What!!?? Meatloaf that tastes good?
Brian and I have found it. The elusive meatloaf recipe that actually tastes good. And re heats well for left overs. You would think that with Brian's love for all things meat, he would have developed a good recipe years ago, but we didn't try meatloaf until that smooth talkin' Alton Brown beamed his recipe in our grubby little hands. (note - we wash our hands before preparing food.) We don't really change from his
recipe except for a few items.
Replace the onion with
Penzey's dried mince onion.
Replace the pepper with
Penzey's dried red and green pepper.
We like Penzey's. They keep us in onion and bell peppers when we don't have fresh.
As for in the glaze, we use
Garlic Tabasco.
And finally, instead of making a large loaf of this meatloaf, we divide it into
smaller loaf pans for maximum glazing surface area and crust.
Make this with
Alton's Stove top Mac-n-cheese!
Vegatarian Irish Stew?
Has the world gone mad? We were making a traditional Irish Stew, Brown Butter Irish Soda bread and got some nice Irish Cheddar. Then we came across the interesting challenge. My dear brother and his friends don't eat red meat! And they were staying at my house! What do you do in that situation?
Concentrate on your
vegetables. And have a secret
ingredient.
I like to use a pressure cooker when I am making stew the same day that I am eating it. It makes everything nice and falling apart, as all good stews should be like. My first step was to prep all the veggies. I had 5 lbs of
potatoes. I used three different
potatoes because that is what I had: Russets, red and
yukon gold. I chopped up one onion and one half leek. I thinly sliced 4 garlic cloves using a truffle slicer. (Remember that scene from
Goodfellas where they are all in
prison so they had extra time to use a razor blade to slice the garlic? yeah, I got a truffle slicer.) Grab a two pound bag of baby carrots (or slice them your self) and a few pub style cans of Stout. My secret
ingredient was a pinch of
black salt. I used it because I was looking to add a bit
umami flavor to the stew, as there was no meat in it. I guess someone could use mushrooms, but I don't use them, so I didn't know how to sub them for meat.
Putting it all together.
In the bottom of the pressure cooker, put two tablespoons of butter and a little oil. When the butter is melted, add the garlic. Watch the garlic carefully, because the thin
pieces will burn if you are not careful. After the garlic becomes golden, add the onion and saute. Add the pinch of black salt here. After the onions soften, add the
potatoes, carrots, and leeks. Then add the Stout. Add enough so the veggies are just covered with the stout. Bring to a simmer. Then follow the directions on your pressure cooker. I claim no
responsibility for you and your pressure cooker. Pressure cook for about half an hour. We start the time after the pressure indicator is going. After the time is up, safely
de pressurize and enjoy!
Customize your cupcakes!
Cupcakes are so hot right now. Everywhere I look there are gourmet cupcakes. This is an easy thing to do for the home cook. A few dramatic garnishes and, voila! super fancy cupcakes. This last weekend, I made two different cupcakes, Smores and HOT cakes.
S'mores - Bake some chocolate cupcakes. When they come out of the oven, place a piece of chocolate on top. I took chocolate squares and broke them into triangles. I stuck the tip of the triangle into the hot cupcake so it would melt just a little bit. Let the cupcakes cool. Really. Frozen would even be good. Take a jar of marshmallow fluff and scoop it on top of each cupcake. It is best to grease the bowl AND back of the spoon that you are using to do this. After your marshmallow fluff is on top, you can throw on a few mini marshmallows. Take out your Brulee torch and toast the tops. Of course, be careful of the cupcake papers. They catch on fire. Top each cupcake with a piece of gram cracker. Warn people that the cupcakes are messy.
HOT cakes - Make white or vanilla cupcakes. When mixing in the sugar, add about 1 tbs of cinnamon. (if you are using a cake mix, mix it into the dry ingredients) Bake. Cool. Mix the glaze. 1 cup powdered sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of cayenne. Mix the dry ingredients 1-2 tablespoons milk and a table spoon of vanilla. Start with less liquid, otherwise you will end up with too thin of glaze. You can add red food coloring if you would like to let people know that this is hot. Put the cupcakes upside down on a foil lined jelly roll sheet and scoop the glaze over the top. The glaze will be messy. Place a few cinnamon candies on the top. After about 15 minutes, the glaze will set. Move the cupcakes to a plate and enjoy!
What ideas do you have to fancy up cupcakes?
