With the holidays around the corner, here are four delicious dishes you can make with your Instant Pot this festive season.
1. Instant Pot: Duck Confit with Cherry Sauce
by Sam Linsell of Drizzle & Drip
This recipe for confit duck legs with cherry sauce is perfect for a summery Christmas. The Instant Pot turns the making of this delicious French classic into an easy affair. There is very little hands-on time with this recipe, which does, however, need a little bit of pre-planning. The legs and breasts go through a brine stage, which is where all the flavour gets absorbed into the flesh. If you can do this for two days, all the better.
The duck cooks in its own fat, which gets rendered off, and it can then be stored in this until you are ready to serve. Simply brush off the fat and put it under the grill to crisp up. The remaining duck fat can be used to make the best-ever duck-fat roast potatoes.
The delicious, sticky, Marmitey bits that are another byproduct of this cooking process should not go to waste. I’ve used them in the making of this vibrant cherry sauce, which is perfect with the fall-off-the-bone and very unctuous duck legs.
Recipe
Serves 2
The recipe for the duck confit was slightly adapted from Melissa Clark – Food Republic
Ingredients
½ tsp allspice berries
¼ tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp sea-salt flakes
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sprigs thyme
¼ tsp cloves
3 bay leaves, torn
4 duck legs with breasts attached
For the cherry sauce
1 tbsp reserved duck fat from the cooking process
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 star anise
¼ cup (60ml) port
zest from half an orange, which you have thickly shaved off with a vegetable peeler
juice from one orange
1 tbsp dark brown sugar or maple syrup
pinch of salt
¼ tsp black peppercorns
200g frozen cherries
1½ tsp cornflour
To serve
mixed leaves, shaved fennel and radish to serve (optional)
Make in advance
Line a small tray, baking sheet or plate with paper towel. Using a pestle and mortar, crush the allspice berries and peppercorns. Add these to a bowl with the salt, garlic, thyme, cloves and bay leaves.
Toss the duck legs around in the mixture to coat as much as possible and lay skin-side down on the paper towel. Tuck the aromatics underneath and on top of the flesh of the duck. Store this in the fridge uncovered overnight or for 2 days. This is an important process whereby the meat absorbs the flavour and the legs dry out.
When you are ready to cook the duck, switch on Sauté mode and let the inner pot warm up. Brush the bay leaves, garlic and thyme from the duck legs. Fry them skin side down for 5 minutes until they turn golden and the fat has started to render off. Turn them over and brown the other side for 5 minutes. If necessary, do this in two stages. Turn off the Sauté mode and allow the legs to cool slightly.
Place the four duck legs fat-side down at the bottom of the Instant Pot and place the garlic and herbs that were dusted off on top of the legs. Close the lid of the Instant Pot and let it sit for a few minutes to trap moisture inside. Close the seal and set to pressure cook on High for 40 minutes. Use the quick-release method, turn the legs over and cook for a further 30 minutes on High. Allow the pressure to release naturally after the second cook.
You can either store the duck in the fat overnight and until you are ready to use it, or get stuck into making the sauce straight away. Drain the fat off through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the sticky aromatics from the pot, and set the duck aside. Keep the reserved duck fat to use for cooking potatoes. Do not wash the pot and keep the additional meat bits that might be stuck on the bottom. This has a very delicious flavour.
Set the Instant Pot to Sear and heat one tablespoon of reserved duck fat in the pot that was used to confit the duck legs. There should still be sticky bits on the bottom. Fry the shallot for about a minute until it softens. Add the star anise and continue to fry, but make sure nothing starts to burn. Add the port and deglaze the pot. All the sticky bits at the bottom will now easily scrape off. Add the reserved sticky aromatics from the confit cooking process, the orange zest, orange juice, sugar, salt and peppercorns, and set the Instant Pot to cook on High for 5 minutes.
