What's For Dinner #65 - the Brand New New Year's Edition - January 2021

It was sour cream (light!) , since she felt it would be more familiar. I said "we have yogurt… ", she said, " but not sweetened. "

Sigh. I don’t have sweetened yogurt. I used the yogurt with lamb “kabobs” yesterday, which was also well received.

Don’t get me wrong. I do love sour cream.

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I agree with @ChristinaM. Melissa Clark’s InstaPot cookbooks are the best.

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You didn’t ask me, but I’ll answer anyway as a lifetime PC user and pandemic IP user :joy:

In general, you get what you put in - if you dump and boil, that’s what the outcome will taste like.

If you take a bit of extra time to marinate, saute, brown, get things going first, and use the IP as the convenience tool it is - to speed up things - the results will taste like that, and have more depth. Some things you can put that extra effort in at the end.

In general, use less liquid for things that make a sauce - there’s less evaporation, and otherwise you will spend more time at the end boiling off excess water.

I like using the pot-in-pot method for many things too.

And you may already have discovered, the heating element at the bottom can lead to “food burn” signs at odd moments, even when there’s plenty of liquids.

I don’t love it for things where depth of flavor matters - indian gravy dishes, for example - by the time the sauce gets to the right point, meat is overcooked - and most likely there’s been “food burn.”

I’ve recently started using it for less obvious things like blanching vegetables or as a station for boiling multiple rounds of pasta (I leave the water in and use a spider to fish out the pasta or veg).

Basically a regular PC but more hands-off given that it’s electric and has a timer.

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Do IP owners use it to steam eggs, quick cook potatoes, yogurt making, canning? Is the IP better at these things vs. pot on stove?

I keep seeing that article about the shortage of bucatini :joy:

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Nicely done!

Re pancakes - do you flour the dough and the surface (and the rolling pin if necessary)?

The way we roll out chapatis (there is a type that is identical to these except for the hot water dough) is to create a surface that enables the disk to move as you’re rolling it. You add a tiny bit of flour as you go to facilitate the movement (not too much or you end up with a dry / floury end product). Then they actually rotate as you’re rolling (with a light hand, or they won’t move).

Having used the same recipe you did in my NYE multi-pancake situation, my 2c was that hot water dough is much harder to handle for a not-very-different outcome vs chapati dough. But i also did what you did - oiled one side of the lower ball. Didn’t have the curling issue - I think that’s a rolling practice thing combined with the extra-stretchy hot water dough thing.

Try the painted crepe technique sometime - I liked those better for less effort (steaming briefly to reheat and rehydrate just before eating was helpful there).

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Rigatoni alla gricia, broccolini, and wine.

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Dinner in an Instant looks like what I’m after. Thanks for the heads up.

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The jambalaya I posted here was made in the IP. We were very happy with the results in 20 mins flat!

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Favorite recipes include caramel salmon, maqluba (chicken, rice, and eggplant), ricotta, red lentil soup, tangerine carrots, shrimp scampi, osso bucco.

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I like rice in the IP too - usually needs a bit of fluffing at the end for my taste (we mostly use basmati).

We made excellent risotto in the IP a couple of times too.

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Those all sound delicious.

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Yes the rice was terrific. Risotto is on the list, def. I want to try a cheesecake.

@rwcfoodie, I’m going to try the cheesecake from the blog you mentioned. That couple does a lot of trial and error, which I enjoy.

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This one is very good. I’d scale down the sugar a little bit.

The custard sets beautifully, but the crust gets soggy imo (I enjoy a bit of crunch on the base, can fake it by using a crumb topping though.)

Ok, that was fun to watch. Bookmarked.

Grilled jumbo shrimp and swordfish tonight. Garlic and harissa marinade, because my harissa restock arrived today.

The roasted cauliflower was the real star - I seasoned it and let it marinate for a while, and grated a bit of pecorino before roasting. Dynamite.

Last-minute addition of broccoli slaw for a bit of crunch and freshness - vietnamese style, for an international plate :joy:

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The very first Insta Pot I sold, when they just started hitting American stores was to a woman who wanted make yogurt. She had one “at home” (not sure where home was) but needed one to run on US current.

@Saregama gave excellent advice.

An IP isn’t for everyone. If someone only likes stir fries and grilled food forget an IP - there’s no way you’re going to like it. But if you are someone who likes soups, stews, braises and the like the IP is very handy. I like it much better than my stove top pressure cooker. Just about anything I would do in my slow cooker I do in my IP. My favorite use is to cook beans. I can decide an hour before dinner that I want something with beans and can cook them up fresh. You have to play around with the cooking time to get them the way you like them but once you do they come out perfect just about anytime. I keep a chart for my self. I never soak. I can’t remember the last time I bought a can of beans.

Have fun!

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Tonight we had the full house both kids and their significant other’s, the request “something parmigiana”. Here we have (1of) the chicken parms for the ladies and the thinly pounded veal chop parms “monsters” for the gents! Side of broccolini and garlic bread.

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