I will have to
admit I was not too excited when I got the request for spaghetti and meatballs
as a dinner at the beginning of July.
But it ended up raining (and I quote, “a real frog strangler”), which
actually made it the perfect meal for the evening! I also love an excuse to use
my pressure cooker. It is fast (although
not as fast as they advertise since it has to reach pressure before it will
cook at those speeds), it doesn’t produce extra heat in the kitchen, it adds
flavor to things as if they had been simmering all day (the original recipe
called for these meatballs to simmer for three hours) and who doesn’t love one
pot meals! Meatballs always remind me of
my grandma and dad who are very good at making this meal. They more fly by the seat of their pants when
it comes to adding this and that…I, however, need a set of rules and found this
set on food.com (AWESOME website where foodies share their recipes). While shopping, I decided that I would “spice
up” the regular ol’ spaghetti and meatballs with Linguini instead. Mmm mmm good!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb Ground Sirloin
- 1 Egg
- ¼ C Milk
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 1 tbsp Italian Parsley
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ¼ C Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Fresh Ground Pepper to taste (I did about 4-5 grinds)
- 1 jar of Prego Heart Smart Original
- 1 small can of Tomato Sauce
- 1 box of Linguini
Recipe:
Mix all the above
ingredients (sans linguini and sauces) by hand in a bowl.
Turn on pressure
cooker and let the jar of Prego start to simmer. (Don’t do this too soon or you will end up
like me with a burned sauce and have to start over with another jar L)
Pack the meat
into small balls, a little larger than a golf ball.
Drop the
meatballs into the simmering sauce. Then
poor the small can of tomato sauce on top.
Add a small amount of Italian Seasoning and Garlic Powder to the sauce
at this time. (Not too much since flavors are intensified in the pressure
cooker).
Start the
pressure cooker. The meatballs with need
to cook for five (that’s right FIVE) minutes once the cooker reaches pressure.
Once the pressure
cooker reaches pressure, start to boil the water then add the linguini. Cook to el dente approximately 10 minutes.
Drain the pasta
and serve with the meatballs, sauce and extra Parmesan.
We ate with a small
side salad. For dessert: Reese’s Peanut
Butter Cups…My boyfriend’s addition when he had to run by the store to get me
the extra jar of sauce since I burned the first!
What is your favorite pressure cooker meal?
What is your favorite pressure cooker meal?
