‘Meat’ Category

  1. East Meets East Meets Midwest Vegetarian Meatballs

    June 1, 2010 by Tarrant Figlio

    So, The Working Wives Cookbook (1963) is heavy on the lamb for some reason. While we are vegetarians who stray, I won’t cook (or eat) lamb or veal. Period. It does not matter that my youngest child has developed a complete and utter fixation with lamb. It is cute. It goes baa. I am allergic to wool. Whatever, I am not eating lamb.

    I had it once, the night the father of the aforementioned youngest was inducted into the Junior Honor Society in high school. Oh wait, I ate some gyros in high school and the gyro burger (with a veggie burger actually-which made it a weird dish but yummy) at the place with the pizza fondue we found by accident the first night of Passover.  Don’t look for a restaurant open on the spur of the moment on the first night of Passover in our area-they are closed. Yes. Really.

    I intended to skip entirely over the lamb section. But then, there was an intriguing recipe: East meets East: Syrian meat balls with Indian Curry Sauce. I still wasn’t going to 1. Cook lamb or 2. Make meatballs. I hate touching meat. Really. Yuck.

    What to do? I did exactly what I always do when faced with meatballs-bought a bag of frozen veggie meatballs. Clearly these suit the same purpose as the

    1 1/2 lbs ground lamb–some supermarkets sell this as “lamb patties”
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 egg
    1/2 cup pignolia (pine nuts)
    1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
    3/4 teaspoon salt
    6 tablespoons olive oil

    mentioned in the original recipe. Right? RIGHT!

    I got to skip all the night before stuff. Who am I fooling? The night before I was sick, and even today I was trying to beg out of dinner making. Denise wasn’t having it. I grabbed the bag of meatballs-tossed them into the oven and commenced last night’s “curry sauce” preparation

    6 Tablespoons butter or margarine (err no, I used about 2 tablespoons olive oil)
    2 stalks celery sliced
    1 large apple, cored and diced (unpeeled) I used 2 medium-ish apples
    1 large onion, diced
    2 to 3 teaspoons curry powder (I ended up adding more after the 3-probably ended up with 5)
    2 cups tomato juice
    1/4 cup tomato paste

    While meatballs are browning, you are told to make this sauce. The meatballs were browning-in the oven. I cooked the onion, celery and apple over low heat until the onion was translucent and the celery softened. Stir in the curry powder-starting with 2 teaspoons and increasing according to taste;check! Cook gently for 5 min. Add tomato juice and cook over medium heat for 5 min. Stir in tomato sauce to thicken.

    Pause to peer at rice steamer to figure out how long the rice will take. Oh-forgot to say that-start some rice. (or as the end of the recipe says “serve over boiled white rice.”

    Add meat balls to sauce, cover and refrigerate. (Right-making this the same day, toss meatballs in sauce and heat through)

    You are supposed to add a dollop of chutney-but I didn’t have any in the house and in my experience-I buy it for one recipe and then don’t need it for far longer than it takes to start looking sketchy or break falling out of our refrigerator.

    Result: Denise and Mama both enjoyed their dinner-paired with the Caesar Green Beans which I will post tomorrow.

    Category Meat, Recipes, retro food | Tags: | 1 Comment

  2. Funeral Potatoes with Ham

    October 19, 2009 by Tarrant Figlio

    Now syndicated on BlogHer.
    A couple of weeks ago, I was startled by a cookbook among the books we picked up at the library. I don’t generally read new cookbooks and why on earth were we getting one from the library. It was too polished, too many pictures, too new. Cook’s Country Best Lost Suppers-Old-Fashioned, Home Cooked Recipes Too Good to Forget, 2009. I put it in the cold room to flip through while waiting for the dogs to come in.

    I didn’t like it. First was the matter of the pictures (am not a fan). Then there was the matter of the “Notes from the Test Kitchen” at the end of each recipe. These were family favorite recipes from all over the country. How dare they change them? I read on though. And I thought. I considered. I craved.

    Then I realized a couple of things, these are recipes that I would LIKE, do like, and uh, I tweak old recipes all the time. The people who submitted probably tweaked the originals as well. Ok, so maybe I love this cookbook, as new as it is and as much as it first rankled. I may even put it on my wish list. You see, there were a lot of recipes I want to try but it will be due back at the library soon. So, go see if your library has it. Give it a look. See what you think. The only thing I would have liked is the exact recipe pre-tweaking. For instance, one mentions that the original had used the crock pot but they preferred the oven to save time. I would nearly ALWAYS prefer a crock pot than the oven.

    The one recipe I made already, Funeral Potatoes with Ham, got mixed reactions last night. Boy child and youngest objected to the mushrooms. (They both liked it well enough though-even if it had that horrible food included) Girl child-food snob-objected to the “casserole-ness” of the recipe. She also wasn’t impressed. But as she reflected on it, she said “You know, I didn’t think I liked this much, but now I want more.” Denise feared the ham and the “That looks like au gratin. I don’t like au gratin.” She had two servings. As for me-yum.

    My notes-the peeling and shredding of the potatoes after cooking them was highly unpopular as a step. I think in the future, I will use pre-shredded potatoes-it won’t change the baking time and save a big step. We also didn’t butter the cornflake crumbs. I served with a dill cole slaw.

