Meatloaf: A Mom Dish

By Somer

If you’re at least a second generation American, odds are that your mom made meatloaf for you when you were a child.  If you were like me, you whined and complained to no end when it was presented to you.  I hated meatloaf when I was a kid.  I hated the ketchup topping, I hated the taste, I hated the texture and I hated the look.  However, like most kids confronted with the dreaded meatloaf night, I was forced to eat it and like it.

I always find it funny, hilarious even, when cooks try to come up with recipes that make meatloaf a little more gourmet.  Are they serious?  Meatloaf is a “tight times” dish.  It’s meant to make a little bit of cheap meat go a long way, thus saving a family money.  It’s not supposed to be a fancy dish served in a 5-star restaurant!  I do, however, think that the recipes of old could use a little bit of modernizing.

My meatloaf recipe is what I like to call a “Mom recipe.”  This is a dish that I use as a means to hide an extra vegetable so that my son will unknowingly ingest something good for him.  I’m lucky that my son loves this meatloaf.  I had to do a little experimentation to come up with the current evolution of this dish, and it is by no means really unique but I can say that both my toddler and my husband squeal with glee when I serve meatloaf.  That’s good enough.

Meatloaf

(My Recipe)

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, finely diced

2 cloved garlic, finely minced

2 medium carrots, finely minced

2 eggs

1/2 Tblsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. dried parsely flakes

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 Tblsp. dried oregano

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1-1/2 to 2 cups instant oatmeal

You can “hide” any number of vegetables in this meatloaf, but I have found that carrots compromise the taste and texture the least.  Now I’ve tried putting these through a food processor and chopping the life out of them, but the best way to really hide them is to get your handy dandy microplane and grate them.  It takes a little elbow grease, but the carrots disappear into this dish and you’d never know they were there.  I also use my microplane to grate the garlic and parmesan cheese.  I have a tiny food processor to make sure that my onion is finely minced.

Making meatloaf is basically the act of putting all of the ingredients into the bowl, minus the oatmeal, and mix to combine.  Make sure the meat is completely incorporated with the eggs and vegetables and seasonings before you add the oatmeal.

I’ve tried bread crumbs, corn flakes, potato chips and instant mashed potato flakes as the filler for this dish and I have found that oatmeal is the best.  It’s tender and it adds great texture.  Also, it’s really good for you.  When you start adding this to your meat mix, you’re going to have to use your hands.  Only your hands will incorporate it properly and you’ll also need your sense of touch so that you’ll know when you’ve added enough oats to the mix.  You’ll want the mixture to come together in a lump and feel pulled together, but not dry.

I use a loaf pan, but you can use a baking sheet or a baking dish.  Just form the mixture into a loaf.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

I changed up the traditional ketchup topping just a little bit.  I just add a little bit of Dijon mustard to the ketchup for a little extra zing and it tastes great.  Simply combine 1/2 cup ketchup and 1-1/2 Tblsp. Dijon mustard and spread over the top of the meatloaf.

Bake for 45 minutes and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

A traditional side dish for meatloaf  (and really, it is a perfect partner) is mashed potatoes.  However, I don’t have any potatoes in my house at the moment so I had to improvise.  I decided to make couscous.  It is a great side dish that is easy and quick cooking.  It’s little itty bitty pasta and the ways to flavor it are limitless.

I like to use dried cranberries as an everyday flavoring for couscous.  Boil 1 cup of water.  When the water is boiling add 1 tsp. of olive oil, 1 cup couscous and 1/4 cup dried cranberries.  Stir to combine, cover and remove from the heat.  The steam cooks this.  After 5 minutes, fluff this with a fork and you’ve got a super fast and delicious side dish.

Since it is in season, I also decided to serve fresh ears of corn.  I tend to think that it is a crime to add a bunch of flavorings to fresh ears of corn.  They don’t need it.  Just spread with a little bit of butter, sprinkle with a little salt and you’ve got a delicious vegetable that is as sweet as sugar.  I’m mentioning this because I wanted to show off these adorable corn servers.

Usually, I am not a fan of kitsch but my mom has a set of these and when she refused to give me her set my husband found me this set on eBay from Japan.  They are porcelain and so so so cute.  I always love making dinner for friends and serving corn so I can use these servers.

Cute, huh?

This is a fantastic and cheap meal to prepare.  The leftovers can be reheated or served on bread as a meatloaf sandwich (my husband’s favorite).  The best part is that my son ate a full serving of vegetables with his dinner and he didn’t even know it.  Enjoy!

Cucumber Tomato Salad

By Somer

I do not like salads.  There, I said it!  You will not find many salad recipes on this site because I simply do not enjoy eating them most of the time.  I really feel like I am eating rabbit food.  It’s the whole lettuce thing.  If I do eat a side salad with my dinner, I use an herb mix of greens because I really hate lettuce salads (even Romaine!).  I’ve tried all kinds of recipes, all kinds of toppings and all kinds of dressings and I really cannot get behind a salad way of life.  If you are a salad lover, I consider you an exotic and interesting creature.  I don’t judge, you simply perplex me.  Wouldn’t you rather join me for a burger (veggie or meat)?

I’m going to be sharing a salad recipe with you tonight.  It’s a lettuce-free salad that is delicious and perfect for hot weather.  It is something that, in the Southeastern U.S., every grandmother makes for picnics and Sunday dinners in the summer.  It is a dish that is perfect for those insanely hot, humid summer days.  My mom used to make it and now I make it.  I have yet to find a person who doesn’t love this dish and I encourage you to give it a try on a miserable hot day when it is too hot to cook.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

(My Recipe)

1 small onion, thinly sliced

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and sliced

3 cups chopped tomatoes

Vinaigrette:

1 lemon (use both the zest and juice)

2 Tblsp. apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup light oil

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

A pinch of salt (use only a pinch!  Any more will draw out all of the water in the veggies and you will end up with a soup and not a salad!)

1/2 tsp. black pepper

If you’ll notice a couple of things; I used grape tomatoes today.  This doesn’t need to be typical.  I’ve used regular globe tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.  Honestly, I prefer the firmer flesh of a grape tomato for this dish, but any tomato is perfect.  Also, I do not use Hot House Cucumbers that are so popular these days.  I guess some people have a problem with the thick skin of a regular garden cucumber, but I find that silly.  I love these blue-collar cucumbers.  I slice them and eat them sprinkled with salt (skin on) and I skin them and make cucumber-yogurt sauces for pita sandwiches.  They are perfectly delicious and should not be disrespected.

Start by chopping your vegetables.

Try to slice your onions so that they are so thin that they are translucent.  Since this is a raw salad, nobody wants to bite into a big chunk of raw onion.  And yes, this is a regular white onion.  I’ve tried scallions and red onion and really, white onion is best.  This is a blue collar dish and should be appreciated for just that.

I only peeled the cucumbers.  I didn’t seed them.  It’s ok.  Cucumber seeds are ok.  Ok?  People have to stop butchering the cucumber!  Also, the extra water is needed in this dish.  It’s why I split all of the tomatoes and don’t remove the seeds.

See?  Split in half and still containing seeds.  Mmmmm….I love grape tomatoes.  Ok, moving on.

Put all of your chopped vegetables in a large bowl and set aside.  Put all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a medium bowl, whisk until combined, and pour over the vegetables.  Toss lightly to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.  This is one of those dishes that are better the next day rather than fresh.

While this salad is perfectly pleasant at room temperature, it really shines as a cold salad.  The freshness of the cucumbers and the light vinaigrette really offer some relief on miserably hot days.  I hope you try this on your next hot day.  Enjoy!

Chili Lime Chicken and Roasted Asparagus

By Somer

In the modern American kitchen, one would be hard pressed to find a household that does not have frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I, myself always have these on hand.  I use them in soups, ethnic dishes, and for quick weeknight meals.  They are very convenient but they can tend to taste very flat.  That is why the cooking world is up to its nose in chicken recipes.  There are thousands of recipes out there for how to make a boneless skinless chicken breast taste like something more than cardboard.  You see, the skin and bones of meat will lend a lot of flavor to the meat in the cooking process.  The breast meat has a mild flavor to begin with, but when you remove the skin and bones before cooking, the meat is terribly bland if the cook doesn’t take extra steps to season the bejeezus out of the meat.

Chili Lime Chicken

(My recipe)

the zest of 2 limes

the juice of 2 limes

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 Tblsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed

Begin by zesting the two limes.  I have a microplane that I use for this and it’s a kitchen tool that I couldn’t live without.  I use it to grate cheese, nutmeg and for zesting citrus.

Place the zest in a medium sized bowl.  Set aside.  Cut the two limes in half and juice them into the bowl with the zest.  I have a reamer that I use, and yes, it’s another indispensable kitchen tool that I adore.

