What are you cooking?

[gwand]

We are trying to eat low mercury fish several times a week. Tonight I made a beautiful 2 lb filet of halibut for four of us. I roasted it in olive oil, butter and tarragon for 30 minutes at 325F. Squirt of lemon juice to finish. Simple but delicious. But the fish needs to be very fresh.

 

[MaloK]

International style meatloaf.

1 large Pack of lean ground beef
1 minced onion
2 minced slice of Maple leaf smoked bacon... Make that 3
1 large egg
1 small can of tomato paste
1 cup of bread crumb
1 dash of Worcestershire
Montreal beef steak spice
Black pepper

Mix everything until homogeneous, form the meat into a bread loaf form.

Put the loaf in a dutch oven, over a layer of your favorite tomato sauce, completely cover the loaf with more sauce.

Cook as high as possible height in the oven covered for 45 min at 300, remove the cover an continue to cook until the sauce thickens and you can test the center of the loaf reached decent temperature.

With a big batch of mashed potatoes and veggies.

I can smell it, Need to peel potatoes now.

 

[lottabubbles]

did a rotisserie pork loin
took a 10inch section of large pork loin. double butterfly the loin lengthwise. make all three sections the same width. coat the all the internal surfaces with lemon pepper. string tie it back together and run the rotisserie rod through the center, then coat the outside with Paul Prudhomme's poultry seasoning and run the rotisserie at 350deg for 1hr 10 minutes then heat at 450 deg for 12~15 mim till internal temp equals 165~170deg.
YUM !!!

 

[jaylach]

did a rotisserie pork loin
took a 10inch section of large pork loin. double butterfly the loin lengthwise. make all three sections the same width. coat the all the internal surfaces with lemon pepper. string tie it back together and run the rotisserie rod through the center, then coat the outside with Paul Prudhomme's poultry seasoning and run the rotisserie at 350deg for 1hr 10 minutes then heat at 450 deg for 12~15 mim till internal temp equals 165~170deg.
YUM !!!

I LOVE Pork loin! I do a deal with them where I cut to 2-3 inch slices and cut a stuffing pocket filled with apple pie filling. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top and bake. Sounds weird but is actually really good. Think about it... pork and apple got married from the start and just go well together.

 

[jaylach]

International style meatloaf.

1 large Pack of lean ground beef
1 minced onion
2 minced slice of Maple leaf smoked bacon... Make that 3
1 large egg
1 small can of tomato paste
1 cup of bread crumb
1 dash of Worcestershire
Montreal beef steak spice
Black pepper

Mix everything until homogeneous, form the meat into a bread loaf form.

Put the loaf in a dutch oven, over a layer of your favorite tomato sauce, completely cover the loaf with more sauce.

Cook as high as possible height in the oven covered for 45 min at 300, remove the cover an continue to cook until the sauce thickens and you can test the center of the loaf reached decent temperature.

With a big batch of mashed potatoes and veggies.

I can smell it, Need to peel potatoes now.

I love meatloaf but don't normally do just beef. I tend to do 2/3 ground beef and 1/3 ground pork for the fat content to help keep moist. I also don't use bread crumbs or crackers as a binder as I prefer to use rolled oats and milk. I SO MUCH wish I could find an old recipe I had for an Italian meatloaf which used the meat combo and the milk/rolled oats. Using 2 pounds of lean ground beef and 1 pound ground pork I can remember the spices and amounts... mostly but can't remember the milk/oats ratio. With the three pounds of ground meat it is very heavily spices with basil, oregano, thyme, garlic and Italian seasoning. Cooked in an 8X8 baking pan (in which it perfectly fits) you sort of end up with a huge square meatball. Loved to do it with red sauce pasta doing a slice of the loaf like a chicken parmigiano. I'll bet I could use the directions for oatmeal as a starting point for getting the milk/oats ratio.... Hmmm.

LOL! first time I made this I thought that it did something wrong as, when I added the milk and oats, it all turned to soup. Stuck with it and in less that a minute the oats soaked up the milk and it was the proper texture for throwing in the oven. If I remember right the baking was at 350F for forty five minutes with the 3 pounds of meat in an 8X8 inch baking dish.

Going back to a more traditional meatloaf, such as yours, I think the initial dinner is just the prelude. My favorite part is the next day when I toast some thick bread and make a sandwich with a thick slab of meatloaf and a lot of ketchup!

 

[gwand]

Kansas City, Missouri BBQ today at Q39 restaurant

 

[MaloK]

I love meatloaf but don't normally do just beef. I tend to do 2/3 ground beef and 1/3 ground pork for the fat content to help keep moist. I also don't use bread crumbs or crackers as a binder as I prefer to use rolled oats and milk. I SO MUCH wish I could find an old recipe I had for an Italian meatloaf which used the meat combo and the milk/rolled oats. Using 2 pounds of lean ground beef and 1 pound ground pork I can remember the spices and amounts... mostly but can't remember the milk/oats ratio. With the three pounds of ground meat it is very heavily spices with basil, oregano, thyme, garlic and Italian seasoning. Cooked in an 8X8 baking pan (in which it perfectly fits) you sort of end up with a huge square meatball. Loved to do it with red sauce pasta doing a slice of the loaf like a chicken parmigiano. I'll bet I could use the directions for oatmeal as a starting point for getting the milk/oats ratio.... Hmmm.

