Mom’s Meatloaf

Meatloaf is one of those reassuring foods: simple to make, relatively cheap, nostalgic. Monday was typically “meatloaf night” at our house growing up. We’d have it for dinner with baked potatoes and some sort of green vegetable and watch M*A*S*H while we ate. I’m not sure what’s on now Monday nights, but the recipe is still good.

Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup milk

1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

¼ finely chopped onion

1 cup small bread cubes

1 pound ground beef (the leaner, the better)

Process:

Beat together the egg, milk and Worchestershire sauce. Add the salt, pepper and onions and beat again. Stir in the bread crumbs and let them “sit” a moment to soak up the milk and egg mixture.

Next fold in the beef , blending it thoroughly with the other ingredients. Divide the mixture into two portions and shape into small loaves—one for tonight, one for later in the week. Place them a few inches apart in a Pyrex dish and bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes. Serve with some homey vegetables like mashed potatoes and kale that’s been sautéed with onions and garlic.

End of Summer Salad

Figs are a summer fruit, but Black Mission Figs are still available at the grocers. Their deep sweet flavor counterbalances the intense saltiness of Smithfield Ham in this dinner salad. And the richness of that pairing fits with the “over-ripe” quality of nature right now as the afternoon light mellows and the trees start to turn.

Before assembling the salad, first make a sherry vinaigrette. While that seems pretty “foodie” with all sorts of high end ingredients like shallots and walnut oil, it’s actually a snap to make and an investment in future meals. The vinaigrette will last up to three weeks in the refrigerator, so bring it out to dress some steamed spinach to go with the chops next Tuesday night.

Both dressing and salad recipes are from Katy Sparks’ Sparks in the Kitchen (2006)

Ingredients:

For the dressing—

1 shallot, peeled and minced fine

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

¼ sherry vinegar

3 tablespoons walnut or hazelnut oil

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

pepper to taste

For the salad—

Bag of arugela or mixed salad greens

8 oz package of Black Mission Figs (if fresh are out of season, used dried Mission Figs)

Half a small roll of goat cheese, broken into crumbles

2-3 paper thin slices of Smithfield Ham, torn roughly into small pieces

Handful of toasted walnuts*

Process:

In a shallow bowl, combine the minced shallot with salt. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes so the shallot will “weep” for a richer flavor. Stir in the mustard, vinegar and nut oil. Next pour the olive oil in a thin stream while vigorously beating the dressing with a fork to emulsify the oils. (The oil and vinegar mixture will separate later, but no worries; simply beat them together again.)

Put the salad greens into a wide-mouthed salad bowl. Slice the figs into halves, reserving about five or six slices for the top. Toss the salad with two scant spoonfuls of dressing. Be careful!
You only want enough to flavor the mix, not drown the greens. Strew the goat cheese crumbles, ham, walnuts and remaining fig slices in an artful manner.

With some whole wheat rolls, this salad serves two hungry types for dinner or four as a first course.

*For tips on toasting nuts, see the Kitchen Tango recipe for Strawberry Spinach Salad.

Veggie Quiche

This quiche recipe originated from the 1986 edition of Laurel’s Kitchen. And as fine a cookbook as that is, the authors tend to over-emphasize nutrition at the cost of flavor. So I tinkered with their quiche (reduced the milk, added an egg, increased the cheese, added more salt, etc.) until it morphed into a recipe I can honesty claim is mine. Just about every home cook does this—not out of vanity so much as making sure that the resulting dish is something your family will eat.

Ingredients:

½ purple onion, finely diced

1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped into small pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

4 eggs

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

dash of pepper

1 cup grated Gruyère cheese

pinch of nutmeg

1 9-inch pie crust

Process:

Sauté the onion and pepper in the olive oil with the spices until the peppers are soft. Drain on paper towels until cool. If using a store bought crust, remove it from the freezer, prick with a fork and let it thaw. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the four eggs with the milk until thoroughly blended. Add the ½ teaspoon of salt and a bit of pepper, beat again and set aside.

