‘Hamilton’-Themed Recipes: Adventures in Instant Potting

Adventures in Instant Potting: Hamilton-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 Hamilton-themed recipes for your Independence Day weekend.

Immigrants! We Get the Dinner Done

– GeekMom Karen

I love bread. I love bread even more when it’s stuffed with amazing deliciousness. You know, like ham and cheese. The inspiration for me, then, was the idea of stuffing ham into a bread for the first Hamilton-themed recipe. However, ham needs something to go with it. That meant, cheese. Keeping in mind that I wanted this to be a teensy bit fancy, I went with Gruyere. Since we have a French cheese, I automatically felt that this was the Hamilton/LaFayette meal.

Ingredients

Pizza dough (I bought the premade because… lazy)
1 8oz package diced ham (or you can use one cup of leftover ham)
8oz shredded Gruyere
1 pie tin or springform pan
Salt, pepper

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Take out the pan you plan to use.
2. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Roll or spread out half the pizza dough over the pan.
4. Dump the ham and Gruyere on top one side of the dough.
5. Season with salt and pepper (I also added some red pepper flakes for a hint of spice).
6. Fold the other half over the top to close it up.
7. Pour 1 cup water in bottom of Instant Pot.
8. Put the trivet in.
9. Put the pan on top of the trivet.
10. Turn Instant Pop on High Pressure for 30 minutes.
11. When time is up, do a quick release.
12. At this point, the inside is cooked but the outside is going to look like squishy boiled brains. DO NOT PANIC! Take your bread out of the Instant Pot. Dump the water out.
13. Spray the bottom of the pan with nonstick cooking spray. Hit the Sauté button. Brown up the outside of the bread. Alternatively, if this is part of a party, you can place the bread on the grill to brown the outside, or if it’s not a million degrees of July outside, you can place it in the broiler to brown.

Jefferson Peach Dump Cake

– GeekMom Karen

For our next Hamilton recipe, we turn to Thomas Jefferson. The founding father who declared our independence was a Southern gentleman farmer. Apparently, while he was mellow at Monticello, he grew as many as thirty-eight varieties of peaches. With this in mind, our Jefferson dish reflects his crops.

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake
2 peaches sliced (or 1 can peaches)

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

Mix the cake according to the box directions. (I substituted unsweetened applesauce for eggs because I didn’t have eggs.) Spray a springform pan with nonstick spray. Place the peaches in the bottom of the pan. Pour the cake batter over it. Set the Instant Pot on manual high pressure for 20 minutes. Let cool.

*Important note: GeekMom Karen is notoriously terrible at baking. This means that things never work right. When she “baked” it, the valve was stuck so the cake didn’t cook right. And she has no pictures of the final cake because her dog ate it. So, while the instructions should work based on baking in the IP, this recipe is not guaranteed. With that in mind, she presents you also a boozy option from Epicurious.

A Presidential Breakfast

– GeekMom Karen

Our first president saw himself not as a soldier or leader but as a farmer. Originally growing tobacco, he found that to be an unsustainable crop and instead focused on grains. Pioneering crop rotation to ensure his farmland would remain fertile, he grew an impressive variety of crops. With this in mind, and with grains being one of his most prominent crops, we offer up this Corn and Barley Hamilton recipe to help you take advantage of the sweet summer corn and the Instant Pot’s ability to quick cook grains. Originally, I intended this to be a cold salad. However, the 1:4 ratio that the instant pot suggested for the barley, combined with the Craisins and frozen corn, left this watery like an oatmeal. If you play around with the liquid (I’d be guessing 3 cups liquid from what was left in the pot), you could get the barley to absorb with nothing left over and have a nifty barley salad.

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil
1 cup pearled barley
4 cups water (or chicken stock or veggie stock)
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp of ginger paste
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup frozen corn
½ cup Craisins
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Turn on the Instant Pot to sauté. Pour the olive oil in.
2. Sauté the garlic and ginger paste until soft.
3. Add the barley, nutmeg, allspice, salt, pepper, and toast the barley. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add water, corn, Craisins, and brown sugar. Stir.
5. Use manual setting on high for 30 minutes.
6. Quick release and eat

Schuyler Sister Sweetness: Angelica Food Cake with Elizaberry and Peggy Lemon Compote

– GeekMom Nivi

Okay, lesson one. Just because you can technically do something in the Instant Pot doesn’t mean you should. First time I made the cake, I tested it out three ways–oven, Instant Pot with water, Instant Pot without water. The results are undeniably better in the oven (achieves the right fluffiness and brownness, though part of the denseness could have been because I used all-purpose flour instead of cake flour). Nonetheless, though this Hamilton recipe can be made in the Instant Pot, when it was done, I broiled it for a few minutes for aesthetic reasons (if you have a mini torch like they use for creme brulée, that’d probably work great), but it felt like I was cheating at that point. Second time around, I just made the compote and bought ready-made cake at the store, so that’s also a doable shortcut (but you’ll miss out on the hint of lemon in the cake batter, unless you get some lemon cake, which then means you miss out on the Angelica part of the Hamilton recipe). Regardless, here are the recipes I used for this tribute to the Schuyler sisters.

