Beef & Mushroom Risotto
This was going to be Butternut Squash Risotto. At least, that's what I was thinking earlier, today. As with many recipe ideas I have, it morphed into something completely different.
It was also a combination of things I had and time we're going to have this weekend, since I'm going to be working both Saturday and Sunday. I had mushrooms and a small piece of thinly-sliced beef that was just taking up room in the freezer and that lovely butternut squash will make a great soup that Victor can pull together, tomorrow.
Two meals taken care of and we can figure out Sunday, later.
We really didn't worry about meals and meal-times before we moved Nonna in with us, but we've had to get more regimented about time and ingredients. Oh well... It comes with the territory.
Risotto is still one of the easiest things a person can make.
Beef and Mushroom Risotto
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
- 3/4 lb beef, cut into small thin strips
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 cups hot beef broth
- 1 cup shredded pecorini romano cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
Saute beef in a bit of butter and olive oil. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until vegetables are limp. Add rice and cook about 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring often, until it is absorbed.
Begin to add broth by the ladle, stirring continually. Continue adding ladles of broth as the last one is absorbed, until rice is just tender.
At this point, stir in cheese.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.
Voila! It's done!
The basic recipe is there - just switch out the meat, the type of broth, the vegetables... Make it with whatever and however.
It's guaranteed to be good!
Beef Pot Pie
It was cold this morning. Not cold enough to force me into long pants and shoes, but cold, nonetheless. I headed out in t-shirt and shorts to the local hardware store for electrical supplies - I had to replace a socket on a lamp and change out a light switch - and thought that it wasn't going to be long before I had to start putting on shoes when I left the house. Quelle horreur!! I am so not looking forward to that!
But while it was still semi-warm enough to leave the house in my summer finery, it was cold enough to get me thinking about beef stew and puff pastry. Not that I need a lot of encouragement to break out the puff pastry sheets, but I can milk a situation if need be...
I've been looking forward to the cooler weather and the heartier foods. I'm a soup and stew person at heart. As much as I really love all sorts of foods, feed me gravy and I'll follow you anywhere. Real gravy, that is - nothing out of a can, jar, or packet. I do have my standards, low as they may be, at times.
I've never quite grasped the concept of packaged or canned gravy. I mean... Gravy is one of the easiest things in the world to make. It's practically free food and can be made in minutes.
Tonight's stew was beef cubes simmered in broth and a bit of coffee - my mom's famous trick - with potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, garlic, and frozen mixed vegetables, and then thickened with a flour and water paste. I used two sheets of puff pastry and then put the corner pieces on top to make it even more flaky.
It always looks prettier in the dish, but it was one tasty dinner! Even Nonna cleaned her plate.
And... there's enough left over for lunches tomorrow.
Life is good. A bit chilly, but good.
Crespelle con funghi e carne macinata di manzo
That sounds a lot fancier than hamburger and mushrooms in crepes, but, that's essentially what we had. Crespella is what we - and the French - call a crêpe. The same concept, anyway. The flour-to-egg ratio is a bit different, but the end result is the same - a thin pancake filled with yummy stuff.
I've been thinking about crespella for a few days, now, and finally decided today was the perfect time to whip them up. I was off, I had gone to physical therapy early, and I had grocery-shopped yesterday. I pretty much had a free day...
Now... crêpes or crestella take no time at all to make. Maybe 90 seconds a piece. maybe. It's probably less, but I've never bothered to time it. It helps to have a nice crêpe pan, but a small skillet works in a pinch.
We've had this pan - it's Calphalon - for 20 years. Victor may have had it longer. I think it was part of the dowry. It is the best damned crespelle pan this side of Rome.
Crespelle
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 to 1 1/4 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Crack the eggs over the flour and whisk them in. Add salt and whisk in water until smooth.
Heat your pan until hot and brush with melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup batter into the pan and swirl to completely coat. Cook until pale golden and crespelle is dry on top. Place on plate and continue until all the batter has been used.
Fill with your favorite sweet or savory filling.
I do not flip my crespelle or crêpes. I really see no reason to if you cook them until the top is dry.
The filling was a throw-together of ground beef, mushrooms, and onions. I added some beef broth and thickened it with flour.
No-brainer simple.
We came up with a great dessert idea using them and will be trying it out on our house guests in a couple of weeks.
What fun!
Birthday Beef Stew
We always get to choose what we want for our birthday dinner, and Cybil is no exception.
11 years ago, today, she chose us to be her forever family at the Chester County SPCA. I remember driving home after doing the paperwork, paying the fees, promising to get her spayed... She needed a forever name. Her temporary shelter name was Sparkle. She had been picked up as a stray, so no one knew what her first name had been, and Sparkle just wasn't gpoing to cut it.
We bandied a few names around, and all of a sudden we hit upon CYBIL. Cybil Shepherd. She agreed, and that was that.
She made herself right at home, immediately. We brought her out back to play ball - the basic dog-and-people game - but she never quite grasped the concept of giving the ball back. She never has, either. Ball, to her, is throw me the ball and I'll just keep it, thankyouverymuch. Any sort of "fetch" game has been the same. She will go run and get whatever it is you throw, but the then decides that you gave it to her so she doesn't have to give it back. Very one-sided games.
But what she lacks in ability to play dog games, she has more than made up for in her general playfulness. She loves to just play.
And then, one day quite recently, we realized she's become an old dog. She still has her spark and still has her playfulness, but she also has some pretty rough arthritis in her hind legs that makes it difficult for her to get up, and, she has renal failure. She's running on about 25% of her kidneys.
Definitely not what we wanted or needed to hear.
It's been hard watching her the past couple of months and even more difficult as she loses interest in food. She's on a special renal diet she barely likes, so her Vet has told us to go ahead and cook for her. We have medications to help bind phosphorus, so, just about anything is okay - within reason, of course.
So... tonight she got her beef stew! It's always been one of her favorites and it's actually pretty healthy! She cleaned up her bowl and licked the porcelain clean, wagging her tail all the while. It was a joy to see her eat so well.
Come to think of it, Nonna pretty much cleaned her bowl, as well. Maybe my beef stew has magical properties...
We don't know how many birthdays she has left with us, but we do know that every day is going to be just like a birthday, from here on out. We've spoiled her rotten and she's spoiled us. It really is the least we can do.
And as for a recipe, tonight?!? I don't have a recipe for stew. It's stew. You just make it. I always add a cup or so of coffee because my mother always added a cup or so of coffee. Sometimes I'll add some wine instead of coffee, but it pretty much depends on my mood.
It's stew. You just make it.
And when it's birthday stew, you make a lot so there's plenty of leftovers for the birthday puppy!
Labor Day Indoor Picnic
As a kid, Labor Day was my all-time-least-favorite holiday. It meant the following day was the first day of school.
I hated school. Really. I was not one of those kids who just couldn't wait to write my dissertation on "What I Did on My Summer Vacation." I was good at it. I got straight A's. I just didn't like it. I started looking for the holidays. First one was Admission Day - usually just a couple of days after school started. Then Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, and Glorious Christmas Vacation.
I lived for my holidays. Hated school.
Growing up, Labor Day was a pretty big deal. There was a huge parade down Market Street. Labor. The people who made things, built things. They were hardworking men and women - mostly men, though - who not only laid the tracks for the streetcars, but also made the rails. The guys who built the skyscrapers with steel made in Pittsburgh and Buffalo. The guys who collected our trash, sold us our groceries, waited on us in restaurants, and changed the linens in our hotels.
Labor was the EveryMan. My father was a union firefighter. I was in what was then Local 44 and Local 2 of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers union. Big Brother was a Stationary Engineer and as Chief Engineer ran some of the largest and most high-profile buildings in San Francisco - and a member of Local 39.
