Meat(loaf) and Potatoes

We had guests over! The guest rule is that they pick two random numbers between 1 and 143 (yes, I've acquired more since I started the blog - Half Price Books had coupons!). Those numbers correspond with my cookbooks in the spreadsheet. Molly's picks were:

Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food and The Quick Recipe from the editors of Cook's Illustrated. Both of these books are written by chefs that know their stuff. Alton knows the science behind everything food, and Cook's Illustrated chefs prepare a recipe as many times as it takes until testers absolutely love it. I've never had a recipe of theirs fail!

Alton's cookbook is divided up by technique. The chapter I chose for dinner was "Roasting." In that chapter are recipes like Roast Turkey, Roast Tomato Soup, and the two I selected, Meatloaf and A Perfect Baked Potato. The recipes below are as written:

MEATLOAF

Ingredients for Meatloaf and Baked Potato

Software:

• 2 large eggs
• 2 pounds ground beef chuck
• 1 1/2 cups diced onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 slices white sandwich bread, diced
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Hardware:

• Large mixing bowl
• Small sauté pan
• Loaf pan
• Rack
• Sheet pan

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs together. Using your hands, combine the rest of the ingredients and blend together. Now is the time to taste your food so you can adjust the seasonings if necessary. So, heat up a small pan and make a tiny patty of the mixture and cook it. If it tastes good, put the uncooked meat mixture into a 9 x 5-inch roast pan and bake on a rack over a sheet pan. (If the cooked patty doesn't taste good, adjust the seasonings, cook, and taste again.) Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Once out of the oven, allow the meatloaf to rest in the pan on a rack for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the pan and discard the rendered fat. Think about your mom, slice and serve.

A PERFECT BAKED POTATO

Software: 

• 1 medium-size high-starch potato (russet or Idaho)
• Canola oil
• Kosher salt

Hardware:

• Vegetable brush
• Paper towels
• Fork
• Small bowl
• Fireproof gloves

Wash the potato with a vegetable brush and dry with paper towels. With the fork, poke holes all over the potato surface. This will allow steam inside the potato to release as it heats, which will result in a great fluffy texture. Pour a small amount of canola oil into a bowl, add the potato and turn until the entire surface is lightly coated with the oil. This not only makes for a slightly crunchy skin, because the oil can get so much hotter than the water inside the potato, it will regulate the moisture. Sprinkle the potato with kosher salt.

Place the potato directly on the rack in the center of the oven. A medium-size russet should be fully cooked in about one hour. To check for doneness, give the potato a squeeze (wearing fireproof gloves). If the skin feels kind of crunchy but the meat inside is  soft, it's time to eat.

Finished meatloaf & baked potato

Recipes from The Quick Recipe

Ingredients for the spinach

SPINACH WITH PANCETTA AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR

If desired, bacon and red wine vinegar can be used in place of the pancetta and balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 oz pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tbs)
• 3 bags spinach (10 oz each), stemmed, washed, and partially dried, with water left clinging to leaves
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add the pancetta and cook until crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the pancetta to a paper towel-lined plate. Add the garlic to the oil, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the spinach and toss to combine. Cover the pot, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is tender and wilted but still bright green, 3 to 5 minutes Off the heat, season with salt and pepper to taste and toss with the vinegar and pancetta. Serve immediately.

Dinner!

TOFFEE BARS

Ingredients for Toffee Bars

You can buy buttercrunch toffee, or you can use Skor candy bars, which are buttercrunch toffee covered with chocolate. To soften the butter quickly, cut it into 2-tbs chunks and microwave at 50% for 10 seconds.

