When I got up this morning, I could still smell that meat that I browned last night, for that pasta dish - the sort of Italian sausage, that I made with venison! I started out by cooking a cup of kidney beans and 1/3 c barley in about 4 c water in the Instant Pot, while getting the rest ready. I thawed the sausage slowly in the MW, ground up about 3 lbs of the last of the tomatoes I had, went out and harvested the last of the basil, since it was supposed to freeze last night (ended up a little over ½ c chopped), and chopped up a large onion, and about minced about 2 tb garlic. When the pressure was down, I drained the beans and barley, then rinsed the pot out, and in a couple tb of olive oil on Medium Sauté, cooked the onions 'til starting to brown, then cooked the garlic for a minute, then added that tomato purée, some salt and about a half tb of pepper flakes (added more at the end), along with over half of the basil chopped up fine, then let it cook down. While doing this, I browned the meat in just a small amount of olive oil, since that venison is so lean, and when totally cooked, I deglazed the pan with just a small amount of water. When the tomatoes had cooked down by about a quarter, I added the meat, 3½ c water, and a pound of pasta, put the lid on the pot, set on Manual for 3 minutes, and when time is up, released the pressure. When pressure is released, I removed the lid, and stirred in the beans and barley, to reheat them, then stirred in about a quarter cup of chopped basil. I served with a little more basil on top.
Finished pasta dish, after adding the pre-cooked kidney beans and barley, to heat through. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The last quarter cup of the basil from outside this year, after cooking about the same amount in the tomato sauce. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The finished pasta dish, with a little more basil on top. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