During the ensuing years, I found myself on the management side of the table, but I never took for granted the people who were making it all happen. I fought for tools and supplies so people could actually do their jobs properly. It's amazing what results one can achieve by simply having the right equipment! And I fought layoffs and do more with less. It was inconceivable then, and it's inconceivable today to expect perfect results from two people doing the job of 8 or 10.
In my last job before moving east, I was having a bit of a discussion with my new boss about department needs, budgets, increasing staff - normal corporate BS from a for-profit hospital - and he asked me where my loyalties lay, with my staff or with the corporate office. I smiled and told him they laid with the patients. I got the budget I needed and a staff who routinely went above and beyond. I did end up firing the son of my shop steward, but that's another story for another day...
For the last 20 years or so - probably longer - there has been a real smear-campaign against organised labor. As minimum-wage non-union jobs with no benefits have become the norm and corporations continue to move operations - and headquarters - overseas to avoid paying decent wages and taxes, the worker has become the scapegoat. Instead of getting mad at the union worker for negotiating a better salary, perhaps more people should follow their lead.
And I really wasn't thinking a treatise on Labor, this evening. My mind really was on how much I hated school. Well... hating school and a great dinner. More of my mind was on the dinner...
I had picked up some porterhouse steaks and planned on making baked beans and potato salad to go along with them. Somewhere along the line I decided I wanted macaroni and cheese, as well. It's a holiday, right?!? Go for it!
We'll start with Mom's Potato Salad.
Mom's Potato Salad
- potatoes (russets, yukon gold, red bliss)
- pickles
- hard-cooked eggs
- celery
- shredded carrots
- mayonnaise
- catsup
- mustard
- garlic powder
- salt
- pepper
Mix and chill.
That is it. Perfect, every time.
Then there were Phoebe's Baked Beans
These are the only baked beans I ever make.
Phoebe's Baked Beans
- 1/2 cup minced shallots
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup tomato puree (I use tomato paste – I never have puree in the house!)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped
- 2 (28-ounce) cans baked beans
Preheat oven to 300°.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes or until golden. Add cumin and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and oil, and cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients (except beans.). Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine beans and shallot mixture in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until thick and bubbly.
And Macaroni and Cheese...
I just made a really small batch - enough for 12, probably - but small compared to what i usually make.
Make a basic white sauce – on the medium/thin side. Add a shot or two of worcestershire sauce and a shot of tabasco. A bit of garlic powder and salt and pepper. Stir in whatever cheeses you have. Tonight I used cheddar and monterey jack. Mix in your cooked elbow macaroni. Put into a buttered casserole, top with buttered bread crumbs, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly and the crumbs have browned nicely.
Then, of course, the steaks.
I did a store-bought coffee rub. It was good.
Three of us did not finish those off. We have leftovers. We have leftovers of everything, in fact. Lunches and side dishes are ready for the week.
Labor-saving.
Birthday Burgers & Gifts in the Mail
I decided when I got up this morning that we were going to have burgers for dinner. Ridiculous burgers with everything on them including the kitchen sink.
What I didn't know when I got up was Mr. Mailman was going to deliver a package with homemade Bread and Butter Pickles and homemade Peach Preserves from Ann and Melinda!!
WOW!
What a fabulous surprise! I immediately opened the box, opened the jars - and dug in! What a treat! These were not intended as a birthday present, but they did arrive on my birthday. I just love presents!
And words will never do justice to the taste! I'm officially spoiled. They're sweet but not sweet, crunchy but tender. Perfect texture and perfect flavor. No other pickle will ever do. Ever.
And the preserves...
This is stand-in-front-of-the-refrigerator-with-a-spoon-good! It is peaches. Fabulous, ripe peaches. No cloying sweetness - just give-me-more peaches. My grandmother made peach preserves when we were little and I always thought hers was the best on the planet. I think grandma may have met her match.
Wow, indeed!