Ingredients:

• 10 tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed (2 1/3 oz) dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup (1 1/3 oz) confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 oz) unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 ounces hard toffee or 4 Skor candy bars, chopped fine (about 2/3 cup)
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

Instructions

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower position, and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8" x 8" baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the pan with 2 sheets of parchment paper. 
2. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and confectioners' sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the flour and salt and beat at low speed until the mixture becomes sandy, with large pea-size bits, about 30 seconds.
3. Sprinkle 2 1.4 cups of the crumb mixture into the lined pan and press firmly with your fingers into an even layer that covers the entire pan bottom. Sprinkle the toffee and chocolate morsels over the crust and then sprinkle whtm with the remaining crumb mixture.
4. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Use the parchment paper to gently lift the entire bar out of the pan. Palce the toffee bar on a flat surface (such as a baking sheet or large platter) and freeze until cooled and firm, about 20 minutes. Transfer the bar to a cutting board and cut into 9 squares, and serve.

Toffee Bars

Notes:

1. As tempting as it seems, it doesn't work when you cook the meatloaf and baked potatoes together in the oven for the specified times. Add more time if you're cooking both together. The meatloaf was good, but the potatoes were a bit on the hard side.
2. If you have a grinder attachment for your KitchenAid mixer, grind your own chuck! It adds time, but it saves money.
3. Oh, spinach, how I love thee, but I have yet to learn how to cook SO MUCH OF YOU! Spinach starts out taking up SO much space, and cooks down to a perfect bowl-full. I think it turned out well, but I still need to master that cooking technique. 
4. I used Skor bars for the toffee bars, and they were delicious. 
5. It's always fun to cook for friends...

...especially when they dance for their dinner!

 

Paula Deen's Tomato Pie

There's nothing quite like the taste of a tomato right off the vine. No washing, no salt - just biting into the flesh and tasting the flavors of the fruit inside. And then cleaning the seeds off your shirt because taking bites of raw tomatoes can be kind of dangerous.

Fresh tomatoes are one of the top reasons I love summer and put up with the tedium and dirtiness of planting, digging, watering, weeding and staking a garden each year. And this year was no different. I had planned on growing all kinds of new, fancy veggies, but as usual, I planted a variety of tomato plants, a few eggplants and a bunch of peppers. Oh, and an entire potted herb garden on my deck - need that fresh flavor!

At the height of my tomato season, which was early October (FINALLY!), I made one of my absolute favorite recipes, and I think I'm finally getting close to getting it right.

Several summers ago, I was searching for a recipe that called for tomatoes. I love them, and I had a bunch of them. I stumbled across Paula Deen's tomato pie recipe, and it sounded like heaven in a pie shell. The only thing non-Paula about it was that there was NO BUTTER!

Now, I have to admit, this is blog-cheating, because I found this on Food Network's website, but hey - a good recipe's a good recipe, right?

So here it is:

Tomato Pie

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes, peeled and sliced
• 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1 (9-inch) prebaked deep dish pie shell
• 1 cup grated mozzarella
• 1 cup grated cheddar
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place the tomatoes in a colander in the sink in 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 10 minutes.
• Layer the tomato slices, basil, and onion in pie shell. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the grated cheeses and mayonnaise together. Spread mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
• To serve, cut into slices and serve warm.

 Notes

1. I'm still mastering the skill of a no -soggy pie. Salt is a key ingredient in drying vegetables. First, get the seeds out of the tomato. Second, slice the tomato. Third, GENEROUSLY salt the tomato with kosher salt and let that salt pull the moisture out of the tomato for as long as you have. Paula suggests ten minutes, but I'd go longer. After that, wipe the salt and remaining juice off of your tomato slices with a paper towel. 
2. Paula Deen, God love her, is the queen of high-fat cooking. I use reduced-fat cheese, and the recipe tastes wonderful.
3. I'm Miracle Whip, not mayonnaise. Use what makes you happiest.

I really hope you enjoy this as much as I do. The flavor combination is out of this WORLD! 

New Cookbook!

I opened the door yesterday to a beautiful brown cardboard box containing the latest fuel for my addiction: Alton Brown's Good Eats 3 - The Later Years.

I can't WAIT to dig into it. Alton is a food science genius who can explain the whys behind every food in a fun, humorous way.

Tonight, I'm cooking for friends from Alton's "I'm just Here for the Food." Looking forward to it and sharing the recipes with you later!

Giada's Kitchen and Booze

I've decided that the guest will pick the two cookbooks from which the meal is prepared. Since it's just Roman and me tonight, I asked him to pick two random numbers between one and 140, and these are the ones he chose:

52. Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites
77. The Bartender's Black Book (why not!)

It's a coolish pre-fall day, so soup sounds good.


Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 sage leaf
• 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 cloves garlic, cut in 1/2
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 slices ciabatta bread
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Instructions

Place a medium, heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the butter, olive oil, and shallot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sage and beans and stir to combine. Add the stock and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the garlic and simmer until the garlic is softened, about 10 minutes. Pour the soup into a large bowl. Carefully ladle 1/3 to 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. Be careful to hold the top of the blender tightly, as hot liquids expand when they are blended. Pour the blended soup back into the soup pan. Puree the remaining soup. Once all the soup is blended and back in the soup pan, add the cream and the pepper Keep warm, covered, over very low heat.

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle the slices of ciabatta bread with extra-virgin olive oil. Grill the bread until warm and golden grill marks appear, about 3 minutes a side. Serve the soup in bowls with the grilled bread alongside.

Notes:

1. The flavor was wonderful. 
2. Next time, I'll add one more can of beans. We both wanted the soup to be a bit thicker.
3. Watch the bread carefully as it cooks. The first half of my loaf burned to a crisp!

And now for dessert! A fancy-schmancy drink that's perfect for a cool evening, and fncy enough for the Emmys... since I'm not dressing up for them...

Chocolate Kiss

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
• 1/2 oz.Coffee Liqueur

Instructions

1. Fill with Hot Chocolate
2. Top with Whipped Cream
3. Sprinkle with Shaved Chocolate or Sprinkles. 
4. Drink. Repeat. (Not part of the official instructions...)

Notes:

1. Yum.
2. I grated a frozen York Peppermint Patty on top of the drink.
3. Yum.

Party Food!

We're heading to a party tonight, and I want to bring a dish to share. (That sounds so Ina of me. "And Jeffrey will just LOVE it!")

I was introduced to this yummy dish several years ago at one of the Wildey's parties at the farm. I couldn't stop eating it! Thankfully, the woman who made it was able to recite the recipe to me from memory.

COWBOY SALSA

Ingredients

• 2 cans black eyed peas, drained
• 2 cans white shoepeg corn drained
• Half bunch cilantro, chopped (or more or less to taste)
• Green onions (to taste - I use about 2/3 bunch)
• Avocado - 2 cut up
• Garlic to taste (I used 2 cloves thru the garlic press)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1tsp Cumin (or more to taste)
• Red cherry tomatoes (as many as you like!)
• 1/2 c red wine vinegar (not pictured)
• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil (not pictured)

Instructions:

• Mix & let sit overnight. 
• Enjoy!

An Evening with Better Homes and Gardens

My decision to create this blog and actually start cooking started in a matter of hours. I was excited and unprepared, so for the sake of time, I went to cookbook number one: my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It's the tried and true cookbook for newlyweds everywhere! The second decision I made was to not only have dinner, but also a weekly dessert. For the sake of time, I decided on a slow cooker dessert from the Better Home and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes. I believe I picked this one up at Half Price Books (a great place to go if you have a book addiction!)

Dinner: Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces bulk sweet Italian sausage or ground beef
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 pounds Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 4 cups), or two 14.5-ounce cans tomatoes, undrained and cut up
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup dry red wine or beef broth
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 2 teaspoons snipped fresh marjoram or 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
• 10 ounces dried pasta, such as spaghetti, linguine, or penne

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven cook the sausage, onion, carrot, sweet pepper, celery, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain.
2. Carefully stir in tomato, tomato paste, wine, dried herbs (if using), salt, and black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover; simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more or to desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Stir in whipping cream, parsley, fresh herbs (if using); heat through.
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Serve sauce over hot pasta. Makes 5 to 6 servings.

