Having the Girls Over

Shortly after I moved back to Birmingham Sumner moved back too and we lived in adjacent apartment complexes. My next door neighbor was Cathleen and we all had similar stories of going away for college and eventually ending back up in Birmingham. Not too long after the three of us started to hang out, Elizabeth, having followed the same pattern, moved back too. We all enjoyed getting together and quickly realized we shared a common interest in hanging out together, cooking, eating, and sharing a bottle or two of wine. I was very new to cooking at this point and anxious to cook more but tired and frustrated with cooking for one. I won’t speak for the others, but I think we all felt somewhat the same. As far as cooking skills and practice I was probably the most green of the four of us with Cathleen being the most experienced. A quick side note… Cathleen may not remember this, but I stopped by her apartment one day to say hi and she was making an appetizer of polenta topped with mushrooms and a sauce for her family and let me have a taste – fantastic and believe it of not it was my first time trying polenta! Anyway, I don’t remember what all I cooked or any of us for that matter when we would get together, but I do remember it always being lots of fun with lots of yummy food. One of us would host and cook the entrée and the others would divide up bringing an appetizer, side dishes, and wine. We got together fairly frequently over a span of a couple years until it gradually became more difficult to find times to get together and we slowly let our dinners fall to the wayside. We would still all see each other, but not with our frequent dinners. For a while now I have wanted to get the four of us together again for dinner, so with Russ out of town this week it was the perfect time to have all the girls over for dinner instead of cooking for just me. Everyone was able to come and it was a wonderful, relaxing, fun evening of eating, drinking, and catching up! Hopefully we’ll be able to get our schedules to coordinate again sometime soon and do it again.

I decided to try a new meatloaf recipe tonight as my meatloaf craving from back here was still hanging around. One of the latest issues of Fine Cooking had a section on meatloaves and all the recipes looked tasty. I decided to finally breakaway from using the same meatloaf recipe and try a new one. For tonight I decided to make Meatloaf with Fresh Scallions and Herbs.

To make the meatloaf you sauté the onions in a little oil until they are soft and then set them aside to cool. Combine the meat (I used ground beef and turkey) in a bowl until it is mixed well. Then add the onions, paprika, salt and pepper and combine. Next add the remaining ingredients: eggs (beaten), panko, sliced scallions, sour cream, flat-leaf parsley, ketchup, tarragon, thyme and garlic. Mix this all together and then take a small piece, about the size of a quarter, and cook it in a pan on the stove. Taste the sample and adjust the seasoning as needed. I added a little more salt and pepper after tasting.

This meat loaf is really moist, but not mushy. I love the sour cream in it and think it really helps give it a creamy, moist texture. The tarragon is the dominant herb in the meatloaf and even though I really like tarragon I think I’ll cut it back a little next time in order to balance the flavors of the other herbs a little better. I am not sure why, but in the past I have always baked my meatloaf in a loaf pan. This time I formed the loaf by hand on a baking sheet and I will never go back to the putting it in a loaf pan again. I really like the look and shape of the free form loaf and I think it stayed even moister and cooked faster since the shape was not as thick and deep as the loaf pan I have used before.

When Russ got back in town he had a plate of leftovers and rated the meatloaf an 8.

Meatloaf with Fresh Scallions and Herbs, Fine Cooking
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. vegetable oil; more as needed1 cup finely chopped yellow onion3/4 lb. ground beef (80% lean)1/2 lb. ground veal1/2 lb. ground pork1 tsp. sweet paprika, preferably HungarianKosher salt and freshly ground black pepper3 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1 more if needed1-1/2 cups homemade dry breadcrumbs or panko breadcrumbs; more if needed1 cup thinly sliced scallions (both green and white parts)1 cup sour cream3/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley2/3 cup ketchup1/3 cup chopped fresh tarragon1 tsp. lightly chopped fresh thyme2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F.

Heat 1 Tbs. of the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool.

Put the ground beef, veal, and pork in a large bowl and gently knead them with your hands until just combined. Add the cooled onion, paprika, 2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. pepper and gently knead to blend. Add the remaining ingredients (except for the remaining vegetable oil) and gently knead with your hands or stir with a large spoon until just incorporated.