When the veggies are completely cool, toss with ½ cup of the Gruyère and spoon into the waiting pie crust. Top with the remaining cheese. Put the crust on a cookie sheet lined with foil and carefully pour in the egg and milk mixture. Dust the surface with nutmeg, then bake for 30 minutes or so at 350. Check the quiche by slipping a knife into the center—if it comes out clean, it is ready. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes so that the quiche will “set.”

Serve with a salad of baby spinach tossed with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a handful of toasted walnuts. Don’t forget the baguette!

Theme and Variations:

• Instead of bell peppers and onions, sauté ½ pound of sliced mushrooms in two tablespoons of butter with a dash of salt. Be sure to drain the mushrooms on paper towels before adding them to the quiche.

• Sauté a quarter of a finely chopped onion in olive oil. Add a bag’s worth of fresh spinach, lightly steamed. Cook a moment more with a dash of salt and nutmeg. Drain and cool, then mix with the cheese to fill the crust.

Gazpacho

It’s the end of summer, but not the end of the heat. And happily, not quite the end of the tomatoes. If you are lucky enough to grow your own or have ready access to a farmer’s market, grab a few and chop them up for gazpacho. If possible, put together the ingredients and let the soup chill in the refrigerator overnight; the flavors of the fresh herbs will really strike though and the tomato juice will subdue the raw-ness of the onion.

Adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook (1977)

Ingredients:

1 small onion, minced

2 cups diced fresh tomatoes (If tomatoes aren't in season, go on and use a can of chopped tomatoes. Progresso and Fugamo are two good brands.)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 diced cucumber (Keep the skin on for color and crunch!)

1 clove of garlic, crushed

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup chives, minced fine

1 teaspoon dried basil

Dash of cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of half a lime

Dash of Tabasco (optional)

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cups tomato juice

Process:

In a large ceramic bowl, mix together the chopped vegetables and fresh herbs. Next sprinkle in the dried spices. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, lemon, lime and oil. Beat vigorously, then pour over the vegetables. Add the tomato juice, stir well, then cover and chill for a minimum of two hours.

Serve the gazpacho with some rolls or a baguette for a simple lunch or dinner.

Theme and Variations:

Let the gazpacho serve as a centerpiece for “sort-of-tapas” at home. Offer some small side dishes of olives, manchego cheese bits, slices of Serrano ham, toasted almonds and green beans sautéed with garlic and oil. Add a loaf of sour dough bread and open a bottle of Rioja white for a festive dinner with friends!

Olé!

Julian’s Potatoes

My British brother-in-law Julian cooked up a batch of these wonderful potatoes as a part of a traditional “Meat and Three Veg” Sunday dinner for our family while we were visiting in London. Parboiled, then strifed and baked, the potatoes are like giant Tater Tots, only way more tasty.

Ingredients:

4 thin skinned boiling potatoes, about the size of a softball

2 quarts water

½ teaspoon salt

About 1/2 cup of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Process:

Wash and peel four potatoes, then cut into halves. Boil in two quarts of salted water for 20 minutes until half-done; the vegetables will be cooked on the surface, but still raw at center.

Drain immediately. Gingerly pick up each half in a tea towel and quickly strife the dome of the potato with a fork. Ever a stickler for correct technique, Julian insists that this be done while the potatoes are hot hot hot. I’m a wimp and let the potatoes cool a bit before handling. The idea is to give the potatoes a nubby texture so they will brown readily. Watch Julian in action, fork in hand, here:

Place the potatoes cut side down into a shallow baking dish, then fill with about a quarter inch of olive oil. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, then 10 to 15 minutes more, checking every now and again for doneness. When the potatoes are easily pierced and crispy on the surface, remove and drain on paper towels. Salt, pepper and serve immediately.

Garbanzo Bean Salad

(Adapted from Laurel’s Kitchen, 1986)

Here's a simple dinner salad that's ideal when it's too hot to cook. If there’s time, marinate the garbanzos in the dressing overnight so the spices will really strike through. Another benefit of this salad is that it can incorporate a number of those stray bits in your refrigerator: got half a tomato and one lone egg? Hard boil the egg and cut both into wedges to toss in the mix. Leftover green beans from the other night? Strew them around the edges. What else in your fridge would work? Olives? Fresh parsley? Some ham? Check it out!