So, tonight's burger didn't get peach preserves on it, but it did get a hefty helping pf pickles. And cheese, mayo, homemade Irish Whiskey mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, bacon, avocado, and red onion. On a poppy seed roll.
Fresh fruit doused with Fico d'India - prickly pear liqueur - helped balance the burger. I mean... I could have gone for french fries, but... I needed to save room for Carrot Cake!
Happy Birthday, to me! What a great day it has been!
Dinner with Old Friends
It is so much fun seeing old friends. Susan and I first met in 1989 when we worked together at San Francisco General Hospital. She was a registered dietitian and I was a food service supervisor. What a wild place it was. From the AIDS wards to the prison wards, crack babies to naked people coming into the Emergency Department on any number of drugs, gun shots and trauma, there was never a dull moment. It was actually fascinating. looking back. However, while I was there, I think my main goal was just to stay out of the Director's way. To say that the place was disorganized and morale was always low would be painting a rosy picture. It was a difficult job, but we always made the best of it - and did a great job in spite of the many obstacles.
You know how jobs are often about who you know?!? Well... that's how I was originally hired. Bob, the manager who interviewed me, was best friends with Wayne, who I had recently worked with at the Westin in Indianapolis. Bob called Wayne, Wayne said hire him, and Bob hired me.
I ended up going to UCSF a year later - I was a provisional employee with the city with no prospects of getting on permanent - and needed to get into a retirement system.
In the meantime, Susan met a cute Dr named Rob who has become a renowned robotic cardiac surgeon. Two kids and a half-dozen cities later, they may be moving east and becoming our neighbors - or, at least, neighbors withing an hour's drive! And we're all still friends.
It's amazing how things work out.
Susan sent me an email saying they were going to be back here doing some interviewing and we needed to get together for dinner. She said they'd take us out. I said we'd cook. It's easier to sit around and talk for hours when there's not a waiter hovering, ya know?!?
Besides. We like to cook. And they brought along their friend Patty who is also an SFGH alumni. She is a Respiratory Therapist. We didn't know each other at General, but we all became fast friends tonight.
We chose a rather eclectic menu - a couple of goodies from our Sicily trip, and a couple of favorites. And an awesome dessert.
We started off with the Focaccia Ragusa - two varieties, peppers and eggplant. It has become one of my most favorite things to eat.
Focaccia Ragusata
(makes two)
- 9 oz all-purpose flour (Italian “00″ if you have it!)
- 5/8 cup warm water
- 1/2 tsp yeast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- pinch salt
Proof yeast in warm water. Add flour, salt, and oil, and mix well. Knead about 5-6 minutes or until a smooth, elastic dough forms. Roll into a ball, cover, and let rest 30 minutes.
Divide dough in half and roll into a large, very thin circle. Spread with a very thin layer of tomato sauce and then top with a thin layer of ricotta. Add slices of fried eggplant.
Fold sides to almost meet in the center. Brush new tops with a bit of sauce and cheese. Fold in half, again, and press lightly to seal. Paint a bit of sauce on top.
Put into a preheated 475° oven and bake for 20-30 minutes or until dark brown. Take out of the oven and cover with a towel to trap steam and soften the top.
I tell ya - it is one easy dish to make. And it's really, really good.
The second thing to come back from Sicily was the Bresaola and Arugula pictured above. This is i=one of those pure genius recipes. All it is is bresaola wrapped around arugula and drizzled with olive oil and a bit of parmesan cheese. I placed them on thick slabs of beefsteak tomato. Really, really good.
Then the eclectic started...
Phoebe's Baked Beans. My go-to baked beans for years, now. They are perfectly spicy and always a crowd-pleaser.
Phoebe's Baked Beans
- 1/2 cup minced shallots
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup tomato puree (I use tomato paste – I never have puree in the house!)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped
- 2 (28-ounce) cans baked beans
Preheat oven to 300°.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes or until golden. Add cumin and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and oil, and cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients (except beans.). Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine beans and shallot mixture in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until thick and bubbly.