Wipe out the skillet and heat the remaining 1 tsp. oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add a quarter-size piece of the meat and cook, turning halfway through cooking, until the meat is cooked through, about 1 minute on each side. Cool briefly and taste. If it’s too moist to hold together, add up to 1/2 cup more breadcrumbs to the meat mixture; if it’s too dry, add an extra egg. If necessary, add salt and pepper. Repeat cooking quarter-size pieces of the meat until you’re satisfied with the flavor and consistency.

On a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, mold the meat mixture into a 9x5-inch loaf. Bake until the meat is firm to the touch and has an internal temperature of 160°F, about 1 hour. Allow the meatloaf to rest for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

My Notes: For the meat I used ground beef and ground turkey.

Turkey Dinner with the Siblings

Russ and I are truly blessed to have not only our parents, but also all of our siblings in town. Selfishly we hope this never changes and everyone stays within a ten minute drive of us, but realistically we know this may not last forever. For now we enjoy seeing them any chance we get. Ever since we moved in our house we have wanted to have all of our siblings and their significant others over for dinner. After over a year and a half in the house a turkey of all things is what finally gave us the push we needed to get our act together and just do it. A turkey in February might sound out of the ordinary, but we have actually had it since the end of November. One of the local grocery stores holds an annual event each November where you can get a free turkey. Every time during a certain time period where you spend over $50 you get a turkey feather and once you have collected four you get a free turkey. Two years ago I came up one turkey feather short, so this past year I made an effort to only shop at this store in order to collect all my feathers. Ever since we got the turkey we have talked about having our siblings over, but with the holidays things got busy and then in January we were in the mood to relax after the holidays… so finally in February we did it!

Tonight we had Jess, Scott, Will, Mary Margaret, Jason, Jane, Daniel, and Beau over for dinner. Since our dining room is not very large and our table seats six at the most we decided to eat in our den. It is probably the largest room in our house and I have been entertaining the thought of moving some furniture out of it and putting tables in for a dinner party for a while now. Thanks to some loaner tables, table clothes, and extra chairs from my parents that is exactly what we did. I really enjoyed having everyone in the same room at the same table to eat!

Now for the food! Russ comes from a turkey frying family and he does an excellent job frying turkeys. This time he wanted to try something new and smoke the turkey. He did some research online and came up with a great recipe. The turkey had an amazing smoky, savory flavor to it that I loved! It wasn’t as moist as the fried turkeys he has done before, but we think that if he brines it and works on his smoking technique that it would be more moist. I do love fried turkey, but the smokiness was wonderful… I think next time Russ may need to do one of each for a side by side taste test!

I handled the sides and did mashed potatoes, green beans, and a salad. I also made a lime curd tart for dessert. For the mashed potatoes I tried a new recipe that I found on the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. I chose it because it you can make it ahead of time and then reheat it in the oven just before serving. Also, it has cream cheese in it which I found very intriguing. I actually test ran the addition of cream cheese in some mashed red potatoes earlier this week and loved the creamy texture and flavor it added! To make the mashed potatoes you peel 5 lbs of Russet potatoes, cut them into large chunks and boil them. Once they are cooked you drain them, add them back to the pot, and mash them. Then you add the butter, cream cheese, half and half, salt and pepper. Once this is mixed well and seasoned then you add it to a buttered baking dish.

For the green beans I used a recipe of Jane’s (Russ’ sister) that she got from the Fresh Market cookbook. You cook the green beans in boiling water. When they are cooked you drain them and add them back to the pot. Then add small cherry or grape tomatoes to them. Lastly toss them with balsamic dressing (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little creole mustard).

The salad recipe came from a cookbook that Jess and Scott gave me a while ago that I have never used. Russ is scared of this cookbook and has even tried to hide it before… It is the Enchanted Broccoli Forest and Russ is scared because it is a vegetarian cookbook. To make the salad you peel and section 6 oranges and then combine them with the cinnamon and honey and set it aside. Then you slice the radishes and onions. Lastly you toast some chopped walnuts. When it is time to serve you toss the greens with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then you add all the other ingredients including part of the juice that is with the oranges.