Add the olive oil, chili powder, salt and pepper to the bowl and whisk well.  Add the chicken breasts to the bowl and toss to coat.  Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Preheat a grill and allow the chicken to warm slightly (just below room temperature) on your counter while the grill is heating.

Once the grill is hot, cook the chicken breasts for at least 4 minutes per side, depending on how hot the grill is.  And yes, that’s a George Foreman Grill….and I love it so leave me alone about it!  That thing is awesome for winter-time grilling and small time grilling where I don’t want to go through the whole process of heating the charcoal hibachi.

As a great side dish for this chicken, I made roasted asparagus.  I know that some people tend to be tempted to make sauces and a bunch of floof for asparagus, but it really is one of those vegetables that are delicious the way they are and don’t need much in the way of seasoning.  Simply snap the woody bottoms off of the stems, wash, and spread out on a baking sheet (and preheat an oven to 425 degrees F).    Drizzle about 2 Tblsp. of extra-virgin olive oil over the asparagus.  Then sprinkle 1 tsp. of both salt and pepper and toss the asparagus for even coating.  Roast in the oven for 5-12 minutes, depending on the size of your asparagus (they can very from very skinny to very thick so watch carefully).

What we have here is a quick and delicious dinner.  When quick cooking time is a necessity, these chicken breasts are insanely convenient.  With a little finesse, they can make a very decent meal.  Enjoy!

Potato Salad and a Picnic at Home

By Somer

Happy Memorial Day!  Today is the day that rings in the summer season and we all try to celebrate this day with camping, lake trips, or picnics.  My family is preparing for a cross-country move at the end of August, so our time (and money) is at a premium right now.  Since we took advantage of this long weekend by packing and purging, I decided to bring a little bit of festivity to my family by having a little backyard picnic.  We live in a townhome and our backyard basically consists of a slab of concrete (we don’t allow our son to play in the surrounding grass because of a-hole neighbors who don’t clean up after their dogs), but I still wanted to try to have a little bit of fun tonight.

We had steak grilled on our tiny charcoal hibachi, a traditional potato salad, and peach pie.  I’ll share the recipe for the peach pie tomorrow (and believe me, you WANT that recipe) but we’ll talk steak and potato salad tonight.

As a food enthusiast, I feel that it is my duty to explain a few things to you all about steak.  A good cut of steak (ribeye is my favorite, but it’s really a personal choice) needs only salt and pepper as a seasoning.  Don’t be seduced by those “grill seasonings” because they are mostly salt and all crap.  I notice that people who eat their steaks overcooked tend to want “seasonings” or steak sauce and it really is a shame because those things ruin a perfectly good piece of meat.  If a rare steak scares you, try a medium or medium rare steak.  The meat is very juicy and very tender.  Once you taste one that is cooked just right, you understand why a bunch of bells and whistles destroy what should be the dominating flavor.  If a little bit of pink in the middle of your steak grosses you out or scares you, you shouldn’t be eating steak at all.  Stick with chicken, you chicken.

The potato salad recipe I’m going to share with you is a very traditional and very old potato salad.  I see a lot of recipes for potato salads that have vinaigrettes and are light and healthy.  I would love to try a few of these recipes because they really do look delicious.  But when I want to have a picnic, I want REAL potato salad.  I want it cold and hearty and rich.  It’s just what I crave.  It’s not something that I indulge in more than a few times a year, but when I do make it, I make HUGE batches of it so I can munch on it for lunch during the week.  I’ll warn you, though:  if you have heart problems or high cholesterol you probably shouldn’t read on.  If you’re a flavor freak with a healthy ticker, please read on!

Traditional Potato Salad

(This is my recipe)

-6-8 cups potatoes cut into large cubes

-5 hard boiled eggs

-1 cup mayonnaise

-1 cup salad dressing (Miracle Whip)

-2 Tblsp. yellow mustard

-Green onions for garnish (optional)

I used Yukon Gold potatoes and I peeled them.  I have seen people use Russet potatoes and leave the skins on, and that is perfectly fine.  I happen to think that the Yukon Gold is potato perfection and I use it almost exculsively.

Cut your potatoes into fairly large cubes so that they don’t fall apart in the boiling process.  Put the cubes in a dry pot and add cold water to the pot.  This will ensure even cooking.  Also make sure that you salt the water really well because potatoes don’t take in salt after they are cooked and you want that flavoring.

