Boo Who!

I was talking with some friends last night, and they wanted me to assure you, that even though tonight is one of the scariest nights ever, there is nothing to fear, but fear itself.

By the way, these are my friends, Mummy, Fall Guy, Scaredy Crow, Black Beauty, Prissy Girl, Fear, and Fear Itself.  Have fun, and watch your back!!!!

Happy Halloween from UD and ME

A bientot!  BOO to you too!

A Little Dab Won't Do Ya

Recently two of my sisters, and their four kids, came to visit UD and ME.  This has become a yearly tradition, for which I am very grateful to my sisters.  I used to be able to see a lot more of them, and their precious four, but then came the move to The Rocky Coast.  So it is something we really look forward to, and always a fun event.  Each year we have had a treasure hunt, and here are a few pictures. 

J and G are searching for some clues.

As are L and T.

Eventually they all made it safely back with their treasures in hand.

In the meantime, I was given some treasures also.  Sister N brought along some delicious wines that we were able to enjoy that evening, once everything settled down.  And Sister E brought along some very fresh cranberries that she and her friend P had gathered.  Well, the wine I knew what to do with, but the cranberries proved to be more of a challenge.  But what am I, a mouse or a man?  Well neither, but come on challenge.  So after much recipe searching, I came upon this one.  It is a savory cranberry sauce, whose original intent was to be served with steak.  But that didn't jive with me.  I thought chicken or pork.  So we tried it with both.  But more on that later.

You will need:
2 cups of cranberries, fresh or defrosted
1 cup diced white onion (1 large)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups dark ale or lager beer
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce

ALSO:
1/2 to 1 cup granulated sugar - This was not called for in the recipe, but I added it in the end, because I found the sauce much too tart for my liking.  After reading many recipes, I noticed some had more sugar than others.  So add this sugar 1/4 cup at a time, until it tastes delicious to you.  Again, this would be added at the very end.

Rinse the cranberries.  Don't they look beautiful?

Put all the ingredients in a good sized pot, minus the granulated sugar.

Bring everything to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

Continue stirring until the sauce has thickened and reduced slightly, about 1 hour.

Next, put it in a blender, in batches, until smooth.  You could also use a food processor, or an immersion blender.  The immersion blender seemed like the easiest way for me to go.  Use what you are most comfortable with.

Place a fine mesh strainer in another pot, and press the mixture through.

There will be very little waste.

Now you have a rich, dark red cranberry sauce, ready for the tasting.  This is where I slowly added in some granulated sugar.  I believe I used at least 3/4 of a cup, if not a whole cup.  I let it simmer for 10 more minutes or so, until the sugar was totally absorbed.

UD had the sauce with chicken.  He loved it, and eventually doused his egg noodles with it also.  We had a salad with dinner, but luckily he stuck with regular salad dressing for that.

I had the sauce with a pork chop.  I was a little less sure of how I would like it, so I just put a dab of it on the side of the plate.  That little dab soon proved to be a joke.  I brought a bowl and small ladle to the table, and we went to town!

A bientot!  See you soon.

Double Mushroom and Sherry Meatloaf with Gravy

My favorite food related magazine is the Food Network Magazine, and a close second would be Fