Recipes By Melissa Clark
1468 recipes found

Pressure Cooker Squash With Honey and Lemongrass
This caramelized delicata squash purée, adapted from Nathan Myhrvold's multivolume “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking,” is prepared in a pressure cooker. Normally, a pressure cooker wouldn’t get hot enough to caramelize anything. But, Mr. Myhrvold explained, if you create an alkaline environment with a sprinkle of baking soda, you can caramelize at a lower temperature. And the pressurized environment helps ingredients caramelize through and through, not just around the outside. This gives the squash an intense, nutty flavor, which is enhanced here with buckwheat honey and lemongrass.

Pressure Cooker Beef Short Ribs With Red Wine and Chile
Prunes are the secret ingredient in this recipe. They practically disappear during cooking, leaving behind their complex sweetness. This recipe was meant for a 6- to 8-quart electric pressure cooker, but to use a stovetop pressure cooker, just cook the ribs a few minutes less than you would if using an electric one. You could also bake this in a covered Dutch oven at 325 degrees for 3 hours. In any case, it is easiest to make the day before, chill it, then skim the fat off the top. Serve this with polenta or mashed potatoes.

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
It doesn’t get more comforting than a simmering pot of chicken and soft, fluffy dumplings. This one is relatively classic, though I’ve added some chives to the dumplings for color and freshness. But feel free to leave them out for something more traditionally beige. Or stir in a handful of thawed frozen peas at the end for sweetness and a touch of green. I prefer using all dark meat here—a combination of drumsticks and thighs gives great flavor and won’t overcook as readily as white meat. But use whatever pieces you like, or a combination. If using all white meat, cook it for a minute or two less. This is one of 10 recipes from Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot” (Clarkson Potter, 2017). Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant” is available everywhere books are sold. Order your copy today.

Pressure Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken
The highly spiced coconut sauce here is so good, you’ll want to slather it on anything! And it’s a great and adaptable medium for cooking other proteins — not just chicken. Try cubes of lamb, fish fillets, or chunks of pork. Or, if you prefer boneless chicken breasts to thighs, use them here, pressure-cooking them for 2 minutes instead of 4. When serving, tell your guests to be aware of the cardamom pods so they don’t accidentally bite into one—or use the ground cardamom instead. And note that brands of garam masala vary in terms of their chile content, so some are hotter than others. If you’re unsure how hot your mix is, add it gradually to the pot, tasting as you go. This is one of ten recipes from Melissa Clark’s ‘Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot’ (Clarkson Potter, 2017). Melissa Clark’s ‘Dinner in an Instant’ is available everywhere books are sold. Order your copy today.

Pressure Cooker Osso Buco
This classic dish of veal shanks braised in wine and tomatoes is a masterpiece of northern Italian cooking. Be sure to provide small spoons (espresso spoons work well) so people can scoop the marrow out of the bones, then eat the marrow sprinkled with salt and some of the gremolata. This is one of 10 recipes from Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot” (Clarkson Potter, 2017). Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant” is available everywhere books are sold. Order your copy today.

Pressure Cooker Sticky Tamarind Baby Back Ribs
These gingery sweet-and-sour glazed ribs are tender and intensely flavored — and pretty much impossible to stop eating once you start. The sauce also works well on spare-ribs if you’d like to substitute those here. Just reduce the cooking time by a few minutes on the pressure setting, or as much as an hour if using the slow cooker setting. This is one of 10 recipes from Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot” (Clarkson Potter, 2017). Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant” is available everywhere books are sold. Order your copy today.

Pressure Cooker Garlicky Cuban Pork
This cumin-scented, garlic-laced pork is marinated with grapefruit, lime, and fresh oregano for a flavor that’s earthy and garlicky, yet bright from the citrus. The meat itself is as tender as can be, falling to shreds with the touch of a fork. Serve it over rice, or tuck it into tortillas along with some salsa and avocado to create tacos. This is one of 10 recipes from Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot” (Clarkson Potter, 2017). Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant” is available everywhere books are sold. Order your copy today.

Pressure Cooker Punjabi Rajma (Indian Spiced Kidney Beans)
Rajma is a classic dish from Northern India in which red kidney beans are cooked with onions, tomato, ginger and a host of heady spices until they’re tender and fragrant. The classic version requires soaking the beans overnight followed by lengthy cooking. But when made in an electric pressure cooker, the whole thing can be ready in about an hour. If you think your beans are old (or if you can't remember when you bought them), the cookbook author Urvashi Pitre, who adapted this recipe for the Instant Pot, recommends soaking them in water for an hour before cooking.

Pressure Cooker Spicy Pork Shoulder
You can make this spicy pork in a 6- to 8-quart electric pressure cooker if you’re in a hurry, or in a slow cooker if you're not. In either case, you’ll get tender bits of meat covered in a chile-flavored barbecue sauce that’s just slightly sweet. (You can also make it in a stovetop pressure cooker, by trimming a few minutes off the cooking time. Stovetop pressure cookers tend to cook at a slightly higher pressure, so food cooks more quickly.) Gochujang, a pungent Korean chile paste, and gochugaru, Korean chile flakes, is available at Asian markets and specialty shops, or see the ingredient list for substitutions. Serve the pork over rice or in slider rolls, topped with crunchy pickled sesame cucumbers and a little kimchi, if you want to spice things up. And, while you can make this from start to finish in an afternoon, you can also make this in stages a few days ahead, if that’s easier.

Instant Pot Pork Stew With Red Wine and Olives
Pork shoulder is one of the most glorious things to cook in an electric pressure cooker. The meat becomes velvety and suffused with rich, brawny juices. Here, red wine, tomatoes, rosemary and sage perfume the pork, while olives, stirred in at the end, give it brightness. This stew is even better cooked a day or two ahead, giving the flavors time to meld. Making it in advance also gives the fat a chance to solidify, so it’s easy to remove before reheating. Then, if you like, you can reheat the stew in the electric pressure cooker using the sauté setting. Serve this over polenta or rice, or with good bread, to soak up the meaty sauce.

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs
Spaghetti and meatballs isn’t necessarily any faster when made in an electric pressure cooker, but it does take away a lot of hands-on work. And it can all be done in one pot instead of the usual two to three it would take on the stove. Here, the meatballs, which are not fried but cooked entirely in the sauce, are gently spiced and very tender — the height of kid-friendly cuisine. The ricotta topping is optional, but it makes the whole thing especially creamy and rich. If you have some homemade marinara sauce in the freezer, or a favorite store-bought kind, you can substitute 3 1/4 cups of it here. Olive fans take note: Adding 1/4 cup sliced pitted olives to the sauce will probably make you very happy come dinnertime.

Pressure Cooker Pork With Citrus and Mint
In this recipe for a Thai-inspired salad, made for a 6- to 8-quart electric pressure cooker, crispy pork, flavored with fish sauce and lime, is paired with sweet and juicy pomelo (or use grapefruit) and heady fried garlic chips. If you’d rather make this in a slow cooker, you can; it'll take 5 to 7 hours on high. (You can also make it in a stovetop pressure cooker, by trimming a few minutes off the cooking time. The stovetop versions tend to operate at a slightly higher pressure, cooking food more quickly.)

Pressure Cooker Shrimp Biryani
The key to cooking shrimp biryani in an electric pressure cooker is to buy jumbo shrimp, which won’t overcook in the amount of time it takes to cook the rice. This version, from Chandra Ram’s “The Complete Indian Instant Pot Cookbook,” is bright with ginger root, fresh curry leaves and plenty of lime juice. Kashmiri chile is a very mild red chile powder that can be found in Indian markets, but if you can’t get it, substitute three parts sweet paprika and one part cayenne. And if you can’t get the fresh curry leaves, simply leave them out. The dish won’t be quite as fragrant, but will still be delicious.

Pressure Cooker Garlicky Beans With Broccoli Rabe
This white bean dish isn’t shy when it comes to garlic. It’s used in the pot along with the simmering beans, and also fried in olive oil as a crunchy, pungent garnish. As a contrast, the broccoli rabe and red onion get very sweet when you sauté them slowly until they are browned and caramelized. Alongside the soft, mild white beans, it’s a satisfying and comforting dish with a garlicky kick. This is one of 10 recipes from Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot” (Clarkson Potter, 2017). Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in an Instant” is available everywhere books are sold. Order your copy today.

Elotes (Grilled Corn With Cheese, Lime and Chile)
Whole ears of corn are a classic street food in Mexico, where they are either grilled or boiled, then often dressed with some combination of lime, chile, mayonnaise and grated cheese. This grilled version calls for all of the above, which get mixed together into a creamy, bracing topping, and slathered all over the hot, sweet ears. It's not strictly traditional, but it does make it easier to assemble the corn and its dressing before serving. Or place the various topping in small bowls and let guests have the fun of garnishing their own. And if you don’t have a grill, the broiler works too though watch the ears carefully so they don’t burn.

Yakitori (Grilled Chicken Skewers)
Yakitori is Japanese skewered and grilled chicken that can use approximately 30 different chicken parts, from momo, or chicken thigh, to nankotsu, or chicken cartilage. This recipe calls for marinating chicken thighs, gizzards and livers in a savory-sweet sauce of ginger, sake, mirin, soy sauce, garlic and a touch of brown sugar, grilling or broiling, then scattering with chopped scallions. Serve it alongside something fresh and green, like a cucumber salad, and a pile of rice.

Easy Sheet-Pan Chicken
Crisp-skinned and very juicy, this is a more sophisticated version of the crumb-coated, oven-fried chicken dishes of childhood. In addition to bread crumbs, the chicken is slathered with two kinds of mustard plus fresh thyme and minced garlic, which makes it deeply flavored, bright and complex. And because it calls for only one pan, clean up is minimal. While the recipe calls for bone-in drumsticks and/or thighs, if you prefer boneless white meat, feel free to substitute it, reducing the cooking time by 5 to 10 minutes. Serve this with potatoes – either sweet or white – and your favorite green vegetable or salad. It’s weeknight cooking at its finest.

Grilled Za’atar Chicken With Garlic Yogurt and Cilantro
This garlicky, herby chicken is full-flavored and very tender, thanks to its piquant yogurt marinade. It’s flexible, too — marinate the meat for as little as a couple of hours, or as long as overnight. And the chicken is just as good cooked under the broiler as it is on the grill (see Tip). You can serve this dish with almost anything, but it’s especially nice with pita or other flatbread and a big cucumber and tomato salad. And if you’re looking to substitute chicken breasts for the thighs, you can. Just watch them carefully; they’re likely to cook faster than the dark meat.

Sheet-Pan Chicken With Jammy Tomatoes and Pancetta
In this relatively speedy sheet-pan dinner, boneless, skinless chicken thighs are seasoned with a savory, cumin-scented spice mix and roasted with whole garlic cloves and cherry tomatoes, which turn soft and sweet in the oven’s heat. If you have ripe summer cherry tomatoes, you can skip the brown sugar. If you’d rather use boneless chicken breasts, reduce the cooking time by about 5 to 7 minutes. This makes a light meal on its own, but you can add rice or crusty bread, and maybe a salad, if you need something more substantial.

Sheet-Pan Ratatouille With Goat Cheese and Olives
Cooking ratatouille on a sheet pan in the oven isn’t just easier than cooking it in a pot on the stove, it’s also better: richer and more deeply caramelized in flavor. To make it, the vegetables are slicked with plenty of olive oil, then roasted until tender and browned, their juices mingling and condensing. Toward the end of the cooking time, goat cheese and olives are sprinkled on top. The cheese melts and becomes creamy, while the olives heat up and turn plump and tangy. Serve this as a meatless main dish, with crusty bread and more goat cheese, or as a hearty side dish to a simple roast chicken or fish.

Roasted Cauliflower With Pancetta, Olives and Crisp Parmesan
Studded with salty olives, pancetta and Parmesan that gets golden and crisp at the edges, this is roasted cauliflower at its brightest and most full-flavored. You can serve the caramelized florets either as a vegetable-based main dish or a hearty side to roasted meats or fish, or big bowls of pasta. The recipe calls for using a package of finely diced pancetta that practically melts into the sauce. But if you prefer a chunkier texture, you can dice it yourself into 1/2-inch cubes, and add them with the cauliflower. Or, to make this vegetarian, just leave the pancetta out.

Sheet-Pan Cumin Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts
In this convenient sheet-pan supper, bone-in pork chops are coated in a spicy, garlicky cumin rub before being cooked alongside brussels sprouts and sage leaves. Roasted at high heat, the sprouts get golden at their edges and tender at their cores while the sage leaves turn brown and crisp all over, almost as if you’d fried them. Feel free to double this recipe. Just use large rimmed sheet pans instead of smaller ones.

Lemony Chicken With Potatoes and Oregano
This might be the easiest roast chicken and potatoes recipe out there. Roasting lemon slices with the potatoes infuses them with a bright, zippy flavor. Then, you can eat the roasted lemon or not — the caramelized, intense flavor is for true lemon lovers only. Serve this with one or two of your favorite condiments on the side for dipping the potatoes.

Sheet-Pan Chicken With Roasted Plums and Onions
Beautiful to behold and easy to make, this sheet-pan dinner combines sweet plums and soft red onions with crisp-skinned pieces of roasted chicken. Toasted fennel seeds, red-pepper flakes and a touch of allspice add complexity while a mound of fresh torn herbs crowns the top. If good ripe plums aren’t available, you can substitute another stone fruit including peaches, nectarines or pluots, though if your fruit is very sweet, you might want to add a squeeze of lemon at the end. Serve this with rice pilaf, polenta or warm flatbread for a festive meal.