This Instant Pot Prawn, Trout and Pea Risotto is such a delicious dish. I found the Trout fillets in the reduced aisle at Tesco and just had to make something special with them.
I usually make a Prawn and Pea Risotto but the trout was a wonderful addition. You don’t need to add it as it is a bit of a treat and adds to the cost of the dish but it works great!…
I already have a Quick Lime Pickle recipe from a while ago. This Instant Pot Lime Pickle recipe I’m posting here is the traditional version. This one is a labour of love and it’s so worth it! …
I had never cooked giant cous cous until a few weeks ago when I saw it in Aldi. I tried a quick lunch experiment and it turned out well so last week I decided to recreate it with a few added touches. It turned out amazing and it’s so quick and easy….
This Instant Pot Squid Stew is so tasty and it’s amazing how tender the squid goes! I’m posting it quickly for Dejanka to have and will make it prettier later on. Serve it on its own, with plain rice, with pasta or with quinoa like Alli did below. If you want a quick method to cook quinoa in your Instant Pot (the best quinoa), just ask.
LittleT loved it!!
Let me know if you enjoy it….
I have the huge luck of having a child who eats well and, despite asking for pasta all the time, is open to trying new things and this Instant Pot Thai Pork Larb Recipe (Thai Minced Pork) is one of her favourites….
You may have gathered by now that I am a huge fan of soy sauce and fish sauce. Yes, I love umami and I love Nasi Goreng, which means “fried rice” in Indonesian and Malay. I don’t eat carbs all that often nowadays since I’ve been on a low carb diet for the past year so, when I do eat them, I want them to be really tasty.
I have tried to simplify this dish as much as I can to make it a really easy midweek meal or even a lovely weekend side dish when you’re cooking a variety of dishes for one special meal….
I’ve been hankering for pulled pork for weeks, today I managed to finally satisfy that craving! This Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Creamy Paprika Sauce was so tender. After removing the pork to shred, I blended some of the juices left in the pot with cashews and more paprika (thank you Quirky Cooking for the inspiration!) and I ended with the creamiest sauce to go (rather well) with my pulled pork. I am typing this today as I had a few requests in my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group but also because, if my hands are not busy, I’ll end up eating all the pulled pork myself.
Make it without the sauce for a great LOW CARB dish or, of course, only have a tiny bit of the sauce which is quite filling.
Ready for the recipe?…
I love meat loaf and it turns out that so does the little Tapita! It’s delicious hot or cold so really convenient. Perfect for picnics for that imminent spring weather that is round the corner. This Instant Pot Meat Loaf is delicious!…
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When I scribbled notes for this recipe, I entitled it Tasty Mince with a Feisty Kick. As you may know by now, there are days when I am all about flavours. I like to look at what’s in the fridge and in the cupboard and improvise. This happened during one of those day, also known as the day after I received two pudding basins to play with my Instant Pot so, clearly, something had to happen pot in pot. Right?
So, what is Pot-in-Pot (PIP) cooking? I have a whole post about it right here. It really is not very difficult and, once you have the hang of it, you’ll love it and will be thinking ahead to decide what else you can cook in your Instant Pot at the same time as your normal meals.
I used this Arga Pudding Mould (perfect for Crème Caramel too) but to be honest it is quite flimsy for the price. Although at the same time fantastic for Pot-in-Pot (PIP) cooking. You could use any bowl that fits in your Instant Pot, always bearing in mind the requirements. And a taller trivet is handy to have. Find all details of the dimensions you need in my What is Pot-in-Pot (PIP) cooking post.
You can totally cook this Lemony Mince in Oyster Sauce without the PIP rice of course! The mince is totally worth it as it’s so full of flavour. Or you could replace the rice with quartered potatoes in the pot-in-pot bowl and almost cover them with water then proceed as below (pretend they are the rice). In fact this is great for those of you wanting to make cottage pie. Can I feel a new recipe coming soon?