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon paprika

pinch cayenne

1/4 teaspoon oregano (or 1 teaspoon fresh, if you have it)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup finely chopped chives or scallions

1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped

1 can (14.5 oz.) of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Odds and ends from the refrigerator


Process

In a glass or ceramic bowl., blend the salt, paprika, cayenne and oregano. Slowly add the vinegar and olive oil, then the garlic and chives. (If you are using oregano or some other fresh herbs, add them now.) Toss in the garbanzo beans and bell pepper and mix well.

To serve, line a wide salad bowl with dark leafy greens. Spoon the garbanzo beans in the center, then arrange whatever additions you choose in an artful manner. Try marinated mushrooms, pimento, thin slices of steamed yellow squash or zucchini. What about that leftover link of chorizo sausage? Or some baby carrots, cut into matchsticks?

Serve with a sourdough baguette for a “no oven” dinner. Have some watermelon slices sprinkled with chopped mint leaves for a cooling dessert


Theme and Variations

I’ve also marinated two cups of cooked lentils in the dressing overnight for a spicy start to a dinner salad. Kidney beans or some canelli beans would also work well.

Blackberry Cobbler

Typically, grocery store blackberries are too sour but are treated like prized jewels, packed in little cushioned boxes at 4.99 apiece. Better—and cheaper—summer berries will soon be available at local “pick your own” farms. Check out the link above to the The Washington Post’s Weekend section for a list of farms in the Metro area. There's also a harvest calendar showing peak seasons for such summer delights as sweet corn, peaches and true tomatoes.

When you go, you’ll pick far more berries than you can possibly eat. Give some to your neighbors and use the rest for a blackberry cobbler. This recipe from Edna Lewis’ The Taste of County Cooking (1983) calls for 5 cups of blackberries—suggestive of the open-handed abundance of “pick your own” farms.

Ingredients:

For the Pastry--

1/ 2 cup crushed cube sugar

2 cups of flour (I use a whole wheat pastry flour)

½ teaspoon salt

½ cold butter

1/3 cup iced water

¼ cup light cream

For the Filling--

5 cups blackberries

¾ cup crushed cube sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon butter

To crush the sugar, put a small handful of cubes in a large “zip lock” bag, press out the air and seal. Place the bag in a folded tea towel and give it a few good whacks with a rolling pin to break the cubes into chunks, then roll into finer crumbs. Though it seems like a lot of bother, the rough sugar makes a tastier, “crumbly” cobbler crust.

Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with two knives until well-blended. Add the iced water and quickly stir the flour mixture into a stiff dough. Divide into two equal portions, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for a few minutes.

On a lightly floured board, roll out one dough portion to line the bottom of an 8 x 8 Pyrex dish. Sprinkle with about 3 tablespoons of the course sugar. Cover with plastic wrap while you roll out the second dough portion for the top. Place that in the dish, cover and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the cobbler.

Gently wash and pat the berries dry and put them in a large ceramic or glass bowl. Mix ¾ cup of course sugar with the cornstarch and nutmeg, then toss into the berries. The fruit should have a wonderful “grapey” color and sort of smell as if it is fermenting. Watch out! The juice will leave a stain that’s impossible to wash, so wear a old t-shirt.

To bake the cobbler, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Take the dough from the refrigerator and remove the top layer. Fill the pastry-lined dish with the berry mixture, then dot with butter. Top with the second dough portion, brush heavily with cream and cover with the remaining sugar. Place the cobbler in the preheated over and immediately reduce the heat to 425. Bake for 45 minutes and remove when top is golden brown. Let the cobbler sit and cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve with ½ cup of cream that has been whipped and slightly sweetened with a tablespoon of sugar and a ½ teaspoon of vanilla. Makes 6 to 8 generous portions.