We got home from a soggy morning skiing on Grouse Mtn and needed some quick, warm-up the innards, comfort food. Daughter and I agreed to try making mac and cheese in our relatively new Instant Pot.
Although you can sauté inside the Instant Pot, I’ve been told that if you have a good quality skillet, it is sometimes just as easy to begin with that. So I did.
I diced an onion into pieces so small that Ms Picky-Eater wouldn’t be able to see them, melted a lump of butter into the pan, and sautéed those onions into a wilty, caramelized mess.
While the onions were cooking I added 4 cups of water, a 454 gram box of macaroni, a large dollop of butter (maybe a tablespoon), a shake of garlic powder, salt and a grind of black pepper, a spoonful of grainy mustard all into the Instant Pot. I then added about two cups of frozen, cubed butternut squash to the cooker. And then I added in the sautéed onions.
I pressed the “Manual” button, set the time to 6 minutes, and sealed the top vent. And let the pressure build to cook the macaroni.
Six minutes later the Instant Pot beeped, I “manually” vented the cooker so that I could open it and then added in about a cup of shredded cheddar cheese and some sliced ham I found in the fridge. I stirred the ham and cheese in, added about a half cup of cream (that’s what was in the fridge) and then added another cup of shredded cheese. And then I let it “rest’ like a freshly cooked steak.
After about five minutes I served up a bowl for Ms Picky-Eater daughter and myself. I grated some of my Farm House hard cheddar over the top, and we ate. Both of us! I’ll be honest, it was delicious!