LOL! first time I made this I thought that it did something wrong as, when I added the milk and oats, it all turned to soup. Stuck with it and in less that a minute the oats soaked up the milk and it was the proper texture for throwing in the oven. If I remember right the baking was at 350F for forty five minutes with the 3 pounds of meat in an 8X8 inch baking dish.

Going back to a more traditional meatloaf, such as yours, I think the initial dinner is just the prelude. My favorite part is the next day when I toast some thick bread and make a sandwich with a thick slab of meatloaf and a lot of ketchup!

Loll. Mine too is pretty soft, I like it when it has the texture of cake and good acidity. The last one I made with milk turned to soup too

 

[jaylach]

Loll. Mine too is pretty soft, I like it when it has the texture of cake and good acidity. The last one I made with milk turned to soup too

But if you have the right milk/oats ratio the soup just goes away and it is great.

Tonight is just simple. A bit back I made Cacciatore with chicken thighs from leg quarters. Tonight the drum sticks from those quarters will be stove top BBQ with fries and left over green beans. Simple but good.

 

[lottabubbles]

Fry Time
last two little green tomatoes on the plant and a catch of bluegill fillets.
sometimes life is good.

 

[jaylach]

Doing one of my unusual sounding things tonight.

Taking a nice boneless pork chop and cubing. Will do red and yellow bell pepper, small Brussels Sprouts curt in half, red onion, shrooms and the pork in a brown butter and garlic sauce with a lot of black pepper over egg noodles. Will be some other spices such as an Italian mix but broke my heart to find that I'm out of basil. MAY add a touch of blue cheese but not sure yet.

Many don't understand 'brown butter'. Ever forget you had butter melting in a a pan and then find it brown in color? That is exactly what brown butter happens to be and can be used as a base for many sauces. For instance let's say that you are doing a fish filet in butter. Does best with skin removed as temperatures will not be high enough to 'crisp' the skin.

Don't add the fish to the fresh butter but try a a sprig of tarragon, rosemary and/or basil to the fresh butter and some lemon to the butter and cook on medium/medium low heat until the butter browns and add the fish. Turn the heat to low and let it just sit covered. Do NOT flip the fish as it will be steamed on the top while slightly browned on the bottom resulting in a VERY moist and tender filet that is still firm and flaky. Of course you can add other spices to taste but add to the butter before the fish is added while the butter is being browned. You can also do this with any meat of choice but, while is great with chicken and fish, I don't know, yet, about pork but will find out tonight. I don't really think that the cooking method would work well with beef but is a proven sauce over a finished beef cut.

 

[Back in the fold]

Leftovers .

 

[jaylach]

Leftovers .

Sometimes leftovers are the best thing ever.

Tonight I'm having a breaded chicken breast stuffed with spinach and asparagus. This is the second try of this from Omaha Steaks and the first was sort of dry. This time I put the breast in one of those little disposable individual aluminum baking pans. Half way through cooking the chicken I added butter and Brussels Sprouts to sort of roast as the chicken finishes.

About ten more minutes before this is done but I hope the addition of the sprouts and butter makes it more moist. First attempt going strictly by instructions it was quite tasty but I want my chicken moist regardless of how it is put together. Actually the chicken itself was fine but the breading was just too dry/crisp. Give me fried chicken and I want a really crisp coating but this was just a bit too much. If my "fix" works it could be REALLY good but we shall see what we shall see.

 

[fishorama]

Grilled bratwurst w/mustard on ww bread for me tonight. We're doing separate foods...that's how we deal with different dinners. I cook 1 time/day. After that he's on his own.

My husband will not eat Brussels sprouts in any form. That may have been our first major fight. Just because a food is offered doesn't mean you have to eat it, lol. Just give the dish a pass & go on with the rest of dinner.

 

[Back in the fold]

@jaylach Yes , sometimes leftovers are good but some things don’t take to reheating well . Some dishes are at their best the first time . Now about fried chicken - is there anybody still around that can make good fried chicken like the housewives of yesteryear used to make it ? I did an oven fried chicken once and it was close but still not quite right . I think the missing ingredient is Crisco . They used to fry it in Crisco in a pan and that method has fallen from favor . I don’t think the chicken you buy these days is all that great either . I heard they inject it with water to plump it up and make it weigh more and that the chickens are very young when they slaughter them . Maybe good old fashioned farm raised chickens would be better but good luck finding them .

 

[lottabubbles]

Go Crisco, you're right about that. slow cook cast iron pot/crisco/free range chicken is the ticket!
with a plethora of the ups jets that fly direct over my house, I don't think it would be safe to eat a chicken that foraged in my yard.