Glenda Embree is one of a kind grandmother of three beautiful grandchildren. She maintains a creative blog for busy wives and moms. The blog is full of wonderful and practical tips and recipes. The following is her recent creation of a Potato Bacon Chowder recipe using Instant Pot. The recipe is posted here with permission from Glenda.
Ingredients: 8 servings
- 5 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 3 stalks celery, sliced thin
- 1 large onion, small diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon seasoning salt (I used Country Bob’s)
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 lb. bacon, fried crisp and rough chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and diced green onion for garnish
Instructions
- Place potato chunks into inner pot of pressure cooker.
- Add celery, onion, garlic, seasoning salt, pepper and butter. Stir to combine.
- Add bacon and chicken stock to pot and then stir to combine. (I debated on whether to add the bacon, now, or when the soup was done. Now, meant sinking that smoky flavor deep into the potatoes. Later, meant having that crispier texture element to enjoy in my finished soup. Tonight, I opted for the deep flavor (Totally delish, by the way!), but you could go either way and it would be tasty and perfectly acceptable.) If you decide to wait, you will add the bacon when you stir in the milk and cream.)
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot slow cooker and lock it into place.
- It will start, off to the side, so it drops into the slots in the rim and then you will grip the handle to spin the lid into the locked position. See how the arrows line up when it’s locked?
- Push the Manual mode button and set the timer for 5 minutes. (I started with 10 and then checked half way through. At five minutes, the potatoes were fork tender and perfect. Amazing!)
- Quick-release the steam from the pressure cooker.
- When steam is fully gone, remove the lid of the slow cooker. There should still be liquid in the pot with your veggies.
- Use a potato masher to crush vegetables, resulting in a thick, semi-smooth mash. I left a few bigger chunks of potato, in mine, for texture. That’s totally a preference thing, so adjust for what your family likes.)
- Add cream and whole milk, stirring to incorporate.
- Serve hot and steaming, topped with sour cream, shredded cheddar and sliced green onion.
Related articles
Recipe, Soup
| 
Black Pepper, Chicken Stock, Chowder Recipe, Clove Garlic, Country Bob, Cubed 3, Finished Soup, Fork Tender, Garlic Seasoning, Green Onion, inner pot, Lb Bacon, Mode Button, Onion Garlic, Potato Chunks, Russet Potatoes, Salt Pepper, Seasoning Salt, Smoky Flavor, Stalks Celery
Many users started using Instant Pot in very creative ways. We are pleasantly surprised that Instant Pot’s keep-warm function can be used to do sous vide cooking. Sous vide, French for “under vacuum”, is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for a long time at low temperature (54C~80C) to kill harmful bacterias before applying other cooking techniques such as browning or BBQ. Many have done sous vide in simple home-made devices, for example Chef John’s “Food Wishes”.
Maomao Mom created a sous vide recipe for succulent duck breast. Here’s a repost with permission. She also has other recipes on her blog http://MaomaoMom.com.
Sous vide duck breast
by MaomaoMom
Google “Sous vide” (French for “under vacuum”) and you will find 10 million search results. It involves cooking food in sealed plastic bags in a water bath at lower (50~70C) and constant temperatures for long periods of time. This technique was used by French chefs in the 1960s and 70s. It has become increasingly popular at gourmet restaurants because it yields much higher succulence and avoids overcooking. Even Iron Chefs use this technique on TV shows. There is even an expensive water-oven appliance SousVide Supreme for this purpose.
Since I have an electric pressure cooker with a “keep warm” function which maintains temperature around 65C, I decided to try this technique out. Results are pretty good.
Prepare Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 38+4minutes
Level: medium
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients
- 2 large boneless duck breast halves 480g, skin-on;
- 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons freshly minced garlic, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/3 teaspoon dry thyme, 1/3 teaspoon peppercorn;
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
Apricot sauce (optional):
- 1 large ripe apricot, peeled and cored, mash with 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons sugar.
Directions
- Clean duck breasts then rub on all ingredients 2. Cover and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. Rinse off spices and place duck breasts in a Ziploc bag, remove air and seal it.
- Add water in the InstantPot up to 7-cup mark. Leave the lid open, turn on power and press “Keep warm” button. After 20 minutes, place the Ziploc bag in the water bath for 35~40 minutes.
- Remove the bag from the water and pat dry duck breasts. Sear skin side of duck breasts in a non-stick frying pan with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil at medium-high heat until golden. Turn over and cook for another 20 seconds.
- Slice the cooked duck breasts and serve with apricot sauce.
- Apricot sauce: mix ingredients 4 and 5 in a small pot, bring to boil on high heat then simmer 5 minutes at low heat.
