Burgers and Salads
This was one of those days where I felt like making stuff, but nothing seemed to go together - or, at least, what I had wasn't what I wanted. I made a black barley and corn salad earlier, Victor had made a huge fruit salad, and I had burger thawing. But I didn't want burgers. Or, I didn't want plain ol' burgers. For a brief moment I thought Salisbury Steak, but gravy didn't go with cold corn salad and fresh fruit.
I grabbed my new Lidia cook book for inspiration.
She had a recipe for a meatloaf - but I wasn't in the mood for meatloaf. But I did have all the ingredients. I decided to make the meatloaf into burgers! I mean... meatloaf is just a big hamburger with stuff in it, right?!?
So... dinner is burgers with stuff in them. Problem solved.
Needless to say, I cut the ingredients waaaaaay down - I pretty much quartered the recipe. And it came out real good! Here's her recipe. Try making the meatloaf. I'll bet it's good, too!
Polpettone di Manzo con Ricotta
Lidia Bastianich
Serves 8 or more
- 1 cup milk
- 3 cups day- old bread cubes, from a loaf of country bread
- 3 pounds ground beef (freshly ground preferred)
- 3 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
- 1 pound drained fresh ricotta (about 2 cups), plus more for the sauce if you like
- 1 bunch scallions,finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- ½ cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano- Reggiano
- ¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ½ pound fresh mozzarella, cut in ½- inch cubes (about 2 cups)
- ¼ cup extra- virgin olive oil
- 4 to 5 cups tomato sauce
Recommended equipment: A sturdy roasting pan, 10 by 17 inches or larger
Preheat oven to 375º. Pour the milk over the bread cubes in a bowl, and let soak for a few minutes, until the bread is saturated.
Squeeze the soft bread a handful at a time, pressing out as much milk as you can (discard milk, or give it to a pet), then tear bread into small shreds and toss back into the bowl. Crumble the ground beef into the bowl, and add the eggs, ricotta, scallions, grated cheese, parsley, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Fold and toss everything together, and squeeze the mixture a few times between your fingers to distribute all the ingredients evenly. Scatter the mozzarella cubes on top, and fold and mush them throughout the loaf mix.
Brush the roasting pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Gather the meat mixture in the bowl, turn it into the pan, and shape it into a fat oval loaf. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover the pan with foil—tent it so it doesn’t touch the meat—and bake 45 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue to bake until the meatloaf is browned all over and completely cooked through, another 1 hour and 30 minutes or so. (If you check the loaf with a meat thermometer, it should reach a temperature of 160º.) Remove the roast from the oven, and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Heat the tomato sauce to a simmer in a saucepan as the meat rests. Turn off the heat, and, if you like, stir ½ cup or so fresh ricotta into the sauce. Cut the loaf crosswise in the pan or on a cutting board, in slices as thick as you like. Serve on warm dinner plates, topped with a spoonful or two of sauce, and pass more sauce at the table (or, for family- style serving, arrange the slices on a warm platter, topped with some of the sauce). To accompany this meatloaf, I love braised broccoli rabe (broccoli di rape) or escarole, served on a separate plate or platter.
Note: If you love fresh ricotta, as I do, you can stir some into the tomato sauce, too, just before serving the meatloaf.
The Corn, Black Barley, and Bean Salad was a whim.
I had two ears of fresh corn I wanted to use for something other than corn on the cob. I opened the cabinet and the first thing I saw was the black barley. Hmmmmm... corn and black barley salad. Sounds good. I was thinking black beans would go well with it - but I didn't have any black beans in the cabinet! Pintos, great northern, and red kidney. The kidney won. They're better cold in a salad, anyway.
The dressing was a no-brainer. Ruth and I used to make a shrimp, corn, and pea salad with a lime and mayonnaise dressing. I had limes and I had mayonnaise. A salad was born.
