Recipe Redux: Maple Chili-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

What Did I Make?: Maple Chili-Glazed Sweet Potatoes, from Melissa Clark's Dinner In an Instant
What Did I Change?: I added a little more chili powder and a little more salt.
Would I Make It Again?: Absolutely!

I am a sucker for a recipe that calls for sweet and savory, and this had a really short ingredient list. My husband (who is hesitant about sweet potatoes at best and generally despises them) not only tried them, but are more voluntarily!

The potatoes were slightly underdone, especially the wide slices. I need to cut those in half next time around. Also, I will up the chili amount to a teaspoon, rather than a half. This would also bee good with some chopped nuts on top, for extra texture.

It was not too sweet, and the glaze was tasty, not cloying.

A very good recipe, and one that I have written down and will tinker with.

Musings on the uses of an Instant Pot

I got the family an Instant Pot for Channukah. And I've been trying to use it, so as to justify its existance. Also, it is winter, a time for low-and-slow foods. This has meant gathering some Instant Pot cookbooks from my local library. (I am very far back from the one by the Cook's Illustrated crew, Multicooker Perfection, but I will wait, because I trust those folks.)

Anyway, I am going through a bunch of IP cookbooks, and twice now, I have come across a green bean recipe. It is listed as Italian. And I look at it. And I snicker.

Because this is the Sephardic recipe for Vegetables. (And Some Meats.)

What is the Sephardic recipe for Vegetables (And Some Meats), you may ask?

1) Add oil to a pot. No, more. Where are you from, a place that is scared of oil? (My husband always complained that I used too much oil when sauteing. Then we got a cookbook that has all of the old family recipes. Now he still complains, but he knows why I do it.)

2)Add a chopped onion and saute until soft.

3) Add a can of chopped tomatoes, the Vegetable (Or Meat), some salt, and some pepper.

4)Add water until everything is covered.

5)Simmer on the stovetop and get the rest of the meal finished.

What you get out of this recipe is the same thing you will get out of these IP recipes. Except with the IP, you have more work to do, and more cleanup.

It's just really amusing to me to see people use their IPs for things that are simpler to do on the stovetop.