And a couple of coffee-rubbed tri-tips. The first one was a bit over done. That's what happens when you're talking instead of paying attention to cooking. Oh well. It was still really good - and the second one came out better.
And what's a summer gathering without corn on the cob?!? I made a sun-dried tomato butter to spread over it. Pretty good stuff - and the kids loved it!
I used a small food processor to chop the ingredients and then just smooshed them into a cube of butter.
Sun-Dried Tomato Butter
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 2 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 2 tbsp fresh basil
- 2 tbsp Italian parsley
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Finely mince all ingredients and fold into softened butter.
You can add anything to a cube of butter. Anything.
And then when we were all nice and full, we had dessert. Grilled peaches with homemade lemon ricotta and raspberry caramel.
This rocked the casbah.
Victor made his fabulous fresh ricotta and added just enough lemon and sugar to make it even more awesome than it normally is. I mean, awesome.
Fresh Ricotta
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zestAdd all ingredients to a heavy pot and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
Scoop curds into a cheesecloth-lined sieve and drain about 30 minutes. Squeeze to remove as much whey as possible.
Cover and chill.
Omit the sugar and lemon for a traditional ricotta.
And then the raspberry caramel...
Raspberry Caramel
- 2 cups raspberries
- 3/4 cup sugar + 2 tbsp
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp Chambord
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of raspberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the berries start to burst.
Smash them as they cook until they are nearly smooth. Whisk in the cream, raspberry liqueur, vanilla and salt. Strain out the seeds.In a medium saucepan, combine 3/4 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Cook over moderate heat, swirling the pan and brushing down the side with a wet pastry brush, until the sugar dissolves.
Cook undisturbed until an amber caramel forms, about 7 minutes. Add the raspberry cream and simmer, whisking, until the caramel is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
Let cool slightly, then stir in the remaining 1 cup of raspberries; let cool to room temperature.
This works over grilled peaches, over pie or cake, and as a fantastic ice cream topping. You can switch out the berries to just about any fruit you can imagine.
So we ate, talked, laughed, and ate some more. Great fun and a great time.
Can't wait to do it, again. Of course, we need to get Bob back here, as well...
Burgers and Fries
I do love me a good burger - there's something almost primal in their greasy, juicy messiness. When they're really good, you pick them up and can't put them back down until you're done. It's an art getting bites of burger, bites of toppings, and getting the occasional french fry into your mouth.
And napkins. Lots and lots of napkins. And even then, I feel like I should be hosed down afterwards. A great burger makes a great mess.
The above burger was a definite mess-maker. It had mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, pickles, onions, lettuce, bacon, and melted boursin cheese along with a good-sized patty between the halves of a whole-wheat bun. I had an avocado that I planned to put on there, as well, but... reality struck.
Even without the avocado it was gastronomic heaven.
Welcome Summer! More to come!
Birthdays and Meatloaf
We just had a birthday in the house! Usually, birthdays mean we get our own special birthday dinner - and Victor's birthday favorite is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas.
My work schedule and my meatloaf-making-and-cake-baking schedule didn't quite jive, this year, so I thought I'd do something completely different - Burgers from Five Guys and Cupcakes from Cupcakes Gourmet. Since we really don't go out a lot and really do make all of our meals at home, this was a treat. And a bit of an eye-opener.
When someone else makes your food, it's really expensive. I know that on the grocery-level, because I see the prices of prepared foods at the grocery store vs simple ingredients. I'm an ingredient-shopper. Two bacon cheeseburgers for us, 2 small plain cheeseburgers for Nonna and Cybil, and 2 large fries to share was $32. A dozen assorted cupcakes? Also $32. It was a birthday dinner so I didn't bat an eye as I handed over the debit card, but it did get me thinking... Sixty-four bucks is two-thirds of our normal weekly food budget - and we eat well around here. Do folks really do this often? How do they afford it?