Corn, Black Barley, and Bean Salad
- 2 ears fresh corn, cut from the cob and blanched (or about 1 1/2 cups frozen, thawed)
- 1/2 cup black barley, cooked, drained, and cooled (or grain of choice - rice, farro, wheat berries, wild rice, etc...)
- 1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or beans of choice)
- 2 tbsp assorted fresh herbs, minced
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 lime - zest and juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
Mix corn, beans, and barley. Add the mayonnaise, lime juice, and lime zest. Add minced herbs, salt and pepper.
Cover and chill.
These are some of the easiest and most basic salads one can make, and they're especially good and refreshing on a hot day. The lime brings a fresh taste that cannot be compared. And they're ready in the time it takes to cook the grain. If you have fresh herbs growing in the garden, just grab some and mince them up. It really doesn't matter which herbs you use. It's the freshness that comes through.
You can switch out the vegetable, the grain, the bean, add chicken, shrimp, tofu, or diced cooked pork tenderloin. The constant is the mayonnaise and the lime.
Yum.
Burgers and Peppers
Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the hot Italian peppers Victor fried up Monday.
We picked up some hot and some sweet peppers Monday with the intention of frying them in olive oil and garlic. They are one of the best condiments to have in the 'fridge - they go with so many things and have a shelf-life just short of plutonium. Not that we ever keep them around long, but they will last.
Did I mention hot?!?
They were so hot cooking that when I walked into the kitchen - with windows open and fan blowing - my eyes immediately started burning and I started coughing.
I knew we were onto something good!
I wanted some of them for dinner tonight and thought an open-faced burger was just the ticket. I toasted a couple of thick slices of Italian bread and spread it with mayo mixed with some mixed shredded cheese left from last night's dinner. On top of that went the peppers - and then the burger topped with more cheese.
The fresh fruit was perfect with the hothot peppers, and the leftover-from-Monday potato salad and baked beans added to the goodness (and helped clean out the 'fridge).
It's currently 85° outside with climbing humidity ((I will never get used to living in a place where it can actually get hotter when the sun goes down!) so we're having homemade ice cream for dessert tonight.
Really rich chocolate ice cream with mini peanut butter cups.
Stay tuned.
Burgers on the Barbie
I was recently asked when I plan dinner. The answer, of course, is "It Depends".
There are no set rules. Sometimes it's a few days in advance, sometimes the night before, sometimes that morning, and sometimes an hour before we're going to eat.
I know folks who plan out their meals a week in advance and know exactly what they're going to have on Thursday of any given week. Not me. I just can't say on Monday what I'm going to be in the mood for on Thursday. Or what mood I'm going to be in to cook whatever it was I thought I was going to be in the mood for.
I usually prefer to wing it a bit.
This morning, however, I knew I wanted burgers on the barbie - even at 0-dark-thirty.
I thought about them all day long. Bacon and cheese and lettuce and tomatoes and avocados and pickles and mayo and mustard and catsup and potato chips and homemade hamburger buns. All day long.
I got home and made the buns right away. I used the no-knead dough that is almost a regular feature in our 'fridge. It was hot and muggy outside. A perfect proofing room. In a mere 30 minutes they were ready for the oven. 15 minutes later, they were cooling.
I added juuuuust a little bit of Memphis BBQ Sauce to the beef for a bit of added flavor. I mean, bacon, cheese, and all that other stuff was just crying out for more.
And all of that savory goodness was screaming for sweet fresh fruit.
I obliged.
In the meantime, the temperature has dropped 20 degrees and were under a severe thunderstorm alert. The alert warns of the obligatory golf ball-sized hail and 75 mph winds.
Whatever.
I need to figure out dessert.
Sunday Burgers
It's kinda cold, wet, and dreary outside today. Perfect for breaking out the charcoal and firing up the grill!
I bought two different types of rolls yestersay. Either would work for burgers, but the smaller ones will work better for dinner tonight, so the focaccia rolls were the choice. I'm a fan of fatty beef for grilled burgers. 4% fat stuff makes for a dry burger but I had some 4% fat beef that I had used for something else and wanted to use it up. The solution was to add some sun-dried tomato butter to the beef! I added just a tablespoon or so for the two burgers and it added just enough moistness and flavor that I didn't have to do anything else!
