Recipe: Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs

Was Black Friday/Cyber Monday good to you?  Did you finally buy the Instant Pot you've had on your Amazon wishlist for months?  If so, congratulations! 

You may find once you've unboxed your new prize and quickly skimmed the owner's manual/recipe book that comes with it that it is sorely lacking in recipes that you'd actually include in your meal rotation.  Never fear, I've got another classic to share with you today.

This recipe falls under the nostalgia category for me (much like Sausage and Rice Casserole).  Porcupine Meatballs is the only reason that I had a pressure cooker on my wedding registry.  I fondly remember my mom making it when I was growing up and knew that she cooked it in her original stovetop pressure cooker.  The recipe came from the Presto Pressure Cooker cookbook included with the pressure cooker.  The original recipe has a tomato based sauce; my mom made it with a cream based sauce and so do I.

Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs
    serves: 4-6
    time: ~35 minutes

Ingredients
- 1lb of ground beef
- 0.5 cups of white rice, uncooked
- 1 cup of Pictsweet Seasoning Blend (frozen) or fresh diced onion and celery
- 1 packet dried onion soup mix
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup of water

Directions
1. In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and uncooked white rice.  Season as desired with salt and pepper.  Form into small meatballs, 1-1.5" diameter.
2. In the inner pot, mix together the remaining ingredients.
3. Place meatballs on top of soup/vegetable mixture.
4. Lock cover into place and seal the steam nozzle.
5. Press [Manual] and set timer for 8 minutes.
6. Allow to [Keep Warm] for 10 minutes then turn off the release any remaining pressure.
7. Serve over cooked white rice.

Notes

• the name "porcupine" is derived from the fact that the uncooked rice with poke out of the meatballs once cooked
• plan ahead and cook your rice for serving in the Instant Pot prior to cooking your porcupine meatballs.
• The Pictsweet Seasoning Blend is a great time saver -- it's a pre-chopped, frozen blend of onions, celery, green and red peppers and parsley flakes.  Look for it with frozen vegetables.
• This recipe is a great way to use of any leftover vegetables you might have in the refrigerator.  You'll notice my picture of the finished plate has quite a few carrots.  At the time, I had about 1/2 a bag of baby carrots which had passed their lunchbox prime so I diced them up and added them to the mix!