Ready for the recipe?
Instant Pot Lemony Mince in Oyster Sauce with Pot-in-Pot (PIP) Rice
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This All-in-One Pressure Cooker Sausage and Tomato Pasta was improvised today in the Instant Pot for the little Tapita’s dinner, it went down so well that I thought I’d share it with you all. Even better, there are leftovers.
The little Tapita very excitedly proclaimed that the sauce and the pasta taste like dumplings. She’s very into dumplings since we have a dumpling man at Ely Market on Saturdays.
I used Heck’s Chicken Italia sausages, they are very thin, like chipolatas, if you are using thicker sausages, make sure you fry them really well otherwise they may not be quite cooked in the short time it takes to cook the pasta.
I have another one pot pasta recipe for the Instant Pot right here. And a fabulous Mac and Cheese recipe here. Soon I’ll publish my one pot Tuna Pasta too. All my Instant Pot recipes are right here, all with UK ingredients and measurements.
Ready for the recipe?
This Instant Pot Sausage and Tomato Pasta would probably serve two hungry people or four with a normal appetite. In my child’s case it’s two, the girl eats a lot. If you decide to double it, make sure you double everything as the pasta expands and needs the liquid.
– 5 Heck Chicken Italia sausages (or whatever sausages you want. These heck sausages are very thin, like chipolatas, if you are using thicker sausages, make sure you fry them really well otherwise they may not be quite cooked in the short time it takes to cook the pasta)
– Extra virgin olive oil or oil of your choice
– Half a large onion (or one smaller onion), finely chopped
– 1 small carrot, finely chopped
– 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
– A couple of glugs of red wine
– A good glug of Worcestershire sauce
– Tin of chopped tomatoes
– 150 g fusilli (Waitrose Essential to be exact)
– 300 ml water
– Vegetable stock, I added a teaspoon of my homemade stock paste. If you are using a cube I’d cut it in half for this amount of pasta.
– 1 tsp dry parsley (I would have added mixed herbs but I’m out of the usual mix I make)
Note for Thermomix users: you can chop the onion, carrot and garlic together for 5 seconds, speed 5.
1. Add the oil and press Sauté, brown sausages for a few minutes, add a dash of red wine and deglaze scraping any burnt bits off with a wooden spoon.
2. Add the onion, carrot and garlic. Keep sautéing for a couple of minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce, give it a couple more minutes and deglaze with another dash of red wine 🍷
3. Press Keep Warm/Cancel and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir. Lock lid in. Steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press the Manual or Pressure Cook button and use the – and + buttons to programme 5 minutes. At the end of the cooking time do a 3 minute natural release followed by a quick release. If you want it more al dente do a 2 minute quick release.
Terminology
– Quick release means venting the steam as soon as the pressure cooking process finishes, i.e. moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting. This video shows you how to do it.
– Natural release means letting the float valve pop back down of its own accord, so basically you don’t need to do anything at the end and can keep your feet up. No need to cancel the automatic Keep Warm function. If it takes over 15 minutes, you’re ok to release the rest of the steam (by turning the steam release handle to Venting) that may be left in order to unlock and open the lid.
Tip: if you use a different pasta shape just remember that the key is in halving the cooking time and not waiting too long to do a quick release, otherwise it may be overcooked, if it’s undercooked, pop the lid back on and let it rest for a little while
Let me know if you try my Instant Pot Sausage and Tomato Pasta over on my Facebook Page.
Have you joined my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group? As Instant Pot’s social media girl, I also run the Instant Pot® UK Community. If you are wondering about buying an Instant Pot, feel free to send any questions. You can find all my pressure cooker / Instant Pot recipes right here.
**This post contains affiliate links, thanks for supporting Feisty Tapas**
Did you know there’s such a thing as a National Chocolate Week? There is, and it’s right now. Not that I need an excuse to celebrate or eat chocolate any day of the year! In this household the chocolate we buy regularly is Lind’ts 85%. That’s dark, very dark. But the little Tapita absolutely loves it. The other day I had the chocolate next to the beef I was buying in my basket at the supermarket and I thought to myself: “well, husband does add cocoa to his chilli, doesn’t he?”.
This Chocolatey Beef Stew makes a luscious sauce, enjoy with a nice glass of red wine if you can. Or a beer. Can you tell I am still off the alcohol due to my meds? At least I can eat chocolate, in everything it would appear.
I made this in my Instant Pot, you can make it in your stove-top pressure cooker if you have one. I like the Instant Pot because I don’t have to babysit it, I just leave it to it and I get on with life (or with putting my feet up). You will find all my Instant Pot recipes here and, if you’re a newbie, you will find my guide to get started here.
Ready to give it a go?
Instant Pot Beef Stew
Ingredients
– 1 onion, large, chopped
– 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
– 1 stalk of celery, chopped
– Extra virgin olive oil or oil of your choice
– 1 tin of plum tomatoes
– 150 ml vegetable stock
– 100 ml red wine
– 600 g beef, diced (I used braising steak)
– 7 g porcini, a handful, add more if you have more (I was down to my last 7 g)
– 280 g mushrooms, quartered
– 220 g carrots, sliced in half cm coins
– 40g Lindt 85% chocolate (4 squares)
Note: if you have a Thermomix just stick in the bowl the onion, garlic and celery and chop on speed 5 for 5 seconds.
Method
1. Press Sauté, add a dash of the oil of your choice, and fry the chopped onion, garlic and celery.
2. Add the beef and, if you have time, brown it using the Sauté button (if you do brown it, make sure you deglaze by adding a bit of red wine or stock and scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon at the end). Add the rest of the ingredients, stir. Lock the lid in. Steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press Manual and programme 25 minutes, do a natural release at the end (the natural release is important).
3. If you would like to thicken the sauce, press Keep Warm/Cancel then press Sauté, then Adjust to set it to More and let it bubble with the lid off so that it reduces, stay near your pot as it happens quickly.
Tip: really nice served with mashed potatoes.
Enjoy!
Have you joined my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group? As Instant Pot’s social media girl, I also run the Instant Pot® UK Community.
I am a big fan of serrano ham, it’s right up there with chorizo (chorizo being the clear winner as you may have gathered from previous recipes). In particular I love serrano ham with very garlicky mushrooms (recipe here). So this Chicken, Serrano Ham, Mushroom Stew was bound to happen sooner or later.
I own an electric pressure cooker (which also slow cooks, etc.), mine is an Instant Pot and I love it for the convenience of being able to walk away from it, it means I can programme it and walk away from it without having to hang around for it to hiss and then set a timer (so, if you’re making this in a stove-top pressure cooker, all you need to do is hang around and programme the time, which should be the same). All my Instant Pot and pressure cooking recipes are right here.
If you’re making it the conventional way or on a slow cooker, just follow the first sauteing/frying steps and let it run for a few hours in your slow cooker.
Serve this with mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, cauliflower mash, vegetables, whatever takes your fancy but don’t forget a good slice of crusty bread to dip in that lovely sauce.
Don’t forget to join my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas group over on Facebook.
Ready?
Chicken Stew with Serrano Ham and Mushrooms – Instant Pot or conventional cooking
– 75 g serrano ham, diced (you could use a gammon joint/ham cooked in your Instant Pot of course, here‘s a recipe)
– 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
– 750 g chicken thigh fillets, diced
– 1 medium onion, chopped
– 5 garlic cloves, chopped
– 175 g mushrooms, sliced
– 100 ml dry white wine
– 1 teaspoon chicken stock paste or half a chicken stock cube (or of course you could use my Vegetable Stock Paste which is full of flavour)
– A couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes
– Salt and pepper
Instant Pot method:
1. Press the Sauté button, add the oil and, when it starts feeling a bit hot, add the diced serrano ham and fry it for a few minutes until it starts getting a bit golden, stir a few times.
2. Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper and add it to the inner pot to brown, stirring regularly and making sure it doesn’t catch at the bottom. If it does catch easily, you can turn the Sauté heat back down by pressing Keep Warm / Cancel followed by the Sauté button and then, immediately, the Adjust button twice to set the IP to Less (if you have v3 of the DUO / you received your DUO from June 2018, just keep pressing Sauté until the light under less is lit up).
3. Add the chopped onion and garlic (in Thermomix 5 seconds on speed 5) and stir well, let it sweat for a little while and then add the mushrooms, stir. Add the white wine and chicken stock. Scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pot, make sure you get rid of any caramelised bits. Let it bubble a minute or so with the lid off for the wine to reduce a bit and not taste so strong later. Add the tomatoes, no need to stir. Lock the lid in, steam release handle pointing to Sealing, press Poultry and use the – and + buttons to programme 5 minutes, natural release.
At the end you can reduce the sauce using the Sauté setting of your Instant Pot, with the lid off. Add flour, arrowroot or gravy granules if you prefer to thicken the sauce but I don’t.
Conventional cooking (on the hob)
1. Heat oil in a heavy and wide-bottomed pot/cast iron casserole, slow cooker, whatever you have to hand. Fry the diced serrano ham over a medium-high heat until it starts getting a bit goldeny, stir a few times.
2. Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the pot and stir well. Let it brown all over.
3.
Turn the heat down a notch and add
the chopped garlic and onion (in Thermomix 5 seconds on speed 5) and
stir well, let it sweat for a little while and then add the mushrooms,
stir. Add the white wine and chicken stock and let it bubble for a few minutes, then add the
tomatoes and let it cook on a low-medium heat until the chicken is not only cooked through but also tender.
The Feisty Tapas community is on fire lately, full of creative recipes, putting me to shame with my lack of energy as I learn a whole new concept for someone like me “pacing myself”. Basically, it means turning 42 years of “me” upside down and starting small, saving energy for the next day, the next hour even, constantly saving spoons in my energy bank. This Sticky Sesame Chicken, extra quick in an Instant Pot or the pressure cooker you may have, is an extra special dish for days when I really need to cook an easy dinner, the meat is so tender you’ll think you’re dining out rather than at home. Thanks Fran A!
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I am loving my Instant Pot (but if you follow me on social media or are a member of my group you
already know that!). I can’t believe how quickly I got over the scary memories of the pressure cookers from the seventies and eighties. This pork was an improvisation based on the flavours I wanted that day and it turned out really well.
You already have Za’atar from making my flat breads, right? Well, then we are going to give it another use for this pork (and yes you could make them to mop up the sauce). In the meantime, I promise you I now have Sumac in the house and at some point I’ll try making my own Za’atar.
Za’atar is a condiment made of dried oregano mixed with sesame seeds,
dried sumac and salt along with other herbs and spices. I use
Waitrose’s own label which also contains dried marjoram.
Don’t forget about the very nice Instant Pot discount offer that is running until 30th November 2015, click here to find out more about the Instant Pot’s features and the offer, but basically just enter code ft20151 at the checkout on the Instant Pot website to buy the Instant Pot Duo 7 in 1 Electric Pressure Cooker, you will
get £25 off (so £104 instead of £129) + silicon mini mitts + free sealing ring + free delivery. Note: There is no need to add the sealing
ring to the basket (the wording of the voucher doesn’t mention it but
the code will trigger the warehouse to add
the sealing ring). UK only.
Instant Pot Za’atar Pork Loin with Rosemary Potatoes
Use one pork loin for 3 people, use 2 pork loins or more for more people.