All of it was very good. The burgers were properly huge and messy and we had more french fries than we could eat. The cupcakes were unique, varied, and quite tasty. In the grocery store I'll pass over a cheap national brand for a more-expensive local or imported product with better quality or what I deem cleaner ingredients. We are willing to pay for quality and in both cases here, we received it.
I guess I've been out of the loop for a while and it just caught me off guard, but it did reinforce the notion that cooking your own food is a lot less expensive than having someone else do it for you.
So since the Birthday Boy didn't get his meatloaf dinner on Saturday, I thought I'd make it on Sunday. I had everything I needed except for the peas, so I thought I'd get my weekly shopping out of the way and headed to the store.
I forgot the peas.
I tend to make the same meatloaf and decided since it was a Birthday Meatloaf, that I'd try something different. I've made a few "recipe" meatloaves over the years and am always willing to try another. This one struck me because of the rather unique use of dijon mustard, BBQ sauce, and horseradish. It worked.
The croutons, on the other hand - along with the bay leaves and unpeeled garlic - were overkill. I did like them on the bottom but the stuff on top was unnecessary. It looks like a lot of ingredients but it comes together fairly quickly.
A Not-So-Basic Meatloaf
adapted from Bon Appetit
- 5 strips lean bacon, finely chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 tbsp bottled horseradish, well drained
- 1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
- 2 tbsp coarse salt
- 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp finely minced fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp dried thyme)
- 2 to 3 cups croutons
- 10 whole, unpeeled, garlic cloves
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
Preheat oven to 375°.
Sauté the bacon for about 5 minutes in a medium-sized pan. Add the garlic, onion, and carrot and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft and the onions are translucent but have not taken on any color. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the vegetables to cool.
Place the ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and milk and, using your hands, work the liquid into the meat. Add the bread crumbs and continue to work the liquid and crumbs into the meat. Add the cooled vegetables, mustard, barbecue sauce, and horseradish along with 1/4 cup of the parsley, salt, pepper, and thyme. Using your hands, gently work all of the ingredients into the meat until well combined.
Place one-half of the croutons into a 9x13 baking dish.
Shape meatloaf into a loaf about 3 1/4 inches wide X 2 1/2 inches high X 12 inches long. Press the remaining croutons into the loaf, making sure that they are partially pressed down into it.
Gently press the unpeeled garlic cloves into the top of the meatloaf. Carefully lay the loaf on top of the croutons in the baking dish. Pierce the meatloaf with the bay leaves and thyme sprig. Place the meatloaf in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, or until the internal temperature reads 165° and the top is nicely browned.
Remove the pan from the oven. Allow the meatloaf to rest for about 5 minutes before transferring it to a serving platter. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprig and sprinkle the remaining parsley over the top of the loaf and around the platter. Cut crosswise into 1-inch, or thicker, slices and serve.
As I said, the croutons on top - along with the unpeeled garlic and bay leaves - were a bit unnecessary, although the croutons did add a bit of texture to the dish. If I made it, again, I'd most likely omit them.
The best part of the dinner, though, is the leftover meatloaf that's in the 'fridge, right now. It's going to make some awesome sandwiches for lunch!
Catching Up
You'd think we had stopped eating around here!
I've been pretty busy migrating websites - including this one - onto a new hosting account. The old account was old and clunky. Some sites were taking forever to load - and that's just not a good thing.
So... to make a long story longer, I was spending pretty much every waking moment chained to the computer, downloading sites, uploading sites, recreating sites - and in a couple of cases, making brand-new sites.
It's great having everything neat and orderly, again. There were 15 years of extraneous stuff on those old servers. It's all neat and organised. Today.
We did eat while all this was going on. Victor cooked several nights when he saw me totally immersed in a move. This site, in particular, was fairly nerve-wracking.
I started this site back in 2005 and it has grown to 1700 posts and 8 cookbooks and recipe collections. Thousands of recipes that I would hate to lose.
