‘Princess Bride’-Themed Recipes: Adventures in Instant Potting

Adventures in Instant Potting: Princess Bride-Themed Recipes

GeekMoms Karen Walsh and Nivi Engineer return for another Adventure in Instant Potting. In response to Nivi’s Dear Instant Pot post, Karen and Nivi decided to use their powers of geekiness to help overcome cooking challenges. For Nivi, it’s her shaky relationship with her Instant Pot. For Karen, it’s baking. So in this new series of posts, Karen and Nivi start with recipes and try to improve them, add variations to jazz up what’s out there, try to come up with dishes that their families will actually eat without complaining, and, on occasion, put together geek-themed recipes. For the most part, we’re aiming for simplicity and taste.

So, without further ado, this Adventure in Instant Potting has the theme of Princess Bride-themed recipes to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of The Princess Bride film.

Have Fun Shawarma-ing the Castle

– GeekMom Nivi

Who can forget that classic line by Miracle Max? Well, that’s the line that inspired this dish.

I got the recipe from the Little Bits Of blog, but am all about kicking up the spice, so consider all these spices a starting point. I heaped on the cumin and chili powder to jazz it up, but have left the ingredient list as the original mentioned.

Ingredients

1 – 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 – 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup chicken broth or stock

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Slice chicken breasts and thighs into strips and place into your Instant Pot.
2. In a small bowl combine all of spices (cumin – cinnamon).
3. Pour the spice mix over the chicken with a pinch of salt and some pepper.
4. Mix it all together so the spices evenly coat the chicken.
5. Add chicken broth to the pot and secure the lid.
6. Press the Poultry button and adjust the time to 15 minutes.
7. Once the time is up let it depressurize on its own for 10 minutes then turn the steam release to venting until all the pressure is released.
8. Serve with veggies or on sweet potato toast drizzled with tahini sauce.

Vizzini’s Inconceivable Couscous

– GeekMom Nivi

What better way to honor Vizzini than with a Sicilian salad? I would venture so far as to proclaim that it would be inconceivable to enjoy a meal without this dish. And no, there’s no Iocane powder in here.

Ingredients

1/2 cup couscous (I used Israeli, but the original recipe calls for wholemeal couscous)
2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 cm thick slices
2 zucchinis, cut into 1/2 cm thick slices
1 onion, cut into 1/2 cm thick rings
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
6-7 basil leaves, finely chopped, plus more to garnish
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to season
splash of balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup cooked chick peas
5-6 sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, finely chopped
handful of almonds and raisins (optional, of course, in case of allergies or fussy eaters)
squeeze of lemon juice
sliced avocado or poached egg, to serve (optional, or at least, it was for me cuz I didn’t add it and it was just fine)

Dressing:
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp harissa paste
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
a big pinch of salt
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional)

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Use the Instant Pot to cook the dried chick peas. Because that works awesomely. Start before you prep the veggies and it’ll be done by the time you need them. Rinse and drain 1/2 cup chick peas. Place in Instant Pot and top with 3-4 inches of water. Sprinkle with salt, a few sprigs of rosemary, and a couple bay leaves. Close Instant Pot, set to Legumes, and cook for 40 minutes. Let it naturally release steam while you proceed with the recipe.
2. Cook couscous per instructions. Usually, that means on the stove. Honestly haven’t tried in an Instant Pot. Seems like overkill.
3. The original recipe calls for heating the grill, boiling onions for 3-5 minutes, then grilling all the veggies. Probably turns out great, and I won’t discourage you from trying that, but my grill is inside while the rest of my food prep is inside, so I just stuck it in the oven for a while. You know, on a Silpat-lined cookie sheet in a hot (425 degree) oven for at least 15 minutes, turning it after it looks done on one side. Comparatively, the grill probably would have been easier. Especially since you just grill them on each side for 1 minute and pull them out before they burn. Your call.
4. Put the veggies into a giant bowl when they’re done grilling, then add the parsley and basil. Season with salt, drizzle with oil and vinegar, and also add garlic. Mix it all up, like Inigo and Westley sword fighting.
5. In a separate bowl, blend the dressing ingredients well.
6. To the giant bowl (perhaps not quite Fezzik-sized), add the couscous, chickpeas, dressing, sun-dried tomatoes, almonds, and raisins, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix well. Garnish with basil and a splash of lemon juice, as you wish.

BBQ Rack of Rodent

– GeekMom Karen makes a mean BBQ sauce, which can be quite handy if you find yourself needing to roast up a Rodent of Unusual Size.

Ingredients

2 cups ketchup
1/8 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
salt & pepper to taste
1 small jalapeno, chopped

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for an hour.

Or, throw half into the Instant Pot with a 1/4 cup water, 6 pack of ribs, and set for…whatever the Instant Pot says to for whichever meat you choose.

Princess Buttercup’s Butterscotch Bread Pudding

– GeekMom Nivi

I started with this Butterscotch Bread Pudding recipe by Margaret Burger, and this Instant Pot Chocolate Bread Pudding recipe and combined them. One, because I sometimes find butterscotch overwhelming. And two, because I wanted to use the ingredients that I had at home. That and I needed it to fit in my Instant Pot insert.

Ingredients

6 oz day-old bread, diced (I bought egg rolls from the day-old shelf: cheaper and ready to use)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay out bread cubes on baking sheet and bake until hard, about 10 minutes.
2. Grease 6-inch baking pan insert. Set the trivet, and 1 cup water, at the bottom of the IP insert.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Pour the mix into the pan and set onto the trivet.
4. Cook on High Manual Pressure for 11 minutes.
5. Quick Release pressure (or be lazy like me and just get to it when you get to it), cool enough so you don’t burn your tongue, and enjoy.

Anybody Want a Peanut?

Oh, the possibilities are endless. Here are a few possibilities:

• Peanut Butter Truffles
• Peanut Sauce (might work well with your Shawarma)
• Peanuts. You know, just peanuts.

More Mahvelous Recipes

Karen and Nivi came up with plenty more ideas for dishes that, erm, were… taken by the Dread Pirate Roberts, before we could test them. Yeah, that’s it. However, we managed to remember the names of our inspired dishes and will share those. Hopefully they will capture your imagination.

• Miracle Max’s Magic Mash (Bangers and Mash)
• Dread Pirate Robert’s Delightful Pasta Ribbons
• Miracle Max’s Mushroom Macaroni
• Inigo Montoyo’s Tapas (skewered Spanish olives)
• Dread Pirate Roberts Squash Patches
• Inigo Montoyo’s Martini… to Die For

That’s all we have for now. If you make any of these Princess Bride-themed recipes, or come up with other ideas, be sure to post images and tag @GeekMomBlog on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.