Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Behold the cheesy, creamy goodness.

So buried somewhere in this link is the following recipe. It is painful and time consuming to find on their side. So without further ado:

Resources:
1.5 lbs chicken breast, boneless, skinless
1 tbsp butter
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups heavy cream
10.5 oz cream of chicken condensed soup
2 cups white rice
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 cups Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tsp parsley flakes

Method:
Cut chicken breast into strips.

Turn Instant Pot on to Sauté Normal. Add butter to the pot while it's heating up. Add the chicken breast slices to the pot and cook until almost no pink remains.

Add the water, heavy cream and cream of chicken soup to the pot and stir gently. Add the rice, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to the pot. Do not stir.

Place the lid on the Instant Pot, lock it in place and turn the steam release handle to the sealing position. Pressure Cook on High for 5 minutes*.

Once the Instant Pot is done cooking, immediately turn the steam release handle to do a quick release. Once the float valve is all the way down remove the lid.

Add the shredded Parmesan and parsley flakes to the pot. Stir well until the cheese is all melted. Cover until rice is done.

Commentary:
I only made minor modifications. If you are curious dig through the original link... and drown in the excessive that is food blogging for profit.

* - Seriously though, the rice was under cooked. I added the cover until rice is done line. Next time, I plan on adding a minute or two of cook time.

Aside: I always wonder if I will ever get a cease and desist letter. Can you own a recipe? How much do I have to change to not get in trouble. I barely touch the recipe I post

Conclusion:
I would not like to see a calorie count, but everyone loved it.

Mark's Thighs

[insert product placement here]

We are living dangerously (again)! Today's recipe is a Archduke Domestic ORIGINAL. That is right folks prepare yourselves to be wowed with an entirely unoriginal original recipe that I, your humble guide, wrote!

So what inspired this risqué move? Well let us put on our memory caps folks! Remember my Pressure Cooker Sauerbraten (which I really need to make again come to think of it) post from a while back? That was fun and all, but it was not exactly something I was going to make on any regularity. On top of that, I had been looking to break out my chicken breast rut (as you might have noticed by my two chicken thigh recipes earlier this year). So that led me down a path of quick easy and minimal special ingredients.

Resources:

4 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on)

(1) 14 1/2 ounce can chicken broth

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon of pepper

2 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese (fresh or Kraft)

1 teaspoon-ish season salt (see commentary)

Method:

Mix the chicken broth, lemon juice, garlic, and pepper in the pressure cooker. Add chicken thighs.

Bring to pressure and cook 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. 

While cooking mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and season salt in a bowl.

Safely release pressure. Line a broiler safe pan or tray with foil. Roll each chicken thigh in the bread crumb mix. Place skin up on the pan. 

Turn on the broiler of your oven (do not preheat). Broil thighs until lightly browned (to taste).

Commentary:

This is about five minutes of active cooking and another twenty-five of passive. Other than having to remember to buy/thaw chicken thighs ahead of time, I have everything in my house. This is the penultimate weeknight recipe (nothing will ever surpass the ease and speed of chicken and cheese quesadillas). Any given Tuesday or Wednesday you can expect this to be made in the ol' Sutcliffe household.

This also comes out pretty salty if I use a full teaspoon. But I like it that way. So I would not begrudge anyone for using less.

Conclusion:

This is "not wow the boss convincing him to give you that much deserved raise" recipe... That raise you need to buy that amazing investment property that is not on the market yet. That you have an inside track on, you just need the money. If get the raise, you get the property, and you would be set. One simple raise and it is smooth sailing from then on. Why cannot he see you deserve it more than that jackass Jenkins. He is nothing but a talentless brown noser who just happened to have gone to the same alma mater as the boss. Why cannot he see it!!! WHY???

Er... excuse me. I mean this is a lovely and simple recipe for a quick and pleasant dinner, but not exactly haute cuisine.

Pressure Cooker Sauerbraten

Protein! Carbs! Gravy! MAN FOOD! Plus: cookies. Everyone likes cookies.

A little before Christmas I bought myself a fancy dancy electric pressure cooker. It was one of those crazy deep sales they always have that time of year. I really didn't have a rhythm or reason to this. That said, it should not come as a surprise to say I like kitchen toys.

Meat is a good excuse though.

I made a recipe (lemon barbecued chicken) I have made a fair number of times and just seemed like a good match. Really it was fine. But it did not seem like I was getting anything out of the pressure cooker as the chicken was just about the same as when I make it in the oven. I guess it cooked a little faster, but not enough to justify a new toy.

So I bought Pressure Cookers For Dummies. I found a used copy for a couple of bucks shipped. It talks a little about pressure cookers in general, which is nice. It touted its sauerbraten as one of the most impressive things to make in a pressure cooker as it reduced time from one thousand eight hundred minutes to eighty (this is way more impressive in minutes). Well that sounded damn impressive and I just so happened to have a shoulder pot roast sitting in the freezer I had no plans for.

Included because I thought this picture was pretty. 

Resources:

Wine. Wine is priority #1. Cookie crumbs are a close second.

1 cup water
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 dry red wine (I used a cabernet sauvignon that I had on hand)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons salt
salt and pepper
4 lb beef roast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
3/4 cups crushed gingersnaps
2 bay leaves
cornstarch (optional)
egg noodles (cooked at some point)

Method:
Combine the water, vinegar, wine, brown sugar, clovers, and 2 teaspoons salt. Set aside.

Generously salt and pepper the meat.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Brown the meat evenly on all sides.

Add the meat, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, crushed gingersnaps, and bay leaves to the slow cooker. Pour the mixture from step 1 over the meat. Stir to combine. Cover and bring to high pressure. Cook for 60 minutes.

Release the pressure, quick-release method (mind your fingers as to avoid scalding). Open and remove the cover.

Remove the meat to a serving platter and cover with foil. Discard the bay leaves.

Pour the cooking liquid into a food processor and process until smooth. Season to taste. Whisk in cornstarch and reduce to thicken as desired in a pan over medium-high heat.

Slice the meat thinly. Serve over the meat and gravy over egg noodles.

Commentary:
I halved the above recipe because my roast was closer to two pounds than four.

Baby food and croutons are optional.

As noted, I thickened the gravy by adding cornstarch and reducing it on the stove top just a little. This is a deviation from the original recipe. Honestly, one of the big take aways for me with the pressure cooker in general is thickening sauces. Since you need large amounts of liquid for the pressure cooker to work, the final results are, well, liquidy. I have added cornstarch and reduced almost every sauce that has come out the thing since. If you have a stove top one you can do that directly. I have the electric / stand alone kind, so I have to transfer the sauce to a pan and then reduce. Not a big deal... the wifey (who I am giving one more pot to wash) may disagree.

Aside: it is kind of neat to have a sauce where you have "liquefied" onions and carrots. Is it not?

Pro tip: crush way more cookies than you need. Then you can get the leftovers by the spoonful. Mmm cookie crumbs.

Conclusion:
The grocer has roasts on sale pretty frequently (in fact I made one last night and I have one more in my freezer). This will undoubtedly be made again.