For dessert I decided that I wanted something that was not too sweet or heavy since we were having a large meal. After flipping through several cookbooks I decided to make Ina Garten's Lime Curd Tart. To make the tart you mix the butter and sugar together. Once mixed you add the vanilla and finally the sifted flour and salt. The batter looked to dry and crumbly to me, so I added one egg to hold it all together. You then fold it into a disk and press it into the tart pan. The dough chills in the refrigerator until it is firm. Once firm you bake it covered and filled with beans for 20 minutes. You then remove the foil and beans and prick it with a fork and let it bake again for about 20 minutes. Set it aside to cool. To make the lime curd. You mix the sugar, lime zest and butter until combined. You are supposed to mix the zest and sugar in a food processor prior to this step, but I left it out by accident. Once it is all combined you add the eggs. You then pour the mixture into a saucepan until it reaches about 175 F and thickens. Ina says this should take about 10 minutes, but mine took about 30. Once it thickens pour it into the tart shell and let it cool.

Overall the sides were really good, however, I was a little disappointed that the mashed potatoes and green beans were not hotter when we served them. I failed to do a heat test before putting them out and regretted it later… The mashed potatoes were creamy, soft, and tasty. I think the cream cheese actually worked better with the red potatoes in my test run earlier this week though as they added a more distinctive flavor. I would definitely make these again when making a large dinner as the ability to make them ahead of time is very helpful and with the butter, half and half, and cream cheese you know they are good. They did reheat very well just not quite long enough. The green beans were very tasty. This is a simple, colorful, and flavorful dish. The contrasting color and texture of the green beans and tomatoes makes this a real winner. Their flavors work really well together and the dressing adds a great tangy zip to the dish. The salad was excellent! I happen to love salads that combine fruit, vegetables, and nuts. The combination of oranges, walnuts, red onions, and radishes did not disappoint and worked really well together not to mention being very colorful. I was a little concerned that there really isn’t a dressing to the salad, but when eating it you didn’t even notice or miss it. The olive oil, salt, and pepper along with a little of the juice added all the dressing the salad needed. What really made this fantastic to me though was the hint of cinnamon from the oranges – perfect! If this salad is any indication of what other tasty recipes are hidden in the Enchanted Broccoli Forest… then I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more out of this cookbook in the near future. Russ is still scared of it, but the salad did help him to start conquering this fear. The tart turned out fairly well. I felt like the tart shell browned a little more than I would have liked. Next time I'll check it earlier and cover it with foil if the edges are browning up to much. The tart shell had a great buttery flavor with good texture. The lime curd had a wonderful light flavor that was both sweet and tart. The recipe has you serve it at room temperature, but I think it would have been better to chill it and serve it chilled. The texture was firm, but at the same time a little runny. I think if it had been chilled it would have had better texture and would have been more refreshing. Overall I really liked it and think it would be a great summertime dessert. Russ rates the turkey a 9, the potatoes a 9, the green beans a 9, the salad a 9, and the lime curd tart a 8.

It was a truly enjoyable night with wonderful company! My only regret (besides the vegetables not being hotter...) was that we waited so long to finally have everyone over. I certainly see a Sibling Summer Party in our backyard with maybe some croquet or bocce and Russ grilling something yummy!

I also want to mention that Scott and Jess brought an appetizer. First, a big thanks to them for bringing it! Second, it is a recipe that I have reviewed on the blog before here and it is so tasty and such a crowd pleaser that I want to bring your attention to it again. It is simple to make with only five ingredients and the bowl was all but licked clean tonight – it is that tasty!

Last, but not least a big thanks to Mom who provided and arranged all the beautiful flowers!

Moroccan Orange-Walnut Salad, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest
Yield: 4 – 6 servings

Ingredients:
6 large oranges
1 Tbs. honey
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 lb. mixed salad greens – cleaned, dried, and chilled
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
10 radishes, thinly sliced
6 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

1. Peel and section the oranges, using a sharp paring knife or a serrated knife. To do this, first cut off the polar ends of the peel off the sides. With a gentle sawing motion, cut in one side of the membrane and out the other, releasing each orange section into a bowl. Squeeze all excess juice from the remaining membrane in to the bowl as well, and pick out the seeds, if necessary. Discard the membrane.
2. Drizzle honey and sprinkle cinnamon into the orange slices. Stir gently to mix, cover, and set aside until serving time.
3. Shortly before serving, toss the greens in a large bowl with the onions, radishes and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. To serve, bring the orange sections, the tossed greens, and the walnuts to the table in separate containers. Let each person assemble his or her own salad, by piling some greens on a plate, spooning over some oranges-au-jus, and sprinkling a few walnuts on top. (My Notes: I did not serve it this way due to limited table space, but I think if you have the space it is a nice way to do it.)

My Bone to Pick with the Weather...

It is early January and yesterday it went up to 70 degrees! It felt like Spring and while Cash, Russ and I enjoyed being outside I was disappointed as I had planned to make a pot roast for dinner but it just didn’t feel right with the warm weather. So, I decided to wait and make it when the weather turns colder. Today it goes up to 70 again! While the warm weather may still control what I wear I have decided will no longer be a factor in what we have for dinner. Well, I have been craving meat loaf for a while now and I decided that just because it feel like Spring outside today and is too warm for sweaters or fires that I am still going to prepare a hearty, winter meal tonight. The weather may have postponed the pot roast, but it won’t postpone the meat loaf, so take that weather!

This is actually a blog repeat as I have not just been craving meat loaf, but craving Cooking Light’s Chipotle Meat Loaf which I made earlier in the blog here. Russ and I both really like this meat loaf. It is nontraditional and a little firmer texture than more traditional ones, but it is packed with great flavors and a little bit of a kick. We topped it with Elizabeth’s Mom’s homemade ketchup which is super yummy and a perfect complement to the meat loaf. The only changes I made from last time were that included three chipotle peppers and I did the meat loaf in little individual pans. It was yummy and my meat loaf craving has been satisfied! Russ rates it a 9.

Comfort Food: Meat Loaf Night

Tonight's dinner was a repeater for us. Not many recipes make "repeater" status for us. In general I like to keep trying to find a recipe that is better than the last. I have tried other meat loaf recipes, however, none have topped this one so far.

Russ and I decided to put meat loaf on the menu for this week after watching Bobby Flay have a meat loaf throw down on the food network the other night. I am a big fan of the food network and have been trying to catch Bobby Flay's throw downs in preparation for my own throw down with Scott. That's right, I am taking my brother-in-law on! I am not sure who we will have pick the throw down dish or judge the dishes, so go ahead and throw your name in the hat if you are interested in campaigning for one these prized positions.

Back to tonight's dinner... this is a Cooking Light recipe from 2005 for Chipotle Meat Loaf. When I first made this I had not cooked with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce before and now I have come to love their smokiness. Neither Russ nor I liked meat loaf growing up, but we have since found an appreciation and taste for it. It really is a comfort food and consequently I always feel like it needs to be served with mashed potatoes. This meat loaf is a different take on the traditional one though. It uses ground turkey instead of beef and uses very little tomato sauce. It also is loaded with lots of fresh and dried spices including cilantro, parsley, cumin etc. It also as I mentioned before has a chipotle pepper and adobo sauce in it. This is definitely the key ingredient that makes me like this recipe over others I have tried. It is also a moist, flavorful meat loaf. Russ rates the meat loaf a 9. Which for those keeping count is currently the highest rating on the blog!

It was a little bit of a sad night here though as we used the last of the bottle of Mrs. Hassinger's homemade ketchup. If you have never tried her ketchup before you are missing out as it has a fantastic flavor and texture to it. The few times we have made meat loaf we have topped it with her sauce and tonight was no exception. I am not sure what we'll use next time as just regular ketchup would be a big disappointment. I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out what we top our next meatloaf with.... As if that is not enough suspense already, we have special guests come over for dinner tomorrow night and we'll be serving a dish that is as pretty as it is tasty!