 1/4 cup of the chicken broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits.  Then add the rest of the broth, soy sauce, pineapple juice, and brown sugar.  Add the rice and stir everything up.  Scatter the chicken strips over the rice.

Next, put your steamer basket in on top of the rice mixture.  Put all of the veggies except for the green onions in the steamer basket.  Secure the lid and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes, then do a quick pressure release.  Carefully dump the steamed vegetables from the steamer basket into the rice mixture and stir it all together.  Serve, garnishing with green onions.  I also added a small sprinkling of chow mein noodles because they look good in the picture.  They taste good on there, too, but if you're counting points like I was, you can't do very many because they add up fast.

Adrift in a Sea of Tomatoes

Garden season really got off to a bang here with a cucumber crop which was the stuff of legends.  Apparently cucumber plants like hot weather, because it had been hotter than the pits of Hades around here, and they were thriving.  I'm glad someone likes it.  I've made pickles and relish twice already, neither of which I eat, but there were just too many fresh cucumbers to keep up with.  Then came the squash bugs.  Those jerks have nearly killed my zucchini plant after only getting 3 zucchinis from it, and you know that's some quick devastation since a mature plant will grow 3 zucchinis in about 5 minutes.  (Or, at least it seems that way.)  Then they started going after the cucumbers.  We're fighting back as best we can, but those little bastards are pretty proficient, so our cucumber days may be winding down prematurely. 

Luckily the tomato harvest is really picking up steam.  I have MANY tomato plants this year, because a lot of little volunteer plants came up and I was too much of a softy to rip them all out.  Eating a fresh tomato plain, all by itself, does not interest me in the least.  (It's a texture thing.)  But cooking and preserving tomatoes is my jam.  Salsa, seasoned tomato sauce, roasted tomato slices, etc....the sky is the limit.  Today, tomatoes were taking over my kitchen counter.  I needed to take action, and I decided on tomato soup.

The way I've made cream of tomato soup for years (on my other blog here) is labor intensive.  It makes an amazing soup; a rich, complex, bisque-like bowl of hearty goodness.  But, as I've mentioned before, many things in my life have had to get quicker and easier as the chaos has increased with the addition of 2 young children who hate sleep.  And now I have a job, too.  I am much more enthusiastic about "chuck it in the pot and press start" recipes than I ever was before.  So that's what I really wanted to create here.  I used some proportions from my other recipe, but relied on the Instant Pot to do the work for me.  I took another 3 tomatoes or so and sliced them really thick, drizzled on olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt and Penzey's frozen pizza seasoning, and roasted them to put on grilled cheese and peppered bacon sandwiches.  So it was like a sophisticated, grown up (but still easy) version of tomato soup and grilled cheese, which is still one of my most favorite meals, hands down. 

Much to my amazement, my almost-5 year old tried the homemade soup.  "Mommy, I do like it," she said.  "Wonderful, honey!  I'm so glad you tried it!" I answered.  "Can I have my regular tomato soup now?  The stuff in the can?" she asked.  So, yeah.  One bite.  I got her to take one bite of the good stuff.  Sigh.

Easy Pressure Cooker Tomato Soup

I used my 8 quart cooker and made a lot because I had tomatoes coming out of my ears.  I see no reason why you couldn't use a 6 quart cooker and cut the recipe in half.  As written, I fed 4 adults and had a decent amount of leftovers.

4 lbs. tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 large onion, rough chopped
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs. tomato paste
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 to 2 Tbs. fresh chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion, garlic, veggie broth, salt, bay leaf, tomato paste, and brown sugar in the pressure cooker.  Cook on manual, high pressure, for 15 minutes and then do a quick pressure release.  Blend the soup with an immersion blender until it's pretty smooth.  You could also stop at this point, chill the mixture and blend it in a blender once it's cooled.  Then heat it back up on the stove top to finish it.  Or, if you're doing the immersion blender method, blend until smooth and see how you feel about the consistency.  You may want to turn your pot to saute and cook off a little bit of the water if it looks too watery.  This will depend on your tastes and your tomatoes.  I let mine simmer another 5 minutes or so to thicken up a bit.  Turn off the heat and stir in the cream, and chopped basil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

 

Oh, Tacos....I Can't Quit You

I have a very bad habit when I plan meals of deciding what I want to make first, and then checking the pantry and freezer to see if I have the things to make it.  I also have a bad habit of picking up packages of meat at the grocery store that say "Price Cut Now!" because they're about to go past their sell-by date.  Then I wrap them up and freeze them to use later.  Very rarely do I go to my favorite grocery store and not come home with several packages of meat I wasn't planning to buy.  I cannot pass up a cheap brisket, y'all.  I can buy these things with impunity because I have TWO giant chest freezers to store it all in.  (One I inherited from the previous owners of my house; I didn't purchase them both.  I'm not *that* crazy.)  But the freezers are filling up, so this week I was determined to check the freezer for some kind of meat to use first, and then decide what to cook.  I made my selection, a couple packages of stew meat.  Now, what to cook....

Problem was, I was already thinking about tacos.  There are certain food items that, once I've got a hankering for them, I can't think of ANYTHING ELSE until I get them.  Stew meat isn't necessarily screaming out to be made into tacos, but the thought was already in my head.  So here's how the recipe selection conversation went in my head:

I could make the obvious beef stew.  Dad really likes that.  Doesn't sound that great to me, though.

Tacos.

Or maybe goulash.  Haven't had that in a while.

Tacos.

<Searches internet for "stew meat recipes that aren't stew.">

Gurl.  Tacos, dammit.

Beef stroganoff?  I could do that in the instant pot.

Bitch, seriously. TACOS.

I could make mom's awesome vegetable beef soup.

YOU GET YOUR BITCH ASS IN THAT KITCHEN AND MAKE SOME TACOS GOD DAMMIT.

What the heck, I'm going to try to make shredded beef tacos!

Jesus, *finally.*

Is it ridiculous to make shredded beef tacos from stew meat?  Maybe.  But here we are.  And I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Bonus Recipe alert:  The salsa verde is totally optional, but it's a pretty nice accompaniment, and it's easy.  It's good just used like a regular salsa with chips, too.  And I'm planning to use my leftover and some rotisserie chicken to make enchiladas verdes.  If you want to get tipsy with your tacos, Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale would be a fantastic pairing.

Pressure Cooker Shredded Beef Taco Filling

I envisioned this served on soft corn tortillas.  It was good that way, but most of us ended up liking the flour tortillas better.  The new little street taco tortillas that Mission makes were great.  I think it would be good with crunchy taco shells as well.

2 tsp. oil
1/2 a large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbs. tomato paste
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. Mexican oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 cup beef broth
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 lbs. stew meat

Turn the pressure cooker to saute mode and add the oil.  Once the oil is hot, saute the onion until softened.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add the tomato paste, cumin, oregano, chili powder, coriander, cinnamon, and cloves and cook for a minute or two.  Pour in a little of the beef broth and scrape up the fond from the bottom of the pot.  Pour in the rest of the broth and stir in the salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Add the stew meat.  Put the lid on the pressure cooker and set to high pressure for 45 minutes.  Allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes and then release the remaining pressure.  Serve as you see fit.  We topped with pickled onions and jalapenos, salsa verde (recipes below), monterey jack cheese, cotija cheese, sour cream, and cilantro.

Pickled Onions and Jalapenos

1 large red onion, sliced
1 or 2 jalapenos, sliced
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar

Put the sliced onions and jalapenos in a bowl, or in two separate bowls if you live with wimps like me who can't handle jalapenos.  Pour the red wine vinegar, salt, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Simmer until the sugar is totally dissolved.  Pour the hot vinegar over the onions and jalapenos and cover with plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes.  You can make these ahead of time and chill them, or use them still warm.

Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde

1 tsp. oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 large onion, rough chopped
2 poblano peppers, stem and seeds removed
1 lb. tomatillos, husks removed, washed, and cut in half
1/2 cup water or chicken broth
1 tsp. sugar
salt

Turn the pressure cooker to saute mode and add the oil.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic and cumin and cook for a minute or two.  Add the onion, peppers, tomatillos, and water or broth.  Put the lid on the pot and set to high pressure for 15 minutes.  Allow a natural pressure release for at least 10 minutes.  Blend the mixture until smooth with an immersion blender.  Stir in the sugar and salt to taste.

Wherein I Finally Conquer Pork in the Instant Pot

While my successes in the Instant Pot have certainly outnumbered the failures, I have definitely had a few regrettable experiences.  I've tried really hard to adapt a recipe that has rice noodles, and friends, they just do not work.  Rice noodles + pressure = mush.  Even if you set the time to zero.  Even if you do low pressure.  Even if you sacrifice a virgin into the depths of a raging volcano.  (I assume.)  You can of course cook them separately, but then it feels like, what's the point?  Someone smarter than me may still conceivably figure it out, but I, for one, am admitting defeat on that issue.  Pork has beaten me multiple times as well.  It kept turning out dry and tough.  I knew I was going to eventually come out on top with that one, but I didn't think my first victory would be so spectacular.  I invite you to please share the spoils of my triumph by trying out this marvelous pork roast recipe.