    Funeral Potatoes With Ham

    4 lbs russet potatoes, scrubbed
    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    1 lb white mushrooms, sliced thin (We used pre-sliced)
    salt (oops-left that out)
    1 onion, minced
    2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    11/2 cups whole milk
    1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
    1/2 teaspoon pepper
    11/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
    8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
    1 pound ham steak, cut into 2-inch matchsticks
    1 cup sour cream
    1 1/2 cups cornflakes crushed fine

    1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Set aside

    2. (This is the step I would skip in the future) Bring the potatoes and 4 quarts of water to a simmer in a large pot and cook until just shy of tender (a paring knife should glide through the flesh with slight resistance), 10-15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and then grate the flesh lengthwise on the large holes of a box grater. Return the grated potatoes to the pot.

    3. While the potatoes cook, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. (a step we said “Huh?” to) Add the mushrooms and 3/4 teaspoon salt (yeah, that salt, forgot.) and cook until mushrooms have released their juices and are brown around the edges, 7-10 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

    4. Whisk in the milk, thyme, and pepper, bring to simmer, and cook, stirring frequently until thickened slightly, about 1 minutes. Stir in the cheese and 6 tablespoons of butter and cook until melted, about 1 minute.

    5. Off the heat, stir in the ham and sour cream. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and toss to combine. (I think this could be done in the 9 x 13 pan in the future and save a second saucy pot to clean) Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a bowl in microwave. (skipped this) Stir in the cornflakes, then sprinkle evenly over the top of potato mixture.

    6. Place the baking dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and bake until potatoes are bubbling and the top is golden brown, 35-45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

    Category Casseroles, Cookbooks, Meat, retro food, Vegetables | Tags: | 3 Comments

  3. Non-Traditional Lasagna/Meatloaf Lasagna

    October 3, 2009 by Tarrant Figlio

    Tonight, we had non-traditional lasagna for dinner. Or “Meatloaf Lasagna” or Mommy’s new lasagna recipe. I had planned meatloaf for dinner. Boy was kitchen sous chef for tonight’s prep. He hates meatloaf. I was out of cheese nips, so I ended up crushing corn flakes. Then I realized we had no potatoes or instant potatoes and I couldn’t serve meatloaf without potatoes. Ok. Boy was happy! Maybe I should make polenta layered something. Boy grumbled he liked polenta even less than meatloaf. My eyes lit upon the lasagna noodles. Oooo some sort of lasagna. Out of Parmesan, out of mozzarella.

    Non-Traditional Lasagna AKA Meatloaf Lasagna

    1 box of lasagna noodles (uncooked)
    1 lb ground beef
    1 jar spaghetti sauce
    1 tsp Italian Seasoning
    1 cup cornflake crumbs
    1 tsp chopped garlic (or to taste)
    1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
    2 cups small curd cottage cheese
    2 cups shredded cheddar
    2 eggs

    Spray 9 x13 pan with nonstick spray. Brown ground beef. Mix with spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, cornflake crumbs, diced tomatoes, garlic. Beat eggs with fork. If you like a less lumpy lasagna, (I do) whiz cottage cheese in blender/food processor/handy chopper until smoother…or have ricotta on hand. Mix cheeses and eggs together. Splash about 1 cup meat mixture in bottom of lasagna pan. Add layer of noodles. Use half of cheese mixture. Then half of remaining meat mixture. Repeat with layer of noodles and rest of meat mixture and then cheese mixture. Sprinkle a bit more cheddar on top. Cover with foil and bake 1 hour at 350. Take foil off. 10 more minutes or until bubbly.

    Note: Mama liked it. Teens liked it. Lasagna hating tween didn’t but she ate some. Denise said it was ok and certainly ate it. I liked it.

    Category Casseroles, Meat | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Crock Pot Roast

    October 2, 2009 by Tarrant Figlio

    Thursday found me busy. I was fresh back from San Francisco. I had kid pick up-gear pick up, Thursday Night Dinner, homework. I had the usual craziness of my life. We hadn’t been to the store since getting home from San Francisco I knew it would be a crockpot night. I knew I would be cooking a roast. I had a chuck roast in the freezer. I thawed it. I realized…I was feeding a child with day old braces. Uh oh. My usual dry no sauce roast would not work. We needed a soft roast. Why did I leave that French Onion Soup in SF? Ok, scrounge. Boy child and woman…not fond at all of Cream of Mushroom on a roast. No wine in the house. (Why didn’t I bring that wine home from SF? Oh, yeah, airports) Crud. No time to think.

    So I threw the two pound chuck roast in the crockpot. I opened a can of tomato soup. I poured that on top. I put 1 1/2 tsp of Lawry’s in the crock pot. I turned it on high for the next 6 hours. Dinner was ready. Everyone loved it. Even the boy who won’t eat new foods on school days. Even the woman who doesn’t do roast liked it. My 72 yo mother said “great dinner.” My kids all got up to get seconds, even the one with brand new braces. It is so tender! So good. It was a beautifully popular dinner on a Tuesday night.

    Another winner and easy…soft and friendly to the chewing issues in the house but tasty to the whole crew.

    Category Meat, retro food | Tags: | No Comments

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