When I finally got it moved and uploaded, none of the pictures were there. And let's face it - it's all about the picture! After a bit of mild panic - and extraordinary luck - I was able to upload them separately and have them actually link.
The Internet. Gotta love it.
Ya also have to love quick dinners when you're otherwise detained. like the Stuffed Pepper Pasta, above. I took a jar of Victor's Pasta Sauce and added ground beef and a jar of stuffed peppers. Mixed it with pasta shells and dinner was served. Simplicity.
And we did a quick pork tenderloin with tomato salad...
Nothing fancy - just quick and basic.
Another quick - as in unattended - meal was a stuffed round steak.
I cut and pounded the steaks, filled them with spinach. rolled and tied them, and then let them simmer in a bit of red wine and beef broth for a couple of hours.
I pulled them out, cooked the noodles right in the sauce, and dinner was served.
So... hopefully, I can start spending a bit more time in the kitchen and a bit less time updating websites for a while. I do enjoy both, but cooking takes the lead...
Corned Beef sans Cabbage
Ah... the day before St Paddy's Day... That Irish-American holiday serving a meat the Irish produced but were too poor to afford to eat back in Ireland. It took a famine and emigration - along with a proximity to Jewish immigrants and their corned brisket - to create that Irish-American dish known as Corned Beef and Cabbage.
As a kid growing up, we always had Corned Beef and Cabbage on St Paddy's Day. My father would always bring home either a huge brisket or a corned eye of the round. He'd pick them up right at the source. I think he used to get them at Roberts - but it was wherever they were getting them for the firehouse.
There's nothing quite like a simmering hunk of beef with the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots... the anticipation of thick slabs of fork-tender meat slathered with hot mustard. A childhood memory, indeed. Another childhood memory is singing Irish songs in a quartet at Fairlane Market the years I wasn't tap-dancing up Market Street in the St Patrick's Day Parade. Ah, yes. A singer and a dancer. A regular James Cagney, I was.
So fast-forward a few years and here I am living with the Italian contingent - who don't like cabbage! Sad, but true. My Corned Beef AND Cabbage days are numbered, I fear. I'm going to have to arrange a trip home one of these March 17ths and see what the siblings can do for me.
In the meantime, I'll just have to suffer through with celery substituting for the cabbage.
On another note, I made a variation of my whiskey brack.
It's a yeast bread, not a soda bread, and traditionally, a brack is more closely associated with Halloween than St Patrick. But... I like to play footloose and fancy-free with traditions... and recipes.
The recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of dried fruit, but I really didn't want that much in the loaf, today, so I cut it to 1. It really came out good - and will be great toasted tomorrow morning with a slathering of Kerrygold Irish butter.
A good meal and a good day - with some fun memories of being a kid in San Francisco back in the '50s and '60s.
Dinnertime
It hasn't all been cake and pasta sauce this week! We really have done other things, as well.
I do take pictures of dinner most nights, but they don't always get posted on the blog. I can get busy doing other things and next thing I know, a week has gone by without a post! Quelle horreur!
So here we have a few from this past week... Starting with tonight.
Roast beef. How ... uh... normal. Normal, except we rarely actually cook a roast. It was an impulse buy at the store a while back and I decided it was time for it to come out of the freezer and see the light of day. I'm rather glad I did! I rubbed it with garlic, salt, and pepper and then seared it before going into the oven with about a cup of red wine.
I made a mushroom gravy, added caramelized onions from last night, and mixed it all with wide egg noodles. They were pretty good. They were a bit of a tribute to my mom who used to make some wicked-good noodles and gravy when I was a kid.
And speaking of caramelized onions form last night... They topped steaks that were also topped with some chopped bacon.
The broccoli rabe and the mashed potatoes were also topped with a bit of chopped bacon. It was good. Real good. None of us cleaned our plates.
And sadly, neither one of us can remember the sauce we had on the pork tenderloin.
Flat-out no idea.
I'm sure it was fabulous.