I've mentioned before that my Grandma, Marguerite, was a wonderful cook.  I can vividly remember so many of the fabulous things she used to make:  lasagna, homemade applesauce, a poke cake that she made with Vess Whistle Orange soda, appetizers made from wontons baked in a muffin tin and filled with a yummy sausage and cheese mixture, and of course the famous brisket.  But one thing I really don't remember is her pork roast.  My dad loved it and talks of it fondly.  And I love my dad and talk of him fondly, so I've always wanted to make it for him, but the memories of it (for me) are so vague.  He can describe his memories of it to me, but in the past that still wasn't enough for me to make anything I was terribly pleased with.  Oddly enough, the thing I remember best is the pot she cooked it in.  It was oblong and covered, like a Dutch oven, but it wasn't made of cast iron.  It was a shiny-ish metal, kind of with the look of aluminum, and it looked like it had lived a bit of a hard life and gotten a little beat up.  Admittedly, that is very little to go on.  So I said, well, hell, I'm just going to make something that my dad will love, even if it's nothing like the ones of his past.  Yes, I'm 38 years old and my life still mostly revolves around pleasing my parents.  That and trying to raise my children to not be assholes.

As I often do, I consulted my America's Test Kitchen cookbooks for ideas.  Then I took a leap of faith and winged it for Christmas dinner, which I was serving to 12 people.  My gamble paid off.  So, maybe someday my pork roast will become a great food memory for my kids.  Things like that always keep me coming back to the kitchen.

Apple Cider Braised Pork Roast with Onions

With 6 pounds of meat, obviously this makes a lot as written.  I used my 8 quart Instant Pot.  You could certainly do just one roast in a 6 quart pressure cooker, but since I have not personally done it that way, I would suggest you still stick with the same amount of cider and water to make sure there is plenty of liquid to braise it and make it really tender.  It would be a lot of gravy for that amount of meat, but the words "too much gravy" really don't make sense to me anyway.  Kind of like "too much cheese."  I mean, that's just silly.  I honestly think the best way to make this is overnight.  That's how I did it on my first try.  Put all the liquid in cold, turn on the pot and off to bed with you.  When you wake up in the morning, it will still be warm but the pressure will be long gone, so just remove the lid and carry on with the step where you stick everything in the fridge.  Then reheat at dinner time.  Easy peasy.

2 (3 lb.) boneless, rolled Boston pork roasts
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried sage
2 large red onions, sliced pole to pole into 1/2" wedges
1 cup apple cider
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple jelly
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

Remove the netting from the roasts and discard.  Tie pieces of kitchen twine around the roast to hold it together.  (See pictures below.)  In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, pepper, salt, and sage.  Pat the roasts dry with paper towels and rub them all over with the garlic mixture.  Dump some of the onions into the pressure cooker pot, place the 2 roasts in and then add in the remaining onions.  Pour in the apple cider and water.  Lock the lid in place and cook on high pressure for 180 minutes.  (That's 3 hours for those of you who hate math.)  Allow a natural pressure release for at least 45 minutes, but several hours is fine.

Carefully remove the meat, as it may be falling apart, and put in a container or bowl and cover.  Pour the liquid (with the onions) into a separate container and cover.  Chill both for several hours.  About an hour before serving, preheat your oven to 250 degrees.   Scoop out any congealed fat from the liquid, and pour the liquid into a saucepan.  Dispose of the fat into your trashcan or your dog's stomach as you see fit.  Add the jelly to the liquid and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Meanwhile, cut the twine off of the roasts and slice into approximately 1/2" pieces.  Arrange the slices in a glass baking dish, ladle in a bit of the cooking liquid/onions, and cover tightly with foil.  Heat the pork in the oven until the liquid that you're simmering in the saucepan has cooked down to a consistency you are happy with.  I simmered it for about 45 minutes, which reduced it by almost half.  The pork in the baking dish was plenty hot by then.  Once you take the onion gravy off the heat, stir in the cider vinegar.  Serve the onion gravy in a bowl separate from the sliced pork roast so everyone can add as much as they like.  It's great over potatoes, too.

This is what the roast will probably look like when you buy it from the store.  You want to remove this netting because it has something akin to elastic in it.  You want it tied with just plain old kitchen twine.

This is what it should look like after you tie it and rub it with the garlic mixture.