The rolls were the perfect choice for the sun-dried tomato burger, so keeping with the vaguely-Italian theme, I sauteed some arugula for the bottom of the bun, added roasted red peppers to the top, and melted provolone cheese on the burger!
French fries were the A&P house-brand, America's Choice. No nasty ingredients.
It was the type of burger one would expect to find at Barney's in San Francisco. Juuuuust quirky enough. And nothing stood out and overpowered anything else. The flavors all were unique, yet blended just as they should.
Summer is approaching. It's time to start thinking about reinventing America's favorite grilled sandwich. Again. And again.
The possibilities really are endless.
Boring Beef and Peppers
Tired and uninspired. That's me, tonight.
I had a bit of beef I wanted to use up, some bell peppers, and some mushrooms. Pepper Steak over rice. Quick, easy, basic. Just what I'm looking for. Except I was feeling exceptionally lazy. And there, right on the shelf, was a bottle of Wegmans Caribbean Sauce just waiting for me to open it up. The label held promise. It said "Sweet and tangy with a kick". Alas, it was zero for three. No sweet. No tang. No kick. Bummer.
I don't buy a lot of bottled sauces because they usually have crap in them I'm not interested in eating - high fructose corn syrup for one - and a myriad of other frankenfood-garbage that has nothing to do with what my body recognises as nutrition.
The Wegmans sauce was one of only a couple that I saw with an ingredient list shorter than War and Peace. And no HFCS.
It had an intriguing label from a store I like. It looked good in the bottle. I bought one. And I was disappointed. The problem with it is that it just doesn't have any flavor. None. Nada. Zip. I even added some Guamanian Boonie Pepper to no avail.
There was just no there there. And nothing "Caribbean" at all. At the last minute I actually added a can of diced pineapple with the juice just to add some flavor.
So... dinner did the trick. It filled us up, but I won't be picking up any more bottled sauces. I usually have better ingredients just sitting around the house - even when feeling exceptionally lazy.
Spring Salads
The calendar is saying Spring, but the weather is saying winter. Dayum, it's cold outside!
I did my weekly shopping for decent weather - salads. I'm thinking I'd rather have stew. But I have all of these salad ingredients to use up. So it's damn, the temperature - we're having salads!
The salads were basic mixed greens, grilled beef, tomatoes, broccoli, yellow squash, mushrooms, raspberries, and egg salad. The highlight, was Victor's Tomato Vinaigrette!
It was olive oil, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, anchovy paste, Greek oregano, minced garlic, salt and pepper.
Perfection.
A couple of slices of raisin walnut bread with last night's tomato butter, and it was a salad to remember!
Artichokes and Steaks
The bigger-than-a-softball-artichokes are back. Oh yum.
They're big enough to feed a small army or emerging nation. They're big. And oh, so good!
I brought them home with no real plan. Victor took one look and said "leave them to me". I did. I'm glad I did!
He trimmed them up and made a stuffing of fresh bread crumbs, black olives, garlic, Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. After stuffing them, he liberally drizzled olive oil on them and then steamed them for an hour.
Mashed sweet potatoes with a drizzle of maple syrup, and steaks on the grill.
The perfect meal.
Needless to say, there was actually more food on those plates than we could eat. We both ate half of the steaks, half of the sweet potatoes, and all of the artichokes.
Leftovers are my friend.....
BBQ Brisket
Ah... leftovers...
We had a couple of friends over for a little BBQ yesterday, which meant that 4 people = food for an army. What can I say - it's a gift!
So, with deviled eggs, pasta salad, potato salad, and brioche rolls in the kitchen, I really only needed to find something to put on the rolls.
Enter the brisket.
About 11 o'clock this morning, I placed a nice hunk of brisket in an 8x8 pan with about a cup and a half of the Strawberry BBQ Sauce from a while back. I covered it with a square of parchment, and then foil. Into a 250° oven for 5 1/2 hours.
