One Pot Lasagne in the Instant Pot

I've made this a bunch of times in the past ten years, but never posted it. It's so easy and yummy and quick. Four minutes at pressure and it's ready for the final cheeses and a melt.

The recipe I use is one from therecipewell dot com. It's the easiest. Some want you to use a cheesecake pan or other instant pot pan covered with foil. The trick to this one is not using a formed pan for the lasagna and making a pot of creamy lasagna noodles - but not getting a burn notice. If that happens, the lasagna is nearly cooked - it takes getting up to pressure and counting down only four minutes. Voila - it's done. If you get a BURN warning, simply release the pressure, open up the IP cover, scrape the bottom of the cooking lasagna and restart for four minutes. 

To make the lasagne - Use a bit of olive oil in the IP pan and saute 1 pound of beef and 1/2 to 1 pound of Italian sausage removed from the casings. 

When the meat is nearly done, add one chopped onion and a few chopped or minced garlic cloves. Cook for a few minutes.  Scrape the bottom of the pan by adding one 15 ounce can of beef broth and deglaze. Then add one 15 or 22 ounce jar of marinara, Mix well. Snap about 1 lb of malfadine pasta into 4-6 inch lengths and place in the pot. Cover with another 15-oz of beef broth.  Add a can of chopped tomatoes and about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of fresh basil. Make sure the pasta is covered with liquid.

Cover the pressure cooker and add 4 minutes to the Pressure Cook.  It will take about ten minutes to come up to pressure. After four minutes of pressure, release. Take off cover SAFELY at the end of the pressure release; add 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 2 cups of shredded fresh mozzarella.  Stir in the cheese and cover. Take off cover and add parmesan or Italian cheese.  Melt and serve with more fresh basil. 

Easy-peasey dinner for a crowd or when you have so little time but have the ingredients on hand. And it's great leftover!

Watermelon, Grape, Lime, Mint and Feta Salad

 

I have been craving watermelon-feta salad this week so made myself one for my lunch today. 

The ingredients here are for one nice, large, single salad.

1 cup watermelon chunks
1/2 cup red grapes (they were small so I left the whole)
1 cup shredded lettuce (I used butter)
1/2 cup pieces of feta cheese cut from a large chunk
1/2 lime juiced and zested
6 mint leaves, sliced
salt and pepper
1-2 T Briana's Blush Wine Vinaigrette or other fruity dressings

Mix, dress and eat. 

Next time, I might add some chicken, small grape tomatoes, strawberries, or sliced spring peas and sliced shallots and green onions with poppy seed dressing.

Abruzzo Fava Beans on Toast

In Montone, a tiny comune in Mosciano Sant’Angelo, Abruzzo, Italy our host gave us fresh “broad” or fava beans. We looked up how to prepare them. Enio suggested just with salt and olive oil and fresh bread. We had toasted bread from our restaurant dinner the night before (we took it home). A YouTube video suggested mashing them with lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, olive oil, and chopped mint. 

We didn’t have a masher here, so we dressed them as they were with those ingredients  we served them on toasted bread and packaged toasts  - yum!

To prepare the beans, remove the beans from the long pods. Cook the beans in their outer pods for five minutes in boiling salted water. Drain the beans quickly and plunge into very cold water. Shell them - they will be bright green and split into two. Rinse and drain and dry on a paper towel. Dress. So good for you!

Country-Style Ribs BBQ Sauce

I always loved this sauce for country-style ribs. I made it per the recipe below, and marinated the parboiled country-style ribs overnight in a Ziploc bag. We then grilled them on the outside grill - often for a large crowd.

On Saturday, I used the sauce on several racks of pork ribs I cooked in the Instant Pot (with one can of beer) for 30 minutes with an instant release. I prefer the Costco pre-rubbed/seasoned ribs (bought in packs of two 14-18-inch racks). 

I curled the ribs (no sauce yet) into the pot on a silicone sling. I was afraid there were too many ribs, but they cooked beautifully in 30 minutes. They didn't fall off the bone easily, but I planned to finish cooking them under the broiler. I generously doused them with sauce and broiled them until the sauce was deeply colored - maybe 5 minutes. Watch closely, as you don't want it to burn.

SAUCE:

Saute:

• 1 cup (2 cups) chopped onion and 1 clove (2-4 cloves) minced garlic in about 1/4 c. oil until soft and golden.:

Add:

• 1-8 oz can tomato sauce (or 1-15 oz can)
• 1/2 cup water (or 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (or 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (or 1/2 cup)
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce (or 4 T)
• 2 T prepared mustard (or 4 T)
• 1 tsp. celery seed and table salt (or 2 tsp. each)
• 1/4 tsp .pepper (or 1/2 tsp.)

Simmer for 15 minutes or longer but do not burn!

You can multiply the ingredients by 2 (as above) or 4 or more and can this hot sauce in pint jars for 15 minutes. It's great to have on hand.

Rib Sauce

 SAUCE: 

Saute:

• 1 cup (2 cups) chopped onion and 1 clove (2-4 cloves) minced garlic in about 1/4 c. oil until soft and golden.:

Add:

• 1-8 oz can tomato sauce (or 1-15 oz can)
• 1/2 cup water (or 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (or 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (or 1/2 cup)
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce (or 4 T)
• 2 T prepared mustard (or 4 T)
• 1 tsp. celery seed and table salt (or 2 tsp. each)
• 1/4 tsp .pepper (or 1/2 tsp.)

Simmer for 15 minutes or longer but do not burn!

You can multiply the ingredients by 2 (as above) or 4 or more and can this hot sauce in pint jars for 15 minutes. It's great to have on hand.

Buona Pasqua 2026

 

Easter in Cottonwood Bend was delightful this year with the Opgenorths and Busses. Julie made a yummy Colomba Pasquale (Easter Dove Bread) from King Arthur Flour and Sue made a delicious ricotta cheesecake from a relatively new Italian cookbook, Italian American Forever: Classic Recipes for Everything You Want to Eat: A Cookbook.

Gerry made his lasagna (on this blog) and I made Agnello Cacio e Uova - lamb shanks (also on this blog.)

Fusilli Pasta Salad

This is a recipe I've been making for about 40 or more years. It is from one of my favorite 1970s cookbooks, San Francisco Ala Carte by the Junior Women's League of SF.

Somehow, I've forgotten about it for the past decade. I had to go hunting for the recipe after I found out it wasn't on this blog! It's delicious and I used to make it meatless, then with shrimp and this time with cooked sausage slices.

Cook 1 pound of curly fusilli (I use the long curly pasta that is about double the length of spaghetti because it is doubled over.) Rinse and drain.

Make a sauce of the rest of these ingredients and pour over the pasta. 

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup white vinegar (I used white balsamic today)
• 1/2 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 T. fresh basil, chopped
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Mix in 1 green pepper and 1 red pepper cut into thin strips (I use tri-colored and often leave out the green)

1/4 head of broccoli cut into florets

Mix in 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (I used a Asiago/Parmesan/Percorino grated cheese blend)

Add sliced black olives or any other sliced olives if preferred. Add protein if desired. Serve warm OR refrigerate for later.