Angelica FoodCake

I found this recipe on Key Ingredient and tweaked it slightly (using lemon essence instead of almond extract).

Ingredients

1 cup sifted cake flour (trust me, all-purpose flour leads to a denser cake)
1 ½ cups sifted sugar
1 ¼ cups egg whites
¼ tsp salt
1 ¼ tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp lemon essence or extract

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Sift together flour and ½ cup sugar and set aside.
2. Whisk egg whites and salt. When foamy, add cream of tartar and continue beating until eggs are stiff enough to hold up in peaks, but not stiff.
3. Add remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp at a time, whisking until sugar is just blended.
4. Fold in flavoring.
5. Sift about flour over mixture and fold in lightly, ¼ cup at a time until all is used.
6. Pour into ungreased ramekins until about ½ full, cover in foil, and arrange on trivet. I comfortably fit 2 in at a time because I didn’t feel comfortable staggering them, but you may have more experience with this.
7. Now here’s the interesting part: I tried it both with 1 cup of water at the bottom, and then once with no water, which I don’t recommend even though it did yield a fluffier result (which I ruined later by forgetting them in the oven when I was broiling them). It does, after all, go against all stated recommendations of the Instant Pot and could void the warranty should something go amiss. Maybe just try with less water.
8. Place lid on Instant Pot, close the pressure, set to Manual heat for 15 minutes. Let the steam release naturally, then take out. Serve with compote.

Elizaberry and Peggy Lemon Compote

Often Eliza is linked with the color blue, and Peggy with yellow, so this one just seemed natural. And the fact that it’s so simple and tasty makes it a total win!

Ingredients

3 cups blueberries
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp cornstarch
¾ cup sugar

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

Drop all ingredients in Instant Pot. Stir (so cornstarch isn’t clumping). Close lid (and pressure valve). Turn on Manual setting for 3 minutes, then let pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes. Mash slightly (if you want, or leave clumpy if you prefer). Enjoy.

Hercules Mulligatawny

– GeekMom Nivi

How could we not pay tribute to him? And while this Hamilton recipe isn’t a traditional July 4th dish (it’s soup), it’s forecasted to be rainy here in Cleveland so this may be quite the comfort food. Ideally served over rice. Now, I did take some liberties with this recipe from happybellyfoodie.com. I omitted the heavy cream, and could probably have substituted olive oil for the butter (and omitted the chicken) for an easy vegan version.

Ingredients

¼ cup butter
2 lbs raw chicken breast, diced into bite size pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup bell pepper, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
¼ cup lentils
¼ cup basmati rice
1 tsp curry powder
⅛ tsp ground cloves
⅛ tsp grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 cup chopped apple
1 tsp curry powder
Salt to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ cup freshly chopped cilantro (optional)

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Turn the IP on Sauté and melt the butter. Add the chicken and saute to brown the outside. Season with salt and pepper, then remove and set aside.
2. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, carrots, garlic, lentils, rice, 1 tsp curry powder, and nutmeg to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Lay chicken on steamer basket on top, then pour broth over top.
3. Place lid on IP and lock, seal the steam release valve, and run on Manual for 18 minutes.
4. You can either naturally or manually release the steam when it’s done, then turn the IP to Sauté, add apples, a tsp of curry powder, and salt. Bring the mix to a boil, stirring occasionally, about 3-5 minutes until the apples are soft.
5. Use an immersion blender to blend everything to a smooth consistency.
6. Add the chicken back to the pot, then add the lemon juice and fresh cilantro.
7. Stir and serve hot over rice, garnished with freshly chopped cilantro. Enjoy.

Other Revolutionary Hamilton-Themed Recipes

Here are some other suggestions for Hamilton-themed recipes to celebrate Independence Day. We just, well, ran out of time before making all these, but if you’re so inclined, we didn’t want you missing out on some great possibilities.

• Sweet/Sour Jefferson/Madison Mother Fragging Democratic Republican Sweet & Sour Meatballs – Because Hamilton and Madison started as friends but then the relationship turned “sour” when Jefferson came back… like the historical inspiration behind the dish.
• Sweet and Sour Meatballs with TJ peach jelly
• Aaron Burrgers – Let’s be honest, this has no historical story associated with it. We just really love burgers and a good pun. Truthfully? It’s also not an Instant Pot recipe. Although, every good July 4th BBQ needs a burger. So, we’re just going along with that.
• Hamilton: Caribbean Jerk Pork – He was no chicken.
• Lafayette Baguette – Oh, just go buy a loaf of french bread at your local bakery. Call it being a good American by supporting local business.

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

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