Sunday Dinner on a Tuesday Night!

I like to eat.  I mean really, you don't look like this if you hate food.  But not just food, I like good food.  Pot Roast is one of my all time favorites.  I've spent years perfecting time and technique.  Hours of cooking a hunk of beef in the oven, on the stove, in the crock pot.  And then in comes the Instant Pot.  Because sometimes you don't have all day.  Sometimes you want weekend comfort food on a week night.  For those of you who don't know, an Instant Pot is a multi-function cooker that can steam, make rice, make yogurt, slow cook and it's an electric pressure cooker.  You can cook food from frozen with very little added time.  You can make a bunch of perfect, fluffy baked potatoes in less than half an hour without heating up your kitchen.  Because it's also self contained, people take them camping, to hotels, anywhere with an outlet to plug in to.  There are lots of brands of electric pressure cookers out there, the main reason for going with the IP instead of other brands was that the IP has a stainless steel inner pot.  No icky non stick chemicals, I scrub mine out with a stainless steel scrubber, super easy to clean.  

Pressure cookers have always intimidated me but the IP has all kinds of safety features.  You can't open this guy when the pressure is up, the pressure is pre-set, it won't explode.  And it makes a mean Pot Roast! 

Cast of Characters!

Pressure Cooked Pot Roast
1 Beef Roast (2-5lbs aprox.)
Salt
Pepper
1T Vegetable Oil
3/4 C Water
1 Packet Instant Onion Soup mix or 1 Can Campbell's Beef Consume  or today I'm trying this Slow Cooker Pot Roast Sauce
1/4 C Butter
1/4 C Flour

I started out by seasoning the meat with salt & pepper.  Push the "Saute" button on the IP and pressing the Adjust button to set it on High heat I added the oil to the pot and and when the oil was hot I browned the roast on one side and then the other.  Then I poured in the sauce and water.  If I was using the dried soup I'd have mixed that in the water before pouring it in the pot.  You could totally add halved or quartered potatoes and carrots here, right on top of the roast, for a one pot meal.  Easy peasy.  Lock the lid onto the IP and hit cancel to end the saute.  Then hit Manual and adjust the time to 55 minutes.  The pot will display "On" and then when pressure achieved it will start counting down.  

There will be a beep when the time has elapsed, I let this roast naturally come down from pressure for 15 minutes before opening the vent.  In the mean time I made my roux in a sauce pan on the stove, just melt the butter, mix in the oil, cook for 1-2 minutes and set aside.  

Once the pressure has released you can open the pot, remove the roast and set it aside to rest while you make the gravy.  What is life without gravy?  Normally you'd have to use another pan for gravy making but with the IP you just turn it back on to Saute, adjust to High and when the juices from the roast come to a boil you whisk in your prepared roux.  I usually add about 2/3 of the roux to start and then use the last 1/3 as needed to thicken to the consistency I like.  Allow to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring as needed to prevent sticking.  Taste gravy and adjust for salt as needed.  

Try this super tender roast and tell me it doesn't taste like it's been cooking all day!