Brad has asked me to do a bit of a review of the Instant Pot. This is one kitchen gadget I wish I had years ago. It is a programmable pressure cooker. It also has a slow cook setting and is a rice cooker.
The first recipe I made prior to even reading the instructions was a beef stew. There is a saute or browning setting that is used first in order to brown the meat, throw in the rest of the vegetables and your liquid and I would say a total of 30 minutes later (10 minutes to reach pressure and 20 to cook) I had a wonderful meal. I used the cheapest cut of meat that needed tenderizing and once this was finished you did not need a knife at all.
So we can get right to the cooking here's what I like about his pot.
- By cooking with the lid sealed, the flavors a more intense.
- Easy to use - after a couple of times, using the pot becomes like second nature.
- Easy to clean. There is a stainless steel pot which comes out and pops right in to the dishwasher.
- Your brown your food in the same pot that you cook in. Even if you are slow cooking.
- Safe: Don't worry about the safety of it. It take a superman to pry the lid off prior to the pressure being released. In fact if you go to Instantpot.com you can read about all the safety features there are.
So in honor of our share, here's a recipe we can make with the eggplant. This is my favorite. Don't worry when you see all the steps, it really is simple.
Eggplant & Olive Spread - pressure cooker recipe
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds (1k) eggplant
3-4 garlic cloves, skin on (reserve one to use fresh at the end)
1 teaspoon salt ½ cup (125ml) water or use 1 cup (250ml) for electrics
1 lemon, juiced (about ¼ cup of juice)
1 tablespoons tahini
¼ cup black olives, pitted (reserve a few un-pitted for garnish)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (about a tablespoon of leaves)
Fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 pounds (1k) eggplant
3-4 garlic cloves, skin on (reserve one to use fresh at the end)
1 teaspoon salt ½ cup (125ml) water or use 1 cup (250ml) for electrics
1 lemon, juiced (about ¼ cup of juice)
1 tablespoons tahini
¼ cup black olives, pitted (reserve a few un-pitted for garnish)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (about a tablespoon of leaves)
Fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Peel the eggplant in alternating stripes of skin and no skin (to keep some of the flavor and color of the skin, but not too much!!) Slice the biggest chunks possible to cover the bottom of your pressure cooker. The rest can be roughly chopped.
In the pre-heated pressure cooker, on medium heat without the lid, add the olive oil. When the oil has heated, carefully place the large chunks of eggplant "face down" to fry and caramelize on one side, about 5 minutes - throw in the garlic cloves with the skin on.
Then, flip over the eggplant add the remaining uncooked eggplant, salt and water.
Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker.
For electric pressure cookers: Cook for 3 minutes at high pressure. For stove top pressure cookers: Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker indicates it has reached high pressure, lower to the heat to maintain it and begin counting 3 minutes pressure cooking time.
When time is up, open the cooker by releasing the pressure through the valve.
Take the pressure cooker base to the sink, and tip it to remove and discard most of the brown liquid.
Fish out the garlic cloves and remove their skin. Add the Tahini , lemon juice, cooked and uncooked garlic cloves and black olives and puree everything together using an immersion blender (tilt the pan to get everything in the nook so it immerses the head immersion blender).
Pour out to the serving dish and sprinkle with fresh Thyme, remaining black olives and a dash of fresh olive oil before serving.
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