Meatloaf

MEATLOAF

    3 slices white bread, crusts removed 

2 Tbsp  milk 

 2 tblsp. olive oil 

 1 large white onion, finely chopped 

 1 rib celery, finely chopped 

 2 cloves garlic, minced 

 2 carrots, peeled & finely grated 

1 lb. groundchuck

 3 bratwurst, skinned and broken up

 2 large eggs 

1/4 c. roughly chopped parsley 

 2 tblsp. Dijon mustard  

1 tblsp. coarse salt

 1/2 tblsp. freshly ground pepper

 1/2 lb. thinly sliced smoked bacon 

    1 lb. new potatoes, scrubbed 

    4 onion, cut in wedges

    1/2 c. brown sugar, packed 

    1 tblsp. Coleman's yellow ground mustard 

    1 tsp.  catsup,

    Heat the oven to 375F. Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and place in a small 

    bowl. Sprinkle milk over it & set aside for 5 minutes. 

    Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, celery & garlic; cook until 

    soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. remove from heat; let cool 5 minutes. 

    Place carrots in a large mixing bowl. Ad the milk-bread mixture, meat, eggs, 

    parsley, Dijon, salt, & pepper. Add onion mixture. Combine well using your 

    hands or a rubber scraper. 

    Place mixture in a large ungreased baking dish or roasting pan. Shape into a 5 

    X 12 inch loaf. Overlap bacon across the top, covering meat. Place vegetables 

    around loaf. Season with salt & pepper. 

    In a small bowl, combine sugar, ground mustard & tomato paste to make a 

    glaze. Brush meatloaf all over with glaze. 

    Bake, brushing every 15 minutes or so with glaze, until juices run clear when 

    loaf is pierced with a 2 pronged fork & the bacon is crisp, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let 

    cool 10 minutes before slicing.

Christmas lunch

Prime Rib Roast

Let roast stand at room temperature 2 hours.  Heat oven to 500.   Salt and pepper well. Roast @500 for 45 minutes.  Turn down oven to 350 for 35 minutes.  Turn up to 450 and finish roasting to 127. Let stand 20 minutes. (temp. coasted up to 133) Make yorkshire pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding Recipe:    http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/food-lab-yorkshire-pudding-popover-best-method-science.html

A traditional English side dish to Prime Rib Roast is Yorkshire Pudding, a puffy pop-over like pastry. Yorkshire Puddings, fresh from the oven, should be well-risen and golden brown w8h a crisp exterior and soft middle.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup milk, room temperature

1/2 cup pan drippings from roast prime rib of beef (beef juices and oil)*

* If you do not have enough pan drippings, add melted butter.

At least two (2) hours or overnight before you will need this Yorkshire Pudding batter, prepare the batter (minus pan drippings), and place in the refrigerator.

Yorkshire Pudding is cooked after you have taken your cooked prime rib roast out of the oven and you are letting it sit for the required resting period.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt.

In another bowl, beat together the eggs and milk until light and foamy. Stir in the flour/salt mixture just until incorporated and smooth. NOTE: The batter will be like a very thin pancake batter

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two (2) hours (for best results, refrigerate overnight).

Directions for Cooking Yorkshire Pudding:

Traditionally Yorkshire Pudding is made in one large dish or your meat roasting pan and cut into wedges. For individual servings, I have found it is much easier to prepare them in muffin tins or popover pans. You be the judge of how you would like to cook and serve them. See photos below.

After you take your cooked prime rib out of the oven, increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

Pour the cooked prime rib meat drippings into your baking pan or muffin tins of choice. For a popover version, use popover pans or muffin pans, putting at least 1 teaspoon of meat drippings in the bottom of each well

Place the pan or pans in your oven and get the drippings smoking hot (about 5 minutes). Carefully take the hot pan/pans out of the oven. NOTE: The fat in the popover or muffin tins should be almost smoking.

Scalloped potatoes made from box mix.

 Garlic Blue Cheese Sauce Recipe:

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 medium garlic clove, thinly sliced

6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat, bring cream and garlic just to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until the cream coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in the crumbled blue cheese. Season to taste with the pepper. Can be made 2 days in advance. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.

To serve, pass the Garlic Blue Cheese Sauce on the side.

Makes approximately 2 cups.

Shrimp Cocktail Recipe:

Yields: 4 Servings

Prep time: 10 min

Ingredients:

Fresh or frozen cooked and cleaned shrimp with tails-on and thawed*

Fresh parsley for garnish 

Fresh lemon slices for garnish

* If your shrimp are frozen, thaw overnight in the bag in the refrigerator, or remove shrimp from bag, thaw in a colander or strainer under cold running water for about three minutes. Use immediately.

Preparation:

Prepare Cocktail Sauce. Place cocktail sauce in a martini glass, drinking glass, or any decorating bowl.

Place several fresh shrimp on the rim of the glass with the tails on the outside.

Make one cut in each lemon slice starting at the center and cutting through to the outside. Place a cut lemon slice on each glass where you made the cut so that it stands up. Add a sprig of parsley and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

COCKTAIL SAUCE:

Recipe by Dave Bucholz of Clackamas, OR

1/2 cup chili sauce or catsup 

2 tablespoons hot cream-style horseradish 

1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper 

2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice

4 drops Tabasco

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce 

2 garlic cloves, minced

In a small bowl, mix ingredients together to taste, cover and chill until ready to serve and to develop flavor.

Makes 2/3 cup.

Caesar Salad Recipe - Classic Caesar Salad Recipe:

Yields: 2 to 4 servings (depending on size of servings)

Prep time: 30 min

1/2 to 3/4 cup homemade croutons (see directions below)

1 coddled egg (see directions below)*

1 to 2 teaspoons finely-chopped garlic (1 to 2 medium cloves with inner green germ removed - the sprouts add an unpleasant bitterness)

1 to 2 anchovy fillets, mashed**

Pinch of coarse salt

2 tablespoons (1/2 lemon) freshly-squeezed lemon juice***

3 drops Worcestershire sauce

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) freshly-grated Parmesan Cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano), divided

2 to 3 heads Romaine lettuce, hearts and tender leaves only

Coarsely-ground black pepper

* Coddled egg may be substituted with 1/2 cup mayonnaise. If doing this substitution, reduce some of the olive oil. Better yet, make Linda's easy-to-make and very delicious Low-Fat Caesar Salad Dressing.

** Fresh squeezed lemon juice is essential. Some chefs squeeze the lemon through a cheesecloth to ensure that only the juice ends up in the salad. If you are careful to keep the lemon seeds out of the salad, a simple squeeze will do.

Making Croutons

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Trim the crust from day-old peasant-style bread (Italian or French bread) and dice into 3/4-inch cubes. Toss with enough olive oil to coat, but not drench. Sprinkle lightly with salt and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until just golden brown. Halfway through the baking time, give the pan a shake to make sure the croutons toast evenly. Remove from oven and completely cool croutons. Store in an airtight container.

Cherries Jubilee        Yields: 4 to 6 servings     Prep time: 15 min

Ingredients:

1 can (16-ounce) cherry pie filling

1/2 cup brandy

Good-quality vanilla ice cream 

Almonds

Preparation:

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the cherries.

In another small saucepan, heat brandy (it won't flame unless it is heated).

Spoon ice cream into goblets and spoon heated cherries over ice cream. Pour the heated brandy over the warm cherries and ignite.

Sprinkle with sliced almonds and serve.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Who'd a thunk I'd be using the grill in the middle of December?

But it was quite balmy outside and that is what I did along with some broiled tomatoes, roasted potatoes and spinach.

Italian Roast Potatoes

NIGELLA LAWSON  Time1 1/4 hours  Yield4 servings

Vegan, Vegetarian, Garlic, Olive Oil, Oregano, Italian, Mediterranean

INGREDIENTS

2 ½ pounds waxy potatoes (about 6 medium), such as Red Bliss, unpeeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

12 cloves garlic, peeled

2 teaspoons dried oregano

½ cup olive oil

 Salt

 Nutritional Information

PREPARATION

Heat oven to 425 degrees. In large roasting pan, combine potatoes, garlic, oregano and oil. Stir until potatoes are well-coated, and spread them evenly in pan.

Place in oven, and roast until golden brown and crispy, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (If the potatoes are crowded in the pan, they will take longer to crisp.)

Remove potatoes and garlic from oven, and transfer to serving dish. Sprinkle with salt to taste, and serve immediately.

Tomatoes

Cut in half,  cored, salted, sprinkled with bread crumbs and a good grating cheese, topped with a pad of butter and broiled until bubbling.

Spinach sprinkled with water then put in a skillet with salt and vinegar and turned around until it cooked down.

Steak sprinkled with salt and let set at room temperature for an hour then grilled.

December sweets

In the last couple or days I have made some turtles and chocolate covered truffles.  Here is a sampling.

Turtles were made by tossing toasted pecans in some caramel melted with a little water, then cooling and dropping some melted chocolate on top.

Chocolate Truffles

Makes about 5 dozen

28 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 tablespoons liqueur, I used an orange flavored liqueur (optional)

Best-quality cocoa powder

Melted chocolate, cream together in double boiler, stirred in liqueur and butter until melted. Pour into 8x8-inch baking dish lined with parchment and chilled for two hours.  Dusted with cocoa power, cut into squares and put back in refrigerator until chocolate was melted.  Rolled in chocolate to cover. Used a plastic fork with the two center tines broken out as a tool to move the truffles in the chocolate and then onto parchment to harden.  Chocolate coating is dark chocolate on some and milk chocolate on others.  If I had some white chocolate, I'd have drizzled some on top for decoration and even coated some truffles in white chocolate but maybe that will be for next time.

Ribeye Steak in Salsa Borracha and Mac & Cheese with Poblano

Ribeye Steak in Salsa Borracha 

This recipe was adapted from a recipe that my cousin from Mexico shared with me. It’s very much like a carne guisada, with the added flavors of beer! It’s a traditional, slow-cooked dish that I grew up enjoying on a regular basis. Most commonly served with a side of rice, beans and homemade tortillas.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of ribeye with a good amount of fat

1 medium white onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 serrano peppers, minced

5 Roma tomatoes, diced

12 oz bottle of Mexican dark beer

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Chop the ribeye into ½-inch pieces.

2. Heat heavy pan to medium heat, add ribeye and cook it until it almost looks like cracklins, chicharrones. Add the onions and serrano peppers and cook for 3 minutes; add garlic and cook for another minute.

3. Add the tomatoes, beer, salt (1 teaspoon) and ½ teaspoon of pepper, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook until almost all liquid has evaporated. Taste for salt along the way, add if needed.

This dish is a good topping for tostadas, add some shredded cheese to the tostadas and melt in the oven or on the grill, top them with salsa borracha. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Mac & Cheese with poblanos.

Ingredients: 

4 large poblano peppers

1 jalapeño pepper

1/2 cup chicken broth, plus 1 cup reserved

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon crushed oregano, plus 1/2 teaspoon reserved

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup red onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 tablespoons flour, plus 1/2 tablespoon reserved

1 cup milk

Pinch of grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons hot sauce

* if you don’t want to add the hot sauce, you could add 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 cup mozzarella, shredded

1 cup Monterey jack, shredded

1 cup extra sharp white cheddar, shredded

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

5 1/2 to 6 cups of cooked elbow macaroni

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs

1 green onion, sliced for garnish

You will also need:

4 heavy stoneware crocks that can hold up to 2 cups or one 13×9 baking dish

Roasted Poblano Macaroni and Cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler to high for 5 minutes. Wash the peppers (poblanos and jalapeño) and transfer to lined baking sheet. Broil for 10 to 12 minutes, turning as needed or until most of the skins on the poblanos blister and char slightly. Never leave the broiler unattended. Remove from oven and cover with a clean kitchen towel for 25 minutes.

2. While the peppers are cooling, prep the onions, garlic and cheese. Remove the blistered skins from peppers, along with stems and seeds. Transfer the peppers to the blender. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend until smooth; set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Preheat a large Dutch oven pot to medium for 2 minutes. Add the butter, onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, add flour and cook for another 2 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup milk, nutmeg, hot sauce and roasted poblano sauce. Stir well to combine and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until sauce becomes thick.

4. In a bowl, combine all the cheese, 1/2 tablespoon flour, 1/2 teaspoon oregano and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, and stir to combine. Reserve 1 cup of cheese mixture for topping. Add the remaining cheese to the thickened sauce, remove from heat and stir to melt cheese, taste for salt.

5. Add in the cooked pasta, stir to combine. Now, you can divide the mac and cheese among the 4 crocks or you can pour it into the baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs. Bake for 25 minutes, then for 1 minute under the broiler to brown the top. Remove from oven and let set for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with green onions. 

Tips: The 2 cup crocks are a fun way to serve mac and cheese for the family when you know they will be having second helpings. It’s all in one dish, so no big pan to worry about. If using the crocks, use a lined baking sheet underneath to catch any spills or drippings.

Ham Beans and Collards

With leftover ham bone and turkey stock, I made some navy beans and collard greens. I also had corn muffins, a salad and sauteed mushrooms.

HAM AND NAVY BEANS

1 (1 lb.) bag small white beans

6 c. turkey stock

Bring to boil, discard water, add 6 cups water, bring to boil, add

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1/8 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 can chicken broth

2 lb. cooked ham cut in pieces

Few dashes sherry

Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer to taste 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender

COLLARD GREENS

2 bundles collard greens

water to cover

2 large smoked ham hocks

1 cup sugar

Salt

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

salt

tabasco sauce to taste added after cooked and drained.

Directions

Thoroughly wash collard greens. Be sure to pull leaves apart and remove any sand. Remove stems, chop collard greens.

In a medium saucepan, bring  salted water to a simmer. Place smoked ham hocks  and greens in salted water 

Cover and cook greens for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Mushrooms

1 package of mushrooms, stemmed and quartered. Cook with butter until tender.  Remove from pan, add some chopped onion and saute until tender.  Add a little Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and white wine vinegar and simmer a minute.  Add back the mushrooms, salt to taste and keep warm until ready to serve.