"In 2008, a 26-year-old Japanese mother in the Osaka region shared a meal of leftover fried rice with her two children, ages 1 and 2. She had prepared and served the rice the day before and kept it at room temperature.
“All three became ill 30 minutes after eating the leftovers, and were hospitalized. Both children lost consciousness, and the youngest died seven hours after the meal. Pathologists later reported in the journal Pediatrics that the rice contained a very common spore-forming bacterium, Bacillus cereus, along with a heat-resistant toxin that the bacterium tends to make on starchy foods, and that can cause vomiting even after being heated to the boil.”
Obscure stories like that is what fuels the American food safety paranoia and leads to extreme waste of food… The USDA rules are not always basd on science, a lot of it is a CYA stuff. But I am not going to debate the food safety polices here since this is an instant pot thread.
^^Tip for posting links you come across on social media: if there is a “?” in the URL, delete it and everything that follows (identifier of the source). The remaining URL will work just fine.
Sauté 1 lb Italian sausage with some chopped onion. Drain fat. Add back to pot along with some drained, canned mushrooms. You could use fresh, too, I’m sure. Dump in a jar of your favorite pasta sauce. Fill the jar with a can of chicken broth, a little red wine, and water. Dump in pot. Add any other seasonings you like - oregano, marjoram, rosemary, pepper, garlic, etc. Rinse thoroughly (very important) approximately 3/4 of a lb of pasta. One lb is too much. Drain and add to pot. Use a short noodle like penne, rigatoni, shell. Submerge all the noodles down in the sauce. Cover and set on manual high pressure for half the time listed on the pasta package minus 1 minute. So, if it says to cook the pasta on the stove for 10 minutes, set pressure to 4 minutes (half of 10 is 5 minus 1 more minute). Pour more wine in your glass a sip while your pot cooks your dinner. When timer sounds, do a quick pressure release, stir, top with Parmesan cheese, and eat! Voila! One pot pasta!
@abasket - have not tried long thin noodles. Some people seem to have success with long noodles - some don’t. If you are on FB, you should join the Instant Pot Community! Over 400,000 members, so immediately “unfollow” if you join, or their posts will be your entire news feed! Lots of tips and recipes on there. A pretty fun and civil group.
I had a hit meal tonight and I used two of my recent kitchen additions.
Teriyaki chicken thighs cooked in the IP and cucumber ginger salad made with my spiralizer.
I took the easy route with the chicken. I used boneless, skinless thighs ( don’t tell my H), 3/4 cups of low salt Soyaki teriyaki sauce, a clove of garlic and some minced fresh ginger. High pressure for 8 minutes. Natural release for about 7 minutes followed by a quick release.
I served it on top of quinoa, topped it with sautéed broccollini and red peppers. Added some scallions to the top along with cilantro. I also topped it with a nice serving of the cucumber salad. It was a huge hit. I warmed a bit of fresh teriyaki sauce in the microwave and drizzled on the top.
The cucumbers were refreshing. I spiralized about 5 Persian cucumbers. Made a dressing of 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, 1 tbsp of sesame oil, a pinch of sugar to your taste preference, and minced about a couple of teaspoons of ginger. Let it sit for about 30 minutes for the cucumbers to lightly pickle. It was delicious.
Served it Buddha bowl style.
Tonight I made quinoa for the first time in the Instapot. The BEST texture/flavor I’ve had yet! I just put 1 cup quinoa, 1/5 cups chicken broth, a pinch of salt and some fresh parsley in the pot. ONE minute manual and then natural release - PERFECT! Best part was while that did it’s thing I threw some peppers, onions and asparagus in the oven to roast - then cleaned my house and didn’t have to watch a single thing! Walked away from it all.
I topped the quinoa with the roasted vegetables, some feta, chili garlic sauce and cilantro. I could eat that for days!
I made pinto beans for the second time in my IP. The first time, they were a tad tough. This time, I cooked them for 50 minutes and they were very soft. Could have gone for less, maybe 45. I would use less water next time too.
But they were still very good. Will need to refine the spices. Normally I add celery salt while cooking, but I saw in a Youtube vid that adding salt while pressure cooking the beans can make them tough. Added it afterwards, and I wasn’t quite satisfied with the spices.
What spices do you guys put in your pinto beans, and how much water?
@abasket – I also like making quinoa in the IP-- in fact, that’s the only way I’ve ever made it that I like it – but I am confused by your proportions – 1 cup quinoa, 1/5 cup broth? How is that enough liquid? I make mine with a 1:1 ratio of liquid to grain, pot-in-pot (so it’s in a bowl on a trivet, not in the pot itself – easier cleanup that way). Since I live alone I tend to make smaller portions,.
@calmom , typo for me. 1 cup quinoa, 1 1/2 cup chicken broth. I made it directly in the steel pot. It did net at least 4 servings for me, but I’ll take it for work lunch, etc.
When I do pinto beans I first saute a little chopped onion, jalapeno and a little bit of garlic. Then I added beans and liquid - gave them a lot of flavor.
Easiest HB eggs for the dinner salad last night! While I chopped the veggie ingredients, the eggs cooked - 2 minutes using “beans” setting with quick release did the trick.
I salt my beans from the start. Also I don’t soak.
I’m surprised that pinto beans would need 45 minutes. It depends on how old they are, though. I have some pinto beans waiting to be cooked and I’m going to start off with 25 mins.
I have an off brand IP, and its bean setting was 35 minutes. That wasn’t enough last time. I’d looked at other recipes and they recommended 55 minutes for unsoaked beans. I’m thinking there just may be variation between the different brands.
