How To | Smell My Plate

Meatloaf: A Mom Dish

June 19, 2009 5 Comments

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

Grated Carrot

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.

Oats

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.

Topping

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

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.

Couscouse and Cranberries

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.

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.

Corn on Servers

Cute, huh?

Finished Meatloaf

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!

Creamy Quickie Pasta

May 28, 2009 Leave a Comment

I think that it’s important to stress the creative aspect of cooking. Once you have the hang of the art and you are familiar with what combinations work best, a cook will find that a cookbook and recipes are not always necessary when throwing together a week night meal. Sometimes a cook will use the knowledge that they have accumulated and make a quick and savory meal simply from throwing a bunch of stuff together. It’s something all cooks should strive for when the decision is made to become prolific in the art of cooking.

Tonight I needed something quick and something made from accessible ingredients available in my pantry and freezer. I had penne pasta, ham, and the usual staples. I decided to make a ham-y pasta with a savory bechamél sauce. Obviously a pancetta or prosciutto would have been better, but the ham did quite well.

Cubed Ham

Just cube up some ham. I made two servings so I only used about 1 cup of cubed ham. Throw the ham in a dry skillet (i.e. no oil) and sauté until the ham starts to brown slightly. It will look like this:

Caramelized Ham

Remove the ham from the skillet and prepare to make your bechamél sauce. Don’t be intimidated, it’s an easy sauce that you can use all the time.

Bechamel

Simply use equal parts of butter and flour (I used 2 Tblsp. of each) and cook the two for about two minutes. This is to cook the raw flour taste out and it makes a slightly nutty taste. Now you add milk or cream. Milk is perfectly fine. I used about 2 cups of milk and stirred vigorously until the sauce started to get thick. At this point, turn the heat down and start adding seasoning. A very traditional spice for a bechamél is nutmeg. It adds a warm and spicey taste to the sauce and I highly recommend it. You only need a tiny bit (1/4 tsp.). There was no need to add any additional salt since ham was going to be a part of the dish but I added black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (1 tsp. each). About 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese went in last for a little zing (and more salt). I then added the pasta and stirred to coat. Then I tossed in the ham and served warm. I served it with a side of green vegetables (green beans, but spinach would have been delicious too). This was a quick, and lovely dish that I just kind of threw together. And you know what? It was awesome.

Creamy Pasta

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Not every delicious meal made in your kitchen needs to be a big event right out of a cookbook. Give yourself a little bit of credit and allow your skills to grow by playing around with food and flavors. Enjoy!

Filed Under Main Dishes Tagged With bechamel sauce, creative, easy, food, ham, how to, pasta, quick, recipe

Peach Pie

May 26, 2009 4 Comments

When I lived near family, I used to make this peach pie for my in-laws. My brother-in-law loved it so much that it was a constant request from him. It’s possible that he was just being nice and trying to make me feel relevant by requesting a certain desert from me, but the fact that he always ate at least two slices in one sitting says otherwise. I love making this pie and I also love eating it. It has a little touch of almond extract that adds this wonderfully sweet taste. You wouldn’t think that a touch of almonds would compliment peaches so well, but it does.

This pie recipe is a crumb top so you only need to make enough pie pastry for the bottom of the pan. I know you might be tempted to buy one of those frozen pie crusts in the little aluminum pan, but please don’t. Stop buying mass produced foods that are overly processed when making homemade couldn’t be easier.

I used to demolish homemade pie crusts. Cook books really don’t give enough direction to indicate to readers that a homemade pie crust needs to be made using a couple of simple tips and it’s easy and quick. I wish I had video enabled on here so that I can show you how easy it is (video is an idea I am currently toying with on certain procedures). Just follow my easy tips and I promise you it is so easy.

I use the pie pastry recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (the beginner’s cookbook). I’ve tried the Alton Brown way where you use both butter and shortening, I’ve tried just butter, and I’ve tried just shortening. I’ve got to say that the best pie crust (in my opinion) is one that is made with butter (not margarine, but butter!). The flavor and consistency are just better with butter. Here’s the recipe and my tips will follow.

