I thought this was a fun idea: Laura Pazzaglia from Hip Pressure Cooking shares an entire chapter in her book (of the same name) for Complete Meals in the pressure cooker. By using a trivet and/or steamer basket and stacking different, clever layers, you can cook several courses at the same time. Some of the 'menu plans' even include dessert! Because there is little-to-no transfer of flavour from the cooking steam, the pudding won't taste like the dinner.
I tried a tasty sounding chili on the bottom, corn bread in the middle, and pepper salsa on top. The chili cooked in the bottom of the insert as usual. The cornbread was mixed and poured into an oven-safe dish which sat upon a trivet nestled right into the chili mix. The pepper salsa was arranged in a piece of heavy duty foil and that rested across the top of the casserole dish, not covering it completely.
While my regular chili is much thicker, this recipe was tasty. The steamed cornbread was terrific (I love pretty much any version of cornbread!), and the salsa topping was cooked and tender. I wanted to test out this stacking method with some foods I was already familiar with and easy to stack as I get accustomed to my Instant Pot. Now that I feel totally comfortable with the process I'm definitely going to try some more complete meals. There are quite a few that sound amazing and getting the whole dinner on the table in one swoop is a plus.
I honestly have used the pressure cooker almost every single day since opening it Christmas morning. I am simply enthralled and think it is worth every single penny. I keep saying "well, for making 'x' alone, it's worth it!"...where 'x' keeps multiplying! Oats, soup, mashed potatoes, yogurt, cheesecake, creme brûlée, and on and on. The air fryer has been fun but there is just no comparison to the Instant Pot. If you're considering a new appliance, a pressure cooker has my vote.
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