2017-1-17 - Macaroni and Cheese w/ham and broccoli (half an hour from prep to eat)

Delicious. I had a spiral cut ham in the refrigerator taking up space. Held off reapportioning and freezing because I wanted to make mac and cheese in the Instant Pot and thought I'd add some ham.

The basic recipe for mac and cheese was taken from an online website which link and recipe I'll add at the end. What I wanted, though, was to experiment with a complete meal in one pot, not just a side dish. The only thing to do is to dive in and see what happens.

Ingredients:
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3 tbsp. butter
4 cups water
1 box - 16 oz elbow macaroni
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 lb. ham
1 lb. frozen broccoli florets
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1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar
1 cup mozarella

(maybe another time I'll add a little mustard, or another time a splash of hot sauce for variety's sake)

manual, high, 4 min., quick release

Directions:
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Pot on sautee to warm. Get ham and broccoli ready. When pot warm add butter. When butter is sizzling and at the point of browning add the water, elbow macaroni, salt. Top with ham and broccoli florets.

manual, high, 4 min., quick release

That was stupendous for flavor. I got a little zing of cheddar and the creamy goodness of the mozarella. Mozarella, I don't think, is the ideal for mac and cheese, unless you don't mind a little "string" in your meal, but I really like the flavor of mozarella. This is great for me, but I wouldn't make it like this for company.

Salt: The recipe called for 2 tsp. salt. I reduced it to 1 1/2 tsp. because I knew the ham would add salt. I might try only 1 tsp. if making the same recipe again.

Noodles: done to my taste - well done. Someone else who likes their noodles firm, or al dente, will need to experiment with less time. Something to keep in mind, I'm convinced that the quality (brand) of noodle has something to do with cooking time. I've cooked cheap noodles that turned to a tasteless mush on the stove so I imagine a pressure cooker wouldn't know the difference either.

Broccoli: Disintegrated. I like my frozen broccoli thawed and heated but not cooked. That way I still get some crunch. What I wanted to do was thaw the broccoli, squeeze out excess water, and then stir it in at the end of cooking, however, since this was an experiment (and I thought the broccoli would hold up better) I decided to put it in frozen. I got the flavor, but the broccoli pretty much disintegrated. Next time I'll add the broccoli at the end and that way there'll be nice pieces of green.

Ham: The ham held up just fine in this dish.

Evaporated milk: I'd never have thought of using that in place of milk and flour. I'm so grateful to have found that in the online recipe. This opens up lots of other possibilities!

Crust: If you like crust, I don't see why you can't turn it into a pan and put it under the broiler for a few minutes. I like crust, but not enough to go to the extra trouble.

Time: I could have made this stove top in a half an hour also, however, there was no straining (colander) involved and, as usual, I didn't have to watch over the pot and stir the noodles so they wouldn't stick. The beauty of the pressure cooker is that like a slow cooker, I can walk away and not worry about it but, I don't know if you can make mac and cheese in slow cooker and, even if you can, it won't get done in a half an hour!

p.s. - It seems to me that the pound of frozen broccoli would have added add least another half cup of water to the recipe. Since I also want to make this in its basic form (w/o ham and broccoli) it seems there'll be some adjustments.

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BASIC mac and cheese recipe from:
http://www.activehipmomma.com/instant-pot-mac-n-cheese/

-1 box (16 ounce of elbow macaroni)
-1 cup of heavy whipping cream ( 1 can of evaporated milk(12 ounce) would work or even whole milk)I think I added a little more till I got the consistency I was looking for- (Tablespoon at a time)
-3 Tb of butter
-2 tsp salt
-2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
-4 cups of water

Inside the instant pot, place the macaroni, water, salt and butter. Set instant pot on 4 minutes manual , manual release pressure(quick release). After that is done, take lid off and set pot on saute and add whipping cream, and stir. Then slowly add cheese as it melts! enjoy!