Once it has finished cooking, use the quick-release method. Take the lid off and mash the cherries with a potato masher. Drain this mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, using a wooden spoon to press all the liquid out. Give the inner pot a quick rinse and put it back onto the Instant Pot and set it to Sear. Pour most of the cherry-sauce mix back into the pot, reserving about 2 tablespoons. To that, you will add the cornflour and mix to make a slurry. Add this mixture to the pot with the rest of the cherry sauce and cook for about a minute until it bubbles and thickens. Serve this warm with the duck breasts.
To heat the confit duck breasts, set your oven to grill/broil and place the legs on a baking tray, skin-side up. Grill until they start sizzling and are heated through.
Serve with the cherry sauce on a bed of mixed leaves of watercress, rocket and baby spinach, shaved fennel and radish.
2. Instant Pot: Gammon with Ginger Beer & Rooibos
by Sam Linsell of Drizzle & Drip
Ingredients
1 large smoked gammon (about 1,5kg to 2,5kg)
750ml strong ginger beer
4 rooibos tea bags
2 celery stalks
1 small white onion
2 medium carrots
3 bay leaves
1 tsp allspice berries, crushed
½ tsp black peppercorns
½ tsp cloves
Gammon glaze
1,5 cups cooking broth
pinch of cloves
¼ cup honey
2 tsp Dijon mustard
fresh bay leaves, rosemary, pomegranates or grilled peaches, to decorate
Bring the gammon to room temperature and remove all the outer casings, including string. Boil the kettle.
Heat 1 cup (250ml) of the ginger beer in a jug in the microwave until hot and then add a cup of boiling water. Add the 4 rooibos tea bags to the liquid and allow it to infuse for at least 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags.
Roughly chop the celery, onion and carrots, and place at the bottom of the Instant Pot. Put the gammon on top of the vegetables and then add the bay leaves and spices. Pour the 2 cups of tea mixture and the remaining 500ml of ginger beer over the gammon and adjust the vent to the sealing setting. Push Pressure Cook (otherwise known as manual mode) on the Instant Pot, check it is on High Pressure, and change the time based on the size of gammon. Allow 15 minutes per 500g of gammon, so 2kg of gammon will cook for 60 minutes.
Cook the gammon and then allow for a natural release of pressure. Remove and set aside. Strain the solids out of the cooking broth.
To make the glaze, put 1,5 cups of the strained cooking broth back into the stainless-steel inner pot and switch to Sauté mode. Once simmering, add the cloves and honey. Turn Sauté mode to ‘Less’ and leave for about 30 minutes or longer to allow it to thicken. Add the mustard around halfway through and stir to ensure it is incorporated. The glaze should thicken even more once it’s off the heat.
When you are ready to serve/glaze the gammon, remove the thick outer fat layer from the gammon and cut a crisscross pattern into the fat. Place it on an oven tray under a hot grill, ensuring that it is not too close to the element. Drop the oven rack to low if necessary. Once about half of the fat has started to render off, start brushing the glaze over the gammon and return to the grill. Keep a close eye on it and baste it a couple more times. Remove and set aside to serve either straight away or at room temperature a little later. Serve the leftover glaze on the side.
Decorate the serving platter with fresh bay leaves, rosemary, pomegranates or grilled peaches.
3. Instant Pot: Festive Cheesecake
Yip, you read that right. You can literally make a baked cheesecake in your Instant Pot. And it’s so quick and easy.
Baked cheesecake is one of my favourites to make, and only having made my first one a couple of months ago, I’m forever trying to experiment with different flavours and textures, but not once did I consider experimenting with different baking techniques!
The Instant Pot yields a delicious, creamy and smooth baked cheesecake that will have your guests praising you for standing in front of the oven for hours. Little will they know that this easy Baked Cheesecake only requires minimal prepping and then sitting back and sipping on some bubbly while the Instant Pot does all the work for you!
