Make the Perfect Instant Pork Stew With Seared Onions
I mainly use my Instant Pot to cook large cuts of meat until they are so tender that they fall apart. The appliance makes a great pork roast, but if you cook this roast in a can of tomatoes, you have a great stew.
Meat juices are blended with plum tomatoes (as well as a little wine and garlic) to create a hearty, scoopable sauce that was made for thick, strong noodles like pappardelle or radiatori. But, since the Instant Pot does not allow for heavy browning, you need to develop those deep, deep-fried flavors before everything hits the pot. This is easy to do, you just need to set fire to a little onion .
Burnt onions, as I mentioned earlier , are one of the quickest and easiest ways to add deep, umami-rich (but slightly bitter) flavor to gravies, salad dressings, and sauces. I usually mix them with liquids to distribute the flavor evenly, but thanks to the high pressure in the Instant Pot, the chopped and seared onions practically disintegrate when cooked with pork. Pair that with a spicy balsamic, smoky tabasco, and slightly quirky fish sauce for a surprisingly complex stew that tastes like it’s been baked or stewed for hours. To make it you will need:
- 1 about 2 1/2 lb. boneless pork shoulder, joined together as needed to create a smooth roast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 small white onions, cut into thin crescents
- 5 garlic cloves, minced and coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 1 can of whole plum tomatoes with juice
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce (I like tabasco)
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 3 sprigs fresh oregano
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 pound of your favorite pasta
Season the pork liberally on all sides and set aside. Press the Sauté button on the Instant Pot and press Adjust to set it to the hottest temperature. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the insert and as soon as “HOT” appears on the Instant Pot display, fry the roast to form a crust on each side, turning only when it no longer sticks to the insert (this means good the crust is already crusty). formed). While the roast is browning, heat another tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over medium to high heat. Season the onions with a couple of pinches of salt and, working in portions, cook until pretty and browned .
Once the onions are browned and the pork has a good crust on all sides, remove the roast from the insert, set aside and add the onions to the instant pot. Add the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Add tomato paste and cook until dark brick red. If there is a significant amount of tenderness in the onion saucepan – those browned chunks that stick to the bottom – pour in about a quarter glass of wine, scrape it off, and top with the onions and garlic. Add the remaining wine to the instant pot, scrape off the bottom of the insert, then add the tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes with tongs, add fish sauce, hot sauce and vinegar. Tie the herbs with a piece of kitchen twine and toss into the pot.
Return the roast to the Instant Pot, add some sauce and close. Cook under high pressure for 30 minutes per pound, then release by hand. Open the saucepan and let the sauce cool slightly while you bring the water to the (salty) pasta to a boil. Use two forks or clean kitchen scissors to slice the pork shoulder directly into the saucepan. If the sauce is a little runny (because moisture cannot escape from the instant pot), make a beurre manie by mixing flour and butter together to form a paste, then add small pieces of this pasta to the hot sauce, stirring with each adding until your sauce is as thick as you want. Prepare the pasta according to package directions, stir in the stew and enjoy pecorino romano, fresh basil, or both.