Make your hard boiled eggs.  Surely you kow how to do that, right?  Eggs in pot, water in pot, boil.  You want these cooked all the way through..more so than how you would make them if you were to eat them straight up.  That yolk needs to be cooked to death!  10 minutes at a full boil should make sure that the eggs are properly cooked to death.  Ok, I’m stupid.  I’ll move on.

Peel the eggs and cut them in half.  With some gentle manipulation, the yolk should come out of the white part.  Put the yolk in a medium sized bowl and chop the whites roughly.

Put the mayo, salad dressing, and mustard in the bowl with the egg yolks and mash together so that it’s well combined.

Yes, this is a heart-stopping mixture but if you’ve had it before, you know how good it is.  And hey, this is how it’s made!  Try to not think about how bad it is for you….kind of like when you eat a big hamburger with a large side of fries.

When the potatoes are fork tender, drain well and gently toss with the dressing.  Toss in the egg whites.  The dish will be thick.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and garnish with the green onions.  This dish is very yellow, so a little green is needed if you like.

Instead of the usual close-up picture of the finished product, I decided to showcase the people who eat my cooking the most.  This will be changing hopefully since we are moving closer to family, but these two are always more than happy to be my taste testers.  Happy Memorial Day and enjoy!

Roast Chicken and Vegetables

By Somer

This is a dish that I make all of the time.  It’s a dish that is satisfying in all four seasons.  I love it.

I always have at least one whole chicken in my freezer.  A chicken with the bones and skin still intact will have more flavor when you cook it.  The bones and skin lend a richness and a “chicken” taste.  I do keep a bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts as well, but when I prepare those, there has to be a lot of hoopla to make them appetizing and they certainly aren’t tasting like a chicken.  I like to roast a whole chicken or cut it up and make Coq Au Vin or fried chicken.  Whole chickens are good.

I use a roasting pan for this dish with a rack.  This is so that the chicken will cook over the vegetables and drip lovely yummy juices all over them and make them gorgeous.  I think I got it at WalMart for $10.  I use it ALL the time and I got a great big one so that I can make my 20lb. Thanksgiving turkey.  Today I made a 6lb. chicken.

Cut up 4 large potatoes, 5-6 carrots, 1-2 onions, and any other root vegetable (like parsnips) that you’d like to roast.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and the sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Now clean your chicken making sure you remove the neck and giblets from the cavity.  Wash the skin and pat it dry with a paper towel.  Put it on rack and place the rack in the roasting pan over the vegetables.

Depending on the size of your chicken, you add a quartered onion, 3 cloves of garlic cut in half, and 1 quarter of a lemon.  Since these won’t be eaten, you don’t need to peel them or anything.  Just shove them up in there. You’ll also need to bend the wings back on themselves..just fold them behind like the chicken is relaxing.  You don’t want them to burn.

Now this part os going to sound weird, but trust me…it adds so much.  Where I am from, you would have a hard time finding a kitchen that doesn’t keep their bacon grease stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in a crock on the counter.  It’s an easy way to add a smoky flavor to dishes without having to waste some perfectly good bacon that would go better on a sandwich or with eggs.  Melt about 3 Tblsp. of bacon grease and baste it over the chicken.  This will make the skin crispy and OH SO DEEEEELICIOUS.  You could also just lay 3 strips of bacon over the top of the bird but, again, I’d rather save my bacon for better things.  Add a little bit of salt and pepper to the skin.

Now put some foil over the whole thing and place it in a 375 degree F oven.  Again, depending on the size of your bird you’ll need to cook until done.  For my little bird I cooked it covered for 2 hours and then uncovered it for 30 minutes.  When you take the roasting pan out of the oven, take the chicken (still on the rack) out of the pan and place on large cooking board or plate and cover with aluminum foil to rest.  The meat needs to rest for at least 15 minutes.  Stir the vegetables and incorporate all the flavors.

Besides the roasted vegetables, I always like to serve a salad with this dish.  Some simple greens or a Spring Mix are perfect.  I also always like to make my own vinaigrette or dressing.  We’ll talk about those later.  For now just use up that bottled crap you’re using now, but don’t plan to buy any more.

This meal is so good and it makes the house smell so damned good.  When you’re done picking most of the meat off of this, DON’T DISCARD THAT CARCASS!  We’re making chicken stock tomorrow…and you need a chicken carcass for that!  And those veggies taste magnificent cold as a quick midnight face-stuff.  Enjoy!