Although the cooking time for this lovely dessert is less than an hour, the important thing with any baked cheesecake is the resting time. Once the Instant Pot, your handy kitchen helper, is done with all the work and has cooked your cheesecake to perfection, it’s best to leave it in the fridge for 24 hours.
Without wasting any time, get into the kitchen and wow your guests with this show stopper!
Ingredients
Crust
200g Tennis Biscuits
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
Filling
500g cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup double cream
2 tsp flour
1 tsp vanilla essence or vanilla extract
2 tbsp grated orange peel
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs at room temperature
1 egg yolk at room temperature
Crème fraîche layer
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence or vanilla extract
Method
Crust
Add biscuits and sugar to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times until small crumbs form. Melt butter in microwave and add to biscuit mixture. Pulse until just combined.
Pour mixture into the bottom of a greased 15cm cake pan and press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan and no more than 2,5cm up along the sides.
Place pan with crust into freezer for 20 minutes while you mix up the filling.
Filling
Blend together cream cheese, sugar, double cream, flour, vanilla essense or vanilla extract, grated peel and salt until smooth.
Add eggs and yolk, one at a time, lightly mixing until just combined. Do not overmix the eggs.
Pour filling into the pan, on top of the crust.
Cook
Add 1,5 cups of water to the bottom of your Instant Pot and then place a trivet inside the pot.
Cover the cheesecake first with a paper towel and then with a piece of aluminium foil and loosely secure the foil.
Place cheesecake into Instant Pot using a sling.
Lock on lid and close pressure valve. Cook at High Pressure for 38 minutes. When beep sounds, wait 18 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
After all the pressure has been released, open Instant Pot and gently remove the pan. Remove the foil and paper towel. Tilt the cheesecake pan and dab off any liquid that may have accumulated.
The centre (no more than 2,5cm) will be slightly jiggly (not wet, JIGGLY), but don’t worry, as the heat that is trapped inside will continue to cook the centre while the cheesecake cools.
Crème fraîche layer
Whisk together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla essense or vanilla extract to make a Sweet Crème Fraîche and then spread on the hot cheesecake. Let it cool on a wire rack for at least one hour.
Lightly cover and place in refrigerator overnight.
I topped my cheesecake with a berry compote and for a super-easy compote recipe using your Instant Pot, have a look here: https://thisoldgal.com/pressure-cooker-fresh-berry-compote/
Adapted from https://thisoldgal.com/pressure-cooker-new-york-cheesecake/
4. Instant Pot: Festive Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
200g mixed dried fruit*
125g glacé red cherries
300ml rum (you can also use brandy or whisky)
250ml muscovado sugar
300g butter
2 whisked eggs
250ml self-raising flour
5ml baking powder
35ml ground cinnamon
20ml ground ginger
20ml ground nutmeg
15ml ground cardamom
pinch of salt
1 cup blanched almond flakes
3 tbsp glazed orange peel
zest of one orange
2 cups water
* Many shops sell dried fruitcake mix. If you want to make your own, the best combination of dried fruit to use is chopped-up sultanas and raisins.
Method
Soak your dried-fruit mixture and glacé cherries in rum overnight. The longer you soak your fruit, the more of a punch your cake will pack!
Cream the muscovado sugar and butter together until completely mixed.
Add small quantities of the whisked egg to the mixture until completely mixed.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom and salt, and mix well.
Stir in your soaked mixed fruit and excess rum, almond flakes, glazed orange peel and orange zest.
Grease an ovenproof round bowl with butter.
Line the bottom of the bowl with some chopped cherries, orange zest and glazed orange peel (optional).
Place your mixture inside the bowl, leaving about two centimetres open at the top for your cake to expand.
Place two cups of water in your Instant Pot and place your bowl on top of the stainless-steel trivet rack.
Seal the lid, select the Pressure Cook function and cook on High Pressure for 52 minutes.
Serve with custard!
For more information and to shop, visit www.instantpot.co.za
