Earlier today I ran across this Susan Ertz quote:
Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Really?! I love a rainy Sunday, and immortality sounds… exhausting 🙂
I’ve spent the last several rainy Sundays cooking up way too much food in my new multi-cooker. I know I know, I’m super late to Instant Pot Mania!
Of all the pressure cooker recipe sites I’ve checked out, Amy+Jacky is (are?) my fave so far. They’re from Hong Kong, and offer lots of recipes that are faster versions of things that I learned to cook from my dad (like jook). I LOVE their Cook’s Illustrated / scientific approach to discovering the best bone broth formula, and can vouch for the results!
Amy+Jacky are also really big on umami flavors, which means I’m suddenly learning that adding fish sauce and soy sauce to chili and beef stew recipes (etc) makes them taste So Much Better.
While I’d love to be cooking up a big batch of something hearty and yum today I’ve been cut off, for three reasons:
- We’re out of jars. (Sad fact: Ball jars are very expensive in New Zealand, if you can find them at all!)
- We’re out of freezer space thanks to previous Sunday cooking sessions; and
- In a few short days we’re heading to Maine for a lakeside gathering of Scott’s dad’s side of the family, so it doesn’t make sense to create even MORE leftovers.
I realize it’s not really big-pot-of-stew weather for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, so I offer you this excellent — and distinctly more summery — Kiwi recipe: Chelsea’s Famous Kumara* Bacon Salad. My new work colleague Tracey brought a bunch of this to a recent potluck and it was Delicious – I’m pretty sure she fried the onions in the bacon fat rather than adding them raw, but either way I can’t see how you can go wrong here!
Bon Appétit, and please send your favorite wintry multi-cooker recipes for once we’ve returned from Maine with more jars 🙂
* “Kumara” are what they call sweet potatoes here, and there are so many different kinds compared to what I remember in CA! If you happen to have several varieties to choose from, I would definitely go for the ones that are more firm when cooked rather than the softer orange ones. Or just substitute some good potato-salad potatoes.
Elizabeth Ü 