I took it out, shredded the meat with two forks, poured the sauce into a saucepan, and then added the beef back into it.
I simmered it on the stove a bit, and that was that. Total time in the kitchen was under 10 minutes.
Steaks on the Barbie
it was 81° today. That's BBQ'n weather.
I've gotten a couple of good deals on whole eyes of round, so knife in hand, I've cut up some steaks, cubes, roasts... The freezer is looking good, right now...
These were simple salt-and-pepper steaks over charcoal. Irish steak sauce on the side.
The potatoes were cubed sweets with a drizzle of honey, butter, dill, walnuts, and raisins. Baked, covered, at 350° for about 45 minutes. And baby broccoli.
Simplicity.
The weather is getting hotter this weekend - up to 90° Saturday and Sunday. Not my idea of pleasant weather. I'll probably be grilling all weekend...
And for those of you keeping track... at today's weigh-in, I lost three pounds! I am now exactly where I started 8 weeks ago.
My mantra really does have to start being *moderation*moderation*moderation*.
Next week.
French Rustic Meatloaf
Meatloaf?!? Did he say MEATLOAF?!?
Yes, I said meatloaf. Victor's all-time favorite meal is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas. It's his birthday. Who am I to argue?!?
However... meatloaf doesn't have to be boring - as tonight's dinner proved!
Back in December I found a recipe for a French Rustic Meatloaf that sounded intriguing... Made with ground veal, ground pork, and ... chicken livers.
I've cooked long enough to know that many ingredients can simply blend into a dish and even powerfully-flavored items such as chicken livers can disappear, leaving an undefinable under-flavor that has nothing to do with its natural state. And that is exactly what these chicken livers did, tonight. They added a layer of richness that is totally unrecognizable as livers of any sort. If you hate chicken livers you could make this and not even know they were in there. Really. And if you do make it - don't leave them out. Really. Trust me on this one.
A couple of hints for when you make this - and I really do believe that everyone should. It's that good.
- It bakes at 475°. Starting with a reasonably clean oven would help alleviate the billowing clouds of smoke I had in the house.
- Placing the loaf pan on a sheet pan to catch the over-spills will also help alleviate the billowing clouds of smoke.
- The recipe states 50-55 minutes to cook. Mine took closer to 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Rustic French Meatloaf
- 1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs (preferably from a rustic loaf)
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 pound chicken livers, separated into lobes, trimmed, and rinsed
- 3/4 pound ground pork
- 3/4 pound ground veal
- 1/4 cup chopped prunes
- 1/4 cup shelled pistachios
- 2 teaspoons thyme leaves
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Accompaniment: Dijon mustard
Preheat oven to 475°F with rack in middle.
Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl.
Cook onion, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in oil in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly.
Purée livers in a blender, then transfer to a large bowl. Add pork, veal, prunes, pistachios, thyme, eggs, bread-crumb mixture, onion mixture, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and gently mix with your hands until just combined.
Transfer meatloaf mixture to an 81/2- by 41/2-inch glass loaf pan (see cooks note, below) and bake, covered with foil, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 165°F, 50 to 55 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes. Cover top of meatloaf with parsley before slicing.
Serve with:
buttered boiled potatoesCooks' note:
You can use a metal loaf pan, but the meatloaf will take about 15 minutes longer to cook.
I made some cheesy scalloped potatoes in place of the traditional mashed, but we did have the peas. I can't totally mess with tradition!
This really was one of the better meatloafs I've ever had. Totally nontraditional, yet comforting at the same time.
Tomorrow, in honor of its French ancestry, I'm going to bring home a baguette and some triple cream brie. I think nontraditional meatloaf sandwiches are in order.
And in just a little while...
Birthday Cake.
Strawberry Cream.....