Pastry for Single-Crust Pie

Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

-1-1/4 cups AP flour

-1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening (butter)

4-5 Tblsp. cold water

I’m going to spare you the long tedious directions shown in the cookbook and make it short and sweet for you. Do you have a food processor? I hope you do. That kitchen must-have will make this process quick quick quick. If you don’t have a food processor, you might want to think about getting one! No seriously, this will take a bit longer for you.

Flour and Butter

Secret #1: Make sure that the butter is COLD. Put the flour, salt, and cold cubed butter in your food processor. Pulse until the mixture looks crumby. Like this:

Crumby Mixture

Now, to make sure that everything stays cold, get a measuring cup, and put ice water inside.

Ice Water

You’re only going to use 4-5 Tblsp. of this water, but you want it COLD. Put the lid back on your food processor, turn it on low, and add the water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough forms into a ball.

Dough Ball

Now, lay out some plastic wrap and plop the dough onto the plastic. Don’t knead the dough or mush it around too much or you will activate the gluten in the flour and your crust will be tough. Just smush it into a ball really fast, wrap it in the plastic, and refrigerate it for 30 minutes while you make the pie filling.

Speaking of pie filling, I believe I owe you a kick ass peach pie recipe. Here you go:

Crumb-Topped Peach Pie

An Easy Everyday Cooking Recipe

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/8 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

½ tsp. almond extract

6 cups sliced, peeled peaches or 2 (28 oz.) can peaches, drained

1 unbaked (9-inch) deep-dish pie crust

TOPPING:

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup packed light brown sugar

½ cup AP flour

¼ cup butter

Preheat oven to 375. Mix 1 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl. Add egg and almond extract; mix well.

Add peach slices to bowl; toss gently to coat with sugar mixture.

Oh Beautiful For Peachy Pie

Arrange peach slices in pie crust. (Do you know how to roll out a pie crust? Just take it out of the fridge and don’t let it get warm. Lightly flour a clean and dry surface and roll the pastry by starting from the center and working your way out to the edges making sure to keep the crust moving so that it doesn’t stick. Roll it out until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Place it gently in your pie pan making sure not to stretch it and cut the excess dough from around the edges with a butter knife. If any of this is unclear or you need me to elaborate please feel free to ask. It’s why I’m here.)

For topping, combine ¼ cup sugar, brown sugar and flour in a small bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or 2 knives, until crumbly.

Sprinkle topping over peaches. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve pie warm or cold. YIELD: 6 servings.

Peach Pie

You can use fresh, frozen or canned peaches in this recipe. I warn you, if you use canned peaches, the pie will be a little runny, but no less flavorful and delicious. I almost always use canned peaches and the pie is always a little runny. It’s not photogenic, but it’s yummy yummy. Also, call me crazy, but I have a hard time cutting up a beautifully fresh peach and putting it in a pie when it is best going straight to my face-hole.

Enjoy!

Filed Under Desserts Tagged With crumb top pie, crust, food, how to, pastry, peach, pie, recipe

Potato Salad and a Picnic at Home

May 25, 2009 1 Comment

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)

Yukon Gold Potatoes

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.

Large Chunks

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.

Hard Boiled Eggs

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.

Condiments

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

Hardened Artery

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.

memorial-day

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!

Filed Under Side Dishes Tagged With food, grill, hard boiled eggs, how to, memorial day, picnic, potato salad, recipe, steak

Crab Cakes

May 24, 2009 1 Comment

When I was in college, my boyfriend (now husband) picked me up from one of my night classes and brought me home. When I walked through the door, I noticed that he had music playing. Low ambient light provided a warm glow to our crappy little domicile and there was a small feast spread out on our kitchen table. He had spent the last few hours researching and making crab cakes and oysters on the half shell for us as a romantic meal. Of course, the oysters were astounding, but I was surprised at how good the crab cakes were. On our tiny college-student-budget, he had managed to put together a proper meal.

