Where's the Beef in an Instant (Pot)

Visiting my mom for Thanksgiving, she surprised me with an early Christmas present (and Black Friday find): an Instant Pot! I had been obsessing for a month about whether or not my cooking life would be revolutionized with a gadget that was a pressure cooker, yogurt maker, slow cooker, and more. Scroll to the bottom of this blog entry for my Beefless stew Instant Pot recipe.

That weekend, I set about experimenting with these solid, plant-based recipes (highly recommend keeping a pinterest list of instant pot recipes you find online):

1) Steel Cut Oats
The slight chewiness with the creamy texture, bright sweet pops of plumped up dried cranberries. What's not to love about steel cut oats except the time and attention they take? Worry no more with this set it and forget it you can make your oats while in the shower and make enough to last the week while you're at it.

2) Kabocha Squash
Rinse squash, cut it in half, and scoop out seeds. Place 1 cup water in instant pot pot, place trivet in the pot (handles up) and add squash halves. Add lid, set pressure cooker on high for 5 minutes, let pressure release naturally (~20-25 mins, jiggle the lid a little or use manual release if it's not done yet.) Squash will be fall out of skin, moist with no need to add salt, sugar or "butter."

I love this almost dessert like squash and this recipe did not disappoint. In fact, as a result, I now have 3 more squash varieties on hand to make in the instant pot. None could live up to the Kabocha though, it's sooooo good.


3) Lasagna Soup
I subbed whole wheat penne for the noodles, and used Gardein beefless crumbles. I also mixed up a quick cashew cream with nutritional yeast and a splash of lemon juice to add at the end and allowed it to thicken for a few minutes with the pot on "keep warm." Definitely will make this one again!

4) Tomatillo Poblano White Beans
Do you love the bright flavor of tomatillo and creamy great northern beans? Are you ready to have your mind blown at how fast you can go from dry, non-soaked beans to dinner? This is a great recipe to try.

Now, the piece de resistance. This was the best beefless stew I've ever made, and I've made quite a few.

Beefless Stew in an Instant Pot

The vegetables:
1/2 onion diced
2-3 carrots diced
2-3 celery stalks diced
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 pkg frozen mixed mushroom blend (or a 10oz carton of mushrooms your choice, sliced)
1-2 potatoes (I prefer yukon gold, skin on) diced
1Tblspn olive oil (optional)

The broth:
4c water
2 cubes Not Beef bouillon cubes
1 bay leaf
1-2 tsp thyme
black pepper (optional)
1 Tblspn red wine vinegar (or red wine)
2 tsp shoyu (or low sodium soy sauce)

The umami flavor bomb:
1 pkg gardien beefless tips
1/2 pkg frozen mixed mushroom blend
1/4c cornstarch
2 Tblspn olive oil
2c water
2tsp roasted garlic better than bouillon

Turn your Instant Pot on saute for 5-7 mins and add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. If you're not adding the roasted garlic better than bouillon in your flavor bomb, I recommend more time sauteing and cooking just the onions first until they brown/caramelize a little for that roasted goodness. Add in half the mushrooms, diced potato and the broth ingredients. Put the lid on with vent closed and set pressure cooker to high for 10 minutes. Vent manually or naturally.

Have your roasted garlic (or other broth/water) on hand. Open your bag of gardien and add the cornstarch directly into the bag and coat the frozen beefless tips. If possible, use a cast iron pan to heat your oil and add in the gardien tips to begin browning, when the tips and starch begin to brown add in the mushrooms and if necessary a little broth to deglaze. You want the pan mostly dry though so the tips brown well on all sides, as needed to avoid burning add broth and using a wood spoon scrape the tasty brown bits off the pan (deglaze).  The broth will thicken quickly because of the cornstarch. Toward the end of cooking (5-7 minutes), add the remaining broth to finish deglazing the pan. Set aside off heat until the pressure cooker is done.

When you have the lid off your instant pot, add the beefless tips and mushrooms with the gravy/glaze. Scoop a few ladles of broth from the pot into the pan to get as much of that tasty goodness out of the pan and into the pot! If you want to thicken up the broth some more, add cornstarch very sparingly and stir to avoid clumping.

Enjoy!