Birthday Weekend Part Trois
Many moons ago, I subscribed to Eating Well magazine. I liked it so much I bought a cook book from them in 1991 or so. I used to make one recipe in particular on a fairly regular basis: Northern-Style Shredded Beef With Tomatoes. It's relatively easy to do and the meat can be used for just about anything - from tacos or burritos to just eating as a snack.
We did a kind of a burrito-with-taco-fillings tonight. Not exactly traditional, but it was really, really good.
I don't follow the recipe verbatim, but this will give you a good idea of what you can do!
Northern-Style Shredded Beef With Tomatoes
- 1 lb lean boneless beef chuck, well trimmed and cut into 1 1/2" pieces
- 1 medium-sized onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large scallions, chopped into 1/4" pieces
- 2 ripe tomatoes. roasted or broiled, cored, peeled and chopped, or 1 15oz can tomatoes, drained and chopped
- 2-3 fresh hot green chilies (roughly 2-3 serrano chilies or 1-2 jalapeño chilies), stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
- salt to taste
Bring 2 qts water to a boil in a large saucepan, add meat, then skim off any grayish foam that rises the first few minutes of simmering. Slice half of the onion and halve 1 clove of garlic; add to the meat. Partially cover and simmer over medium to medium-low heat until the meat is very tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. let the meat cool in the broth. Strain the liquid and spoon off all the fat that rises to the top; set aside. Finely shred the meat with your fingers, then dry with paper towels.
Dice remaining onion and garlic. heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add onions and shredded beef and cook, stirring frequently, for 8 to 10 minutes, until well browned. Reduce the heat to medium, add garlic, scallions, tomatoes, and chilies, and cook, stirring frequently, until tomatoes have softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup of the reserved broth, then simmer until the liquid has evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt.
Makes enough for 10 tacos. Serves 3 to 4 as a light main course.
I generally use maybe a 3"-4"-thick piece of eye of round and season the cooking water pretty well with onions, garlic, chipotles, cumin, basil, Mexican oregano... Canned tomatoes are easier (and much more flavorful) this time of year and substitute canned chipotles in adobo. I like the smoky spiciness.
It can be played with and tweaked to whatever mood you're in!
I made a spicy everything-but-the-kitchen-sink rice, and had bowls of iceberg lettuce, black olives, avocado, diced tomato, shredded cheese, salsa, and sour cream to add to the flour tortillas.
Brownies and ice cream later for dessert.
Since Victor's favorite meal is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas, tomorrow's Birthday Dinner is going to be a variation on that theme.
I found a recipe for a Rustic French Meatloaf that I'm going to try tomorrow. Chicken livers in Meatloaf?!? Eh. Why not?!?
Brioche and Beef
I've been thinking that the no-knead brioche dough would make great hamburger buns so tonight I did a bit of an experiment...
Using over-sized muffin tins, I made some rolls. Fantastic tasting. A wee bit too big! Definitely no way they could be used as a bun, although I did make sandwiches with them tonight with grilled london broil. Did I say a wee bit too big?!? Let me rephrase that... really too big! But dayum, were they good!
I made the dough last night using the basic recipe. I didn't weigh them when I made them today, but I have a pretty good idea of how big they were - a little larger than a jumbo egg. I'll need to cut the size in half, at least. I see another experiment in a day or so!
In the meantime, here's what I did for dinner tonight. Sliced grilled london broil with a chipotle powder rub on the rolls with a green chili mayonnaise. And fries.
I didn't even try to pick it up. I made it open-faced and ate it with a knife and fork.
This recipe is direct from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day website. I have now made it twice and it's completely foolproof!
Brioche dough
(makes about 4 loaves)
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup honey (this is my all time favorite!)
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.
Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.
Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours.
The dough can be used as soon as it is chilled. This dough is way too sticky to use after the initial rise, but once it is chilled it is very easy to handle. It can be used to create the Tatin or any of these brioche recipes: caramel sticky buns, grilled fruit tart, Fresh Fruit Muffins, Brioche à tête, apricot pastries and fabulous doughnuts! The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. After that you can freeze the dough.
It's gonna make an awesome burger bun!