serves 6
Active time: 30 minutes – Start to finish: 1hr 30min
This recipe is from Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Fast and Slow. It looks complicated but it really isn’t. The most time consuming part is trimming the pork. The pork mixture needs to cook for 25 minutes, but then you need to let the Instant Pot depressurize naturally for 15. Then the clams need 7-to-12 minutes to cook at the very end, which makes total cooking time just under an hour. But for 25+ minutes of that time, you don’t need to keep an eye on anything and you can be enjoying a glass of wine from the bottle you opened for making this recipe.
The flavors are so rich and deep, you definitely want to serve this with crusty bread for soaking it up. I warmed up a few slices per-person in the oven, drizzled with olive oil and garlic.
note: this recipe is for a 6-quart Instant Pot.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch chunks
- 1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, patted dry and thinly sliced ← I used Mezetta Roasted Red Bell Peppers
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 6 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 tsp sweet paprika
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 TBL extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 pounds hard-shell clams (about 1½ inches diameter), such as littlenecks, scrubbed ← do NOT use clams that are larger than 2 inches across, they won’t cook properly
- [optional] 2 andouille sausages, cubed and sautéed ← this was my improv to this dish
- 2 cups lightly packed fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- lemon wedges, to serve ← I used to tone down the salt
- serve with warm crusty bread
Directions
- The clams, cilantro and andouille are added at the end of cooking. Scrub the clams and prep the cilantro and andouille while the pork cooks (you’ll have 25+ minutes to do so)
- To Start
- Add the pork, roasted peppers, wine, garlic, paprika, bay leaves, olive oil, 1 tsp each salt and pepper, and ¼ cup water. ← note: if you are adding andouille sausage, which is salty, I’d cut back on the salt here by at least half.
- Stir to combine, then distribute in an even layer.
- Lock the lid of your Instant Pot in place and move the pressure valve to Sealing (my model auto-seals).
- Select Pressure Cook or Manual; make sure the pressure level is set to High.
- Set the cooking time for 25 minutes
- When pressure cooking is complete, allow the pressure to reduce naturally for 15 minutes, then release the remaining steam by moving the pressure valve to Venting (my model has a steam release button)
- Press Cancel, then carefully open the pot.
- To Finish
- Select More/High Sauté and bring the pork mixture to a simmer.
- As pork is warming back up, break or shred it into smaller pieces
- If adding andouille sausage, add it now
- Add the clams and stir often, until the clams just begin to open, 2-to-5 minutes
- Press Cancel to turn off the pot
- Re-cover without locking the lid in place and let stand until the clams are fully opened, 5-to-7 minutes
- Remove and discard any that do not open
- Stir in cilantro, then taste and season with salt and pepper ← I didn’t think it needed any more salt or pepper
- Serve drizzled with additional oil and with lemon wedges on the side. ← I did not add additional oil, but did use a lemon wedge
| Recommended products | |
  | Here’s a link for ordering Milk Street Fast and Slow on Amazon. I gave the book a complete read through the day it arrived. Christopher does a fantastic job at explaining all the tricks to using an Instant Pot that I have yet to read anywhere else. |
  | I purchased the Instant Pot Duo Plus from Amazon in early December 2020. With all the cooking I’m doing now, I was looking for ways to create yummy meals that didn’t require as much supervision so that I could chill more in the evenings. |