Related articles
Poultry
| Apricot Sauce, Chef John, Cook Time, Duck Breast, Duck Breasts, electric pressure cooker, French Chefs, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, Google, Gourmet Restaurants, Harmful Bacterias, Iron Chefs, Long Periods Of Time, method of cooking, Plastic Bags, Salt 2, Succulence, Tablespoon Vegetable Oil, Teaspoon Salt, Water Bath
Eddoe is a small tropical root vegetable, a variety of Taro family originated from China and Japan. They offer an intensely flavorful alternative to potatoes and yams. It’s commonly known that eddoes contain carbohydrate and fiber which are excellent for people with digestive problems. Eddoe flour is used in infant formula and canned baby foods. Other benefits of eddoes may include lowering cholesterol levels, slowing absorption of glucose, reducing insulin requirements and reducing the likelihood of colorectal cancer.
To add eddoes to your daily diet, the following is probably the simplest desert recipe. Cooking eddoes with Instant Pot is easy and fast.
Prepare Time: 2 minutes
Cooking Time: Around 8 minutes with Instant Pot Programmable Pressure cooker
Ingredients: 6 servings
- 2 pounds of eddoes
- White sugar, brown sugar or maple syrup
Cooking:
- Wash the eddoes clean. Don’t need to peel them.
- Add 2 cups of water in the Instant Pot inner pot. Put in the steaming rack that came with Instant Pot.
- Put the eddoes in a ceramic/metal serving bowl. Place the bowl on top of the steaming rack.
- Press the “Steam” key and select 8 minutes.
- The semi-hard shell of eddoes will be very easy to peel off. Cut the peeled eddoes into bite-size and roll them in the sugar of your choice (white sugar, brown sugar or maple syrup
Related articles
Dessert
| Baby Foods, Bite Size, Brown Sugar, Carbohydrate, Ceramic Metal, Cholesterol Levels, Colorectal, cooking pot, Desert Recipe, Digestive Problems, Eddoes, inner pot, Insulin Requirements, Lowering Cholesterol, Maple Syrup, pressure cooker, Root Vegetable, Time 2, Tropical Root, White Sugar
Red bean (also known as Azuki bean) soup has been loved by many Japanese, Korean and Chinese for centuries. It is also one of the most common after-diner dessert in Chinese restaurants. If you inquire about how the red bean soup is made, the waitress would give you a list of ingredients, and tell you to soak the beans overnight and boil it for hours and hours. Not anymore with Instant Pot! You could enjoy the mouth-watering red bean soup within an hour, including preparation.
Prepare Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: Around 55 minutes with Instant Pot Programmable Pressure cooker
Ingredients: 6 servings
- 2 cups of red beans
- 1/2 cup of dry lotus seeds, with the sprouts removed
- (Optional) 1/2 cup of dry chestnuts
- (Optional) 2 small pieces of dried mandarin or lemon peel, broken into tiny pieces
- 4 table spoon of sugar (change this amount depending how many sweet teeth you have)
- 8~12 cups of water, depending on whether you prefer thick or thinner soup
Cooking:
- Put all ingredients in the cooking pot
- Press “Bean/Chilli” function key, and press “Adjust” once to extend the cooking time
- When the cooking is done, stir well before serving
Related articles
Dessert, Soup
| Bean Soup Recipe, Centuries, Chestnuts, Chinese Restaurants, cooking pot, Dessert, function key, Lemon Peel, Lotus, Lotus Seeds, Mandarin, pressure cooker, Red Bean Soup, Red Bean Soup Recipe, Red Beans, Small Pieces, Sprouts, Sweet Teeth, Sweet Tooth, Table Spoon, Tiny Pieces, Waitress
Whole grains are high in fiber. low in fat, and rich in nutrients. Consumption of whole grains has been consistently linked with a significant decrease in risk factors for heart disease and type II diabetes.
Whole grains are more forgiving than white rice when over cooked. Multiple grains can be mixed together to create large variety of wholegrain meal. They remain pleasantly full of texture after cooking.
Prepare Time: 2 minutes
Cooking Time: about 70 minutes
Ingredients: 6~8 servings
- 3 cups brown rice, wild rice or other whole grains, rinsed
- 2 tablespoon of oil (olive oil preferred)
- 9 cups of water
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt (optional)
Cooking:
- Combine the grains, water, oil and salt (if used) in the inner pot.
- Press the Multigrain key.
- After the cooking is completed, let it steam in the residual heat for 5 more minutes.
- Open the lid, stir to fluff up the grains before serving.
Related articles
Multigrain, Rice
| 5 More Minutes, Brown Rice, Consumption, Diabetes, Fluff, Heart Disease, inner pot, Nutrients, Olive Oil, Residual Heat, Risk Factors For Heart Disease, steam, Tablespoon, Teaspoon Salt, Texture, Time 2, Type Ii Diabetes, Water Oil, White Rice, Whole Grains, wild rice
Comments (0) 