My Notes:

• I forgot to buy parsley. It was still good.
• I pureed the sauce a bit with my immersion blender because Roman doesn't like chunky food. It worked pretty well!
• I added the entire pint of whipping cream, because it was that or throw it out!
• I mixed the drained pasta into the sauce and served - that's how Giada and Mario say to do it. :) 
• Rating 3.5/5

Dessert: Peanutty Chocolate Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup peanut butter flavored pieces
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used creamy)
• 2 tbsp chopped peanuts
• Vanilla ice cream
  

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, stir together flour, the 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa, and baking powder. Add the milk, oil, and vanilla; stir batter until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter pieces. Spread batter evenly in the bottom of the greased slow cooker.
2. In a bowl combine the 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Stir together boiling water and peanut butter; stir into the cocoa mixture. Pour evenly over the batter in the cooker.
3. Cover; cook on high-heat setting for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted 1 inch into center of the cake comes out clean. Let stand, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes to cool slightly.
4. To serve, spoon pudding cake into dessert dishes. Sprinkle with peanuts. Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

 My Notes:

• This did not taste as good as it smelled. It was mushy and bland.
• Rating 1.5/5.
• One strike. Two more, and the book goes!

Obsessive Cookbook Disorder

I love cookbooks - I love reading about techniques, thinking about the flavor combinations, deciding whether my picky-eater husband will eat the recipes... You could say I have a cookbook addiction. My husband says I have Obsessive Cookbook Disorder (OCD). Recently, I was inspired to compile a list of my cookbooks, and I realized that I do, in fact, have OCD.

I've started collecting cookbooks 14 years ago, when my friend Molly gave me my first cookbook at my wedding shower: The Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. It covers everything from how to hard boil an egg to Cheesy Italian Meatball Casserole to Canning. Everything. A few years after receiving that book, I got more interested in cooking. We'd moved into our first house, had a lovely neighbor who shared some of her Taste of Home cookbooks with me, and I learned about good comfort food cooking.

A few years later, I attended a women's health event where I met Jeanne Jones. Her biography reads, "Her mission has been to show Americans that they can eat well and healthfully at the same time." I won an autographed cookbook from her and discovered that cooking wasn't this mysterious, difficult process (I was never interested in helping my mom cook or learning from her), and it was actually quite fun! Mistakes were part of the game (don't ever set a glass baking dish on top of a hot burner that you didn't realize was on), but the successes were fun and fulfilling in a way that I'd never experienced.

I ultimately got something in the mail about joining The Good Cook book club. I would receive four cookbooks for $1 each, AND I had the opportunity to buy ANOTHER cookbook for half price! All I had to do was pay shipping and buy one book at member's edition prices within the next year. I remember I got a Rick Bayless cookbook (right), The Best Kitchen Quick Tips, and I can't remember what else. I think that was the official start of my addiction. The special offers - the half off everything, the four books for $10 each, the clearance specials - got me in trouble. Before I knew it, I had an entire piece of furniture dedicated to housing my books.

So, due to the recent realization that I have SO MANY cookbooks, a co-worker inspired me to actually cook from all of them and write about it. I know I'm not the first person to do a blog like this. For me, my goals are simple:

• Use all of my cookbooks (and get rid of the losers)
• Become a better cook
• Plan a weekly special meal for my family, and eventually get up the nerve to invite friends
• Be accountable for my addiction by writing about my cooking adventures

And now that I've admitted I have an OCD problem, I can admit the number of cookbooks that I currently own... Deep breath... I have 140 cookbooks, with two more on the way (it was a really good deal!)

Stay tuned for my first adventure. :)