Instant Pot Giardiniera

 

I know everyone loves a really long intro prior to a recipe, but I don't. I want to just read the recipe, not the hour long story about the recipe. So I keep these short.

We love a good pickled anything. All time family favorite is cauliflower, but it's hard to find in stores. I found a recipe in an Instant Pot cookbook that I've been trying and perfecting. So now I'll share it with you. I'll leave the recipe to include other vegetables so you can test other favorites.

Giardiniera

1 1/3 cup cold water

1 1/3 cup white wine vinegar

1 1/3 cup white vinegar

8 garlic cloves peeled, left whole

20 black peppercorns

2 tsp garlic salt (can sub for regular salt)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp fennel seeds

2 small bay leaves

1 head of cauliflower left whole

2 medium carrots, left whole

2 celery ribs, left whole

1 small fennel bulb, sliced in half

Place all vinegar, water, garlic, salt, sugar, fennel seeds, bay leaf and peppercorns in bottom on Instant Pot. 

Place a steamer basket in the bottom of the pot, then layer with the denser vegetables on bottom, carrot, cauliflower, then celery and fennel. 

Place IP lid on and close, select the pressure cook option (I have 2 IP's, one has a manual button I use, the other has the Pressure cook button). 

Pressure cook on High for 0 minutes (yes....that is correct 0 minutes)

Once pot is done, do a quick-release of pressure. 

Bring all the vegetables out while steaming hot, slicing them into bite-size pieces

Place all vegetables in a sterilized jar and pour the hot brine over the top. You may not need all the liquid, if you don't have quite enough make sure to get at least 3/4 full and you can top off with filtered water. 

Let stand 10 minutes and then cover and place in the refrigerator. 

Mangia! Mangia!

These can be stored in the jar for up to a month. Ours never last two days, as they're eaten so fast. But good luck to you

***I put the peppercorn, fennel seeds and bay leaves in a cheesecloth as when you use the remaining liquid in the jars I like to omit those, you could also strain at the end if you don't want them in your jars.

Instant Pot---Bone Broth

When I make bone the first thing I do is collect all my vegetables and herbs that I'm going to use. I cut the entire bottom off of a head of celery and cut the tops off to all go in my broth. I cut the tops off my carrots (no greenery) and bottoms off. Then go get fresh rosemary and thyme from our garden. Then I get my garlic ready, an entire head sliced in half skin on and all. Lastly I grab my onion and slice it in half as well, skin on. Now I don't have any pictures, because I forgot. But here's the basic recipe. What I love most about the Instant Pot is something that used to take 24 hours, now takes 2. Now seriously, what am I going to use those other 22 hours for...oh I have plans.


Bone Broth

Chicken bones (or beef bones)
Celery, use all of it the heart, leaves
Carrots, tops (no greens) all of the carrot
Onion cut in half skin on
Garlic, whole head cut in half skin on
Sprig of Rosemary (or if using dry 1 tbsp)
Sprig of Thyme (or if using dry 1 tbsp)
Bay leaf
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Water to cover

I start by adding my bones to the Instant Pot and adding the vinegar. This is a very important step as the acid helps make the nutrients in the bones more available. Add water to cover. Let this sit for 10 minutes or so. Then add all other ingredients, Cook on high pressure for 120 minutes.

That's it.
We actually go through so much bone broth we make it weekly, and now that it's only takes 2 hours instead of 24 I can fill my freezer for Fall/Winter.
Enjoy!

Instant Pot---Congee

 I've resisted buying an Instant Pot for a while but have desperately wanted one. Finally it was on sale and I had a little extra funds to buy it, and the timing couldn't be better. If you know me you know that I LOVE my crock pot, I typically use it at least two times a week. Well, so far I've used the Instant Pot everyday since I got it on Saturday. I've steamed corn, artichokes, roasted potatoes, and made ribs. I plan to post the rib recipe but I didn't get any pictures because they were so darn good they were gone before I remembered to get a picture. Last nights recipe, oh I cannot even put into words how much we all enjoyed it. I knew I wanted to try something I've never attempted to cook before, so I found the perfect recipe, tweaked it a bit and made what is definitely a family favorite. Although it's still summer this tasted really good but I can picture eating it on a cool Fall/Winter night and know that it will taste even that more satisfying. 

Congee
2 tbsp fat/lard of your choice
4 ribs of celery, chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 a leek, sliced
4 tbsp grated ginger
1 lb ground pork (or any meat of your choice)
1 1/2 cups rice (rinsed until water runs clear)
9 cups bone broth/water (I dilute my bone broth some as the cooking adds an additional depth of flavor and we use a ton of bone broth throughout the week)
1/2 tsp salt
Napa cabbage, chopped
Green onions, sliced
Start with the aromatics:
Turn Instant Pot on to Saute, add lard/fat, celery, garlic, leek and let cook until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes.
Turn off Instant Pot.

Add the ground meat, salt, ginger, rice and broth.
Attach lid, close the vent and press the "porridge" button, for 30 minutes.
When done, open lid and stir to break up any big pieces.
Stir in Napa cabbage and green onions.
Enjoy!

Whole Chicken

I've finally mastered cooking a whole chicken. Now that it's Fall and we use our bone broth almost weekly in meals, we quickly run out of bone broth. In order to get the bones for bone broth, I need to cook a whole chicken.  This recipe took some work to perfect, but the last 3 times it's turned out perfect. So now it's time to share my secret.

Whole Chicken
2-5 lb whole chicken (I love the Organic, pre-brined chicken from Trader Joes)
4 carrots chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
5 red potatoes chopped (I sometimes substitute, sliced butternut squash, acorn squash or delicata squash)
1 whole onion (red or yellow) cut into quarters
1 large rosemary sprig
1 large thyme sprig
1 garlic head (peel each clove individually)
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Turn on oven to 275 degrees
Place Whole Chicken in cooking pan large enough for chicken and the vegetables
Put potatoes (or squash), celery, carrots, onion and whole garlic cloves around the chicken
Pull some rosemary and thyme off the sprigs and sprinkle around the vegetables
Drizzle top of chicken with olive oil, garlic powder, salt & pepper
Place in oven (no foil necessary) @ 275 until chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit
We then save the bones and that same night make our own bone broth (you can find that recipe in my archives on September 29, 2013). That broth I use for the base of all my soup recipes.
****Mix it up a little bit by substituting the potatoes for a squash, either sliced butternut, sliced acorn, or delicata squash.

Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

I love Chicken Pot Pie, like absolutely love it. The perfect mixture of crust and filling, such a great comfort food on a crisp night. The kids have gotten really excited by using cookie cutters, so as you can tell they decorated the top of the pot pie using their pumpkin cookie cutter. I found this recipe in the Winter of 2008 and it's become a favorite. I think one of the things that make this such a great recipe is we make our own homemade crust which really does make a huge difference, it may seem like "one more step" but it's quick, easy and well worth the extra few minutes to have your own homemade crust.



Chicken Pot Pie
Crust:
2 cups flour (sifted)
3/4 cup butter salted, softened
6 tbsp cold water
Put flour in a bowl, cut in butter until crumbly
Add water until ball is created (may need additional water)
Put in fridge for 4 hours (I've made this both ways by refrigerating and not refrigerating and don't notice a difference. I will say if you do refrigerate make sure to take it out at least 30 minutes before you're ready to use otherwise it's impossible to roll out.)

Filling:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
1 tbsp garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 3/4 cup chicken broth (we use our homemade bone broth)
2/3 cup milk
1 lb cooked chicken, cubed
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery stalks, chopped
1 cup potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas

Preheat oven to 400F
Melt butter.
Add salt, pepper, onion and garlic
Whisk in flour, then add chicken broth & milk (continue to whisk)
Cook & stir until thick
Add potatoes, carrots, celery & cook until desired firmness of veggies
Add chicken & peas
Mix well, pour into pie crust.
Cut slits into crust
Bake @ 400F for 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly