Does your husband/significant other surprise you with either gifts or nights/weekends away? I hope he/she does. I am so incredibly blessed to have one that does. It may be something small like my favourite chocolate bar on a Friday night to enjoy with a movie, it could be something that he knows I have had my eye on waiting for it to come on sale, it could be almost anything. I love this. To me it isn’t about the value of the item but the thought. If something costs $0.25 and I love it…that is perfect! I love the thought that went into the gift.
One day I came home from work to see a big brown box on the table. My husband was grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat. He couldn’t wait for me to open it up. Inside was an Instant Pot! I had been seeing all these recipes but I didn’t have one. My hubby had saved up and bought one for me as a special-no-reason gift. I was tickled. I am not gonna lie, I was nervous about using it. I could just envision me blowing the top off the cooker as it came to pressure and temperature.
I got up the courage to follow the directions for your first use. I think they give you those instructions for two purposes. 1. That you get over your fear of using an appliance which builds pressure and 2. To make sure it works the way you want it to without wrecking a recipe and wasting all those ingredients.
One of the first recipes I made was Beef Bourguignon. It is a fancy way of saying beef stew with wine. It is by far the best beef stew I have ever made. Red wine brings an elevated taste to beef stew. It makes it taste so much richer, bolder, more satisfying…know what I mean? Serve it with a nice crusty loaf of bread and a fresh green salad and it is a perfect meal for me. If you make it with the red wine, make sure you save the rest of the bottle to serve with dinner. If you drink the same wine you cook with it enhances the flavour. It also motivates you to use a bottle of red wine you will enjoy drinking. I am more a white wine drinker but we found really a good wine at our favourite winery in Oliver, BC. I used the Cabernet Franc from River Stone Estate Winery. Both the wine and the stew were incredible.
For the recipe:
https://www.lecremedelacrumb.com/instant-pot-beef-bourguignon/#wprm-recipe-container-23198
For the wine: