Homemade Ricotta (InstaPot)

This is absolutely so easy in an InstaPot you’re not even going to believe it. Truly. And SO good! 

I’m using it on a white pizza this week. It’d be good on pasta; in lasagna or wherever you’d buy ricotta at the store; on oatmeal with blueberries or diced almonds maybe; or as a spread with pine nuts and honey, or fresh rosemary and cracked pepper perhaps. Just some ideas off the top of my head, here. 

INSTAPOT RICOTTA

8 C milk

4 T white vinegar

Pour the milk into the Instapot and properly close the lid. Set it to Yogurt/Boil.

When the Instapot beeps, remove the inner pot to a trivet. Stir in the vinegar until you see the curds forming. Let sit ten minutes.

Drain in a colander covered with cheesecloth. Add salt if desired.

InstaPot Mashed Potatoes

 No pictures for the blog post this week, I'm afraid! But I wanted to get this blogged anyway, tonight, because I've got a new steamer basket for the Instapot and it worked bea-YOU-ti-fully for mashed potatoes!

INSTAPOT MASHED POTATOES

3lbs "waxy" potatoes (red or Yukon gold)

Water, to cover potatoes

Broth base or bouillon, optional

1/2 - 3/4C milk

Butter or margarine, to taste

Clean the potatoes and cut them into about 2" chunks. Add to the steamer basket inside the Instapot; add enough water to cover the potatoes. I like to add broth base to mine, too, I think it makes for more flavorful potatoes.

Properly close the lid and the exhaust. Start cooking under 'Pressure Cook' mode on high pressure for 10 minutes.

When cooking is done, release the pressure before opening the lid.

Pull the steamer basket out of the Instapot to drain. Add the butter and milk; mash with a hand potato masher or a handheld mixer. 

InstaPot Beef Stew

Seriously, if you’ve got a community college or culinary school that offers a knife-use class, you need to take it.

Two pounds of red potatoes, a pound of carrots, and a pound of beef ready for stew: not a scratch or cut did I GET. *Which is positively astounding, with my usual track record!

I olive-oil pan spray’d my Instapot before adding the garlic on the ‘Sauté’ function. Let that beat up, then add the beef, grind your salt and pepper, and I added parsley, crushed rosemary, and thyme. Brown all that together.

Add the beef broth (or water and broth base/bouillon) and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits from the bottom, if you have any. My InstaPot is so super-nonstick that I didn’t!

Add your carrots, potatoes, tomato sauce, and onion, if using. Stir well. Close the lid and the exhaust, and cook on ‘Manual’ on high pressure for 35 minutes.

Let the Instapot release pressure naturally for 10 minutes after the pressure cooking is done, then quick release. Make a slurry of 3 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch and half a cup of water. Pour that into the hot stew, and stir until thickened. 

INSTAPOT BEEF STEW

1 pound beef, cubed

2 pounds red potatoes, cubed

1 pounds baby carrots, halved

5 garlic cloves, minced

Onion (optional)

6 C beef broth, or broth base/bouillon equivalent 

Salt and pepper

1 t each parsley, crushed rosemary, and crushed thyme

1 C tomato sauce 

3 T cornstarch

1/2 C water

Prepare your beef and all your vegetables into bite-size pieces.

Spray your InstaPot with pan spray and add your garlic. Sauté until sizzling; then add beef, salt and pepper, and your herbs. Continue sautéing until browned, scraping up and browned bits if there are any.

Add broth, vegetables, and tomato sauce. Close the InstaPot lid and the exhaust. Set on Manual, high pressure, for 35 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for ten minutes, then quick release.
Make a slurry by whisking the cornstarch into the 1/2 C water. Stir into the hot stew until thickened.

Ashley’s Favorite Sauces: Browned Butter

*Does this count as a ‘sauce’? I couldn’t make up my mind! 

Browned butter is a great addition to vegetables, in any case, so I’m adding it on to the “Ashley’s Favorite Sauces” series. 