For the Rosemary Potatoes
Use the recipe for Roast Baby Potatoes here. For a bigger meal use 1 kg of potatoes and follow the recipe for Roast Baby Potatoes here
– 3 tbsp vegetable, olive oil or generally oil of your choice
– 500 g Charlotte potatoes, washed, unpeeled
– 1 sprig of rosemary, just the leaves
– 3 garlic cloves, don’t peel them but do give them a bit of a whack with your hand
– 1 cup of vegetable stock
– Sea salt, I use Maldon
– Black pepper
For the Za’atar Pork and Vegetables
– 1 or 2 500g piece(s) of pork loin, depending on how many people you’re feeding, if over 3 people definitely use 2.
– Extra virgin olive oil (or oil of your choice)
– 2 tbsp Za’atar (double if 2 pork loins and so on)
– 2-3 chopped garlic cloves
– Juice of 1/4-1/2 a grapefruit
– 2 medium onions (or 4 small onions)
– 1 medium carrot
– 25 g fresh ginger, peeled
– half red pepper
– half courgette
– handful of fresh parsley
– 50 ml sherry
– 15 g porcini
– 160 ml stock
– black pepper
– 125 g green asparagus tips (you could of course use more!)
– 2 carrots
Method
Rosemary Potatoes
If you are using 1 kg of potatoes prepare them as per the recipe book that comes with the Instant Pot, click here to see it (page 15) I only made 500 g potatoes (with Charlotte spuds) and prepared them this way:
1.
Add oil to the pot, press the Sauté button, when hot add the potatoes garlic and rosemary leaves and brown for a few minutes.
2.
Once brown, pierce the potatoes in the middle, pour the stock and press the Keep Warm / Cancel button.
3.
Lock in the lid, make sure the steam release is sealed and press Manual and then press the – (minus) button to programme 11 minutes. You’ll hear the Instant Pot beep and start doing its thing. Let it.
4.
When it beeps again at the end, press the Keep Warm / Cancel button, cover your hand with a tea towel (if you are still scared of this bit) and do Quick Release by reaching for the steam release from the side and turning it fully counterclockwise.
Important: Save the liquid left in the pot (you will need about 160 ml of it), which is exactly how much I had left!
Za’atar Pork and Vegetables
1.
1 or 2 500g piece(s) of pork loin
Extra virgin olive oil (or oil of your choice)
2 tbsp Za’atar
2-3 chopped garlic cloves
Juice of 1/4-1/2 a grapefruit
Place the pork in a bowl, lightly coat in olive oil and then massage in the garlic and Za’atar, drizzle the grapefruit juice on top. Cover with cling film and let it marinade in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
2.
While the pork loin is marinating chop by hand or place in Thermie for 5 seconds, speed 5:
2 medium onions (or 4 small onions)
1 medium carrot
25 cm fresh ginger, peeled
Also chop (if using your Thermomix add to the bowl and do 2 seconds, speed 5):
half red pepper
half courgette
handful of fresh parsley
3.
Press Sauté, add some olive oil (or oil of your choice) to the pot and, once hot, fry the marinated pork loin. Brown on all sides. Remove.
4.
Add 50 ml of sherry, stir.
5.
Add the 15 g porcini, the 160 ml stock and a few twists of black pepper, stir. Open a gap in the middle and place the pork loin in it. Lock the Instant Pot lid in: Manual, 15 minutes, followed by quick release (remember, just protect your hand, reach the release valve carefully from the side and never the top and turn it fully counterclockwise, easy peasy).
6.
Open the Instant Pot lid pointing the inside away from you and lifting slowly and only a little bit until you hear the seal break:
125 green asparagus tips
2 carrots, washed and cut in half centimetre to 1 cm coins
Manual, 10 minutes, natural release followed by keep warm if you need to (I did for at least half an hour and it was delicious).
Optional: Blend the sauce at the end but I really liked it chunky because of the various veg and porcini.
I was sent a free Instant Pot to check out before passing on the offer to my Facebook community.