If you research crab cake recipes online (and even if you use the recipe I will be providing), you will notice that almost all of these recipes will call for lump crab meat. While it is a fact of life that lump crab meat makes much better crab cakes and require less filler (like bread crumbs), lump crab meat is really expensive. It’s more than I’m comfortable paying for an everyday meal, in fact.

Canned Crab Meat

I use canned crab meat when I make crab cakes as a small family meal. Obviously it is not as good as lump crab meat, but it’s still crab meat and crab meat is good….so shut it. This stuff is so cheap and affordable that if you stop listening to the people who tell you that the only good food is expensive food, you can have a perfectly delicious meal for pennies a person. I still use the recipe my husband used all those years ago (maybe I’m a sentimental fool) and it’s still as good today as it was then and it’s still budget friendly because it uses ingredients that most people already have in their pantries. I’ve revised the recipe a little bit (of course) so here’s the original recipe and I’ll list my revisions below.

Mrs. Duvall’s Crab Cakes

Mrs. Duvall of the Rail Stop, The Plains, VA

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup onion, minced

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

½ tsp. dry mustard

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 lb. lump crab meat, picked over

1 cup soda crackers, finely crushed

2 Tblsp. unsalted butter

¼ cup vegetable oil

Lemon wedges

In a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, onion, eggs, Wocestershire sauce, dry mustard, salt and cayenne. Fold in the crabmeat and ¼ cup of the cracker crumbs. Shape the mixture into 16 cakes about 1-inch thick. Coat the crab cakes with the remaining cracker crumbs and transfer to a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. The crab cakes can be refrigerated overnight at this point, if needed.

In a large skillet, melt 1 Tblsp. of the butter in 2 Tblsp. of the oil. When the foam subsides, add half the crab cakes and cook over moderate heat until golden and crisp, 2-3 minutes pre side. Drain the crab cakes on paper towels, then keep warm in a low oven. Repeat with the remaining 1 Tblsp. of butter and 2 Tblsp. oil and cook the remaining crab cakes. Serve with lemon wedges.

YIELD: 4 servings

-If you are using canned crab for this recipe, use two 6 oz. cans. I know that doesn’t quite equal a full lb., but for canned meat, it is the perfect measurement.

-I use 1 Tblsp. of Dijon mustard and 1 Tblsp. of coarse grain mustard instead of that piddly amount of dry mustard called for in the recipe. It adds wonderful zing to the dish.

Mini Food Processor

-I have this awesome tiny-sized food processor that I use for dishes like this that call for finely minced onion and garlic. You want a very fine mince (almost like a paste) because big chunks of onion or garlic in this are not very appetizing. Oh yeah, I also use garlic in this dish even though it isn’t called for. I have yet to meat a seafood that doesn’t benefit from a little garlic. 2 cloves minced is a good measurement.

Saltines

-Instead of soda crackers in this, I use Saltines. Everybody has Saltines in their pantries and they add a nice saltiness to the dish. You’ll use an entire sleeve of the crackers in this dish. Just crush them up as finely as you can. A few chunks here and there are fine. Use 1/2 cup of the crumbs in the mixture and the rest for outer coating just as in the recipe.

Assembly Line

-When it’s time to fry these babies up, make a little assembly line for yourself. Crab mixture, cracker crumbs, skillet. It makes the process a lot easier, trust me.

In between batches, put these on cooling racks over a baking sheet so they can drain and put them in a warm oven until you are ready to serve.

Crab Cakes

A simple, affordable, and lovely dish. You can even mini-size these things for appetizers. I’ve been making them for about 6 years and will continue to do so for many more. Enjoy!

Filed Under Appetizers, Main Dishes Tagged With crab cakes, economical recipe, food, how to, recipe, seafood

Meatloaf: A Mom Dish

Creamy Quickie Pasta

Peach Pie

Potato Salad and a Picnic at Home

Crab Cakes

Search

@SomerM

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Meatloaf: A Mom Dish

Creamy Quickie Pasta

Peach Pie

Potato Salad and a Picnic at Home

Crab Cakes

Search

@SomerM

Tags

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives