Photo credit: Rachael Ray Show
"Does This Work!?"—hosted by senior culinary producer Jeanette Donnarumma—delves into the great big world of trendy, viral recipes that may or may not work. Don't miss a minute of her delicious hits and messy misses by subscribing here.
The multi-cooker (such as the Instant Pot) has not only taken the internet by storm, but most of my friends and family, too. It almost seems too good to be true, right!? It steams, it bakes, it roasts, it slow cooks, it pressure cooks, it even makes yogurt (!?).
So, your girl is back, testing out a recipe near and dear to my heart: Multi-Cooker Spaghetti With Meat Sauce. (FYI, you'll notice that my recipe is a little different than the one I tested in the video above. That's because I changed it based on my preferences. Enjoy!) I love the one-pan pasta trend, mainly because I love pasta but hate washing dishes. So needless to say, I’m super excited to finally give this magic-machine a go!
Once I got the multi-cooker on, I was pretty impressed by how hot it got -- and quickly! The mushrooms were browning perfectly, until it started to get too hot, and then they just started to steam. The beauty of a meat sauce, though, is that the longer it cooks, the better the flavor gets. So, I wasn’t too worried, since the pressure cooking function should cook the heck out of it.
All the ingredients for the meat sauce went in seamlessly, and then it was time to add the pasta. Now, you all know I work for the queen of pasta, the inventor of the oval pasta pot -- a.k.a. the only pot that actually FITS spaghetti -- so BREAKING THE SPAGHETTI to fit it into the multi-cooker felt like I was committing a Rachael Ray sin. This pasta better be perfectly cooked, multi-cooker!
I closed the lid (a feat in and of itself!) and let this magical machine pressure cook on high for eight minutes. All eyes were on the needle-lookin’-screw-doo-hickey-guy (the very technical term) and once that settled back down, it was time to open the lid again!
My very special guest judge to help me rain down judgement on this episode is a good friend of mine and fellow Italian Jersey girl and the Instagram influencer behind @dishitgirldina, Dina DeLeasa-Gonsar, so naturally, the consistency of the pasta after being pressure cooked for eight minutes was our main concern. Once the lid came off, the room filled with the delicious smell of the meat sauce...but what about the pasta!?
Did Dina revoke my Jersey girl spaghetti-making license? Will I buy a multi-cooker to use at home!? Is one-pot pasta doable in the multicooker!? Is Rachael going to fire me for snapping spaghetti in half!? You’ll have to watch the video above to find out!
