I think I may be the last person to learn about Instant Pot. For the longest time I received annoying emails about recipes for my "new Instant Pot." Grrr. I didn't have one and what's more, I didn't know what it was. Then one day an email asked What's the difference between your crockpot and an Instant Pot? Now they had my attention. I am not the Queen of the Crockpot. I am the Court Jester of the Crockpot. Most of the time, my crockpot isn't even allowed to live in the kitchen. It's banished to the never-never land of the laundry room.
Just in case I'm not the absolute last person, to hear about the Instant Pot, allow me to explain what little I know. It was invented by clever Canadians. It can saute and slow cook, and it's a pressure cooker!
Do you remember your mother's ancient pressure cooker? Everyone was afraid of it. Each time my mom's pressure cooker made an appearance on the kitchen counter, someone in the family asked if it would explode. I never knew of a pressure cooker that actually exploded, but we always asked.
Since my Instant Pot arrived, I have cooked almost everything in it. Okay, mostly because it's new and shiny. But so far, I've only tried the pressure cooking side of it. Like Peg, the first thing in the pot was pork chops. They cooked in one minute! Okay, that's slightly misleading because the pot has to de-pressurize, so they really cook in about 10 minutes. But our chops were very good. I tossed carrots and minced garlic into the pot with them and they were cooked perfectly.
I wanted to bake a cake in it today. Apparently it's perfect for cheesecakes because it can steam. Yay! The downside is that new pans will be required (in my kitchen anyway) because few of my pans fit into the Instant Pot. So while it might be super for cooking stews, soups, and potatoes for a crowd at the speed of light, dessert is likely to feed four to six people. But that's okay, right?
However, the instructions for the cake option are limited to choosing a density. So I will take it upon myself to experiment with it and let you know how it turns out.
In the meantime, ta da! I share potatoes cooked in the Instant Pot. I make something similar in the oven at 475 degrees for about 25 minutes. This took 7 minutes in the Instant Pot and, even better, required not a single drop of oil.
I did include bacon. For the most part it was perfect, but a couple of pieces might have benefitted from a quick saute before adding the other ingredients, so I'll probably do it that way next time. The potatoes were absolutely perfect!
Instant Pot Potatoes with Bacon and Carrots
3-4 potatoes
3 large carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper (to taste)
2 teaspoons water
3 slices bacon
chopped parsley
Cut the potatoes in 1-inch pieces. Peel and slice carrots. Mince garlic. Combine everything, except the bacon and parsley. Cut bacon into very small pieces.
Place bacon into the instant pot and saute very briefly (1 minute). Add remaining ingredients to the pot, stir to mix, close lid, and pressure cook for 7 minutes. Use the instant depressurizing technique. Open lid and serve.
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| Coming in less than a month!!! |