For just a little time at the stove - you’ve got to keep an eye on it, it goes from “browned” to “burned” QUICK - it instantly up’s a plain steamed vegetable to practically gourmet! I’m using it for spinach, here: equally good on just about anything, broccoli, squash, Brussels sprouts, you name it.

Butter. That’s all it is, truly.

I’m using my cast iron, because I always use my cast iron.

Melt your butter over medium.

Once it’s melted, turn heat to HIGH and start stirring.

You can see mine kind of clarified first - that’s what you call the frothy bubbling, for those of you who don’t do this often  - but keep it on high and keep stirring, and it moves past clarifying to browning pretty quickly.

As soon as it starts turning brown, pull it off the heat! If you’re using cast iron, that means getting it out of your cast iron, too, because they hold heat.
And there you go: that’s it.Browned butter sauce.

Roasted Broccoli with Olive Oil and Parmesan

This is really an anomaly of a recipe for me, because if you’ve been following the blog you know I NEVER use oil!

Seriously, it is not usually needed and you can usually get by with pan spray, which doesn’t have the fat or the calories.

*Let’s all repeat here: “Healthy fat is still fat/Healthy fat is still fat/“ and so on. Yes.

But I am digging it out for this one.

Roasting broccoli again, but just playing around my kitchen this time. I’m roasting it with olive oil and Parmesan and — garlic powder, because I do not have any garlic cloves on hand.

I really think it would be good with garlic cloves roasted along with the broccoli, so if anyone wants to try that - let me know how it goes and I’ll edit!

ROASTED BROCCOLI WITH OLIVE OIL AND PARMESAN

2lbs broccoli florets, trimmed

3 T olive oil

Several shakes of garlic powder

3/4 C Parmesan

Preheat oven to 450.

Toss broccoli florets with olive oil. Place on sheet pan. Top with several shakes of garlic powder.

Bake four minutes; toss with a spatula. The bottoms of the florets should be starting to brown. Bake another four minutes.

Remove from oven. Toss with Parmesan.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup with Four Variations

This was the original recipe I intended to make today, and I already had it drafted out as a blog post! But then I didn’t get around to starting the potatoes until four o’clock, which is just a little late to be starting a crockpot dinner! So I changed things up and did the soup in the Instapot instead, but for those of you who prefer a crockpot, here’s the original for my soup today. 

CROCKPOT  POTATO SOUP

3 lbs waxy potatoes (red or Yukon gold), cut into one or two inch chunks

1 medium onion, chopped 

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 C chicken broth, or equivalent broth base and water

1 T thyme 

Freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/2 C fat free half and half

Combine potatoes, onion, garlic, broth, and thyme in a slow cooker. Cook on high 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.

Add cream and blend soup with an immersion blender. Serve with desired toppings.

VARIATIONS

Alfredo:

Top with sun dried tomatoes, diced rotisserie chicken, cooked broccoli florets, and shredded Parmesan.

Mexican:

Top with pico de gallo, tortilla strips, sliced jalapeños, and shredded Mexican-blend cheese.

Pizza:

Top with diced pepperoni, marinara sauce, pesto, and shredded Mozzarella.

Loaded Baked Potato:

Top with diced ham, diced green onions, shredded cheddar cheese, and low fat sour cream.

Roasted Broccoli with Smoky Yogurt Sauce

*A note for my gluten-free-ers on the Greek yogurt: Oîkos has become my new favorite brand. Ingredients? Nothing but ‘Cultured Grade A Non Fat MILK.’

ROASTED BROCCOLI WITH SMOKY YOGURT SAUCE

2lbs broccoli florets

Garlic powder, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Olive oil pan spray

Sauce:

3/4C plain Greek yogurt

1/2 t ground cumin

1/2 t paprika

Preheat oven to 450.

Place broccoli florets on a sheet pan coated with olive oil pan spray. Top with another coating of pan spray, garlic powder, and freshly ground pepper. 

Bake at 450 for 8 minutes.

Mix yogurt, cumin, and paprika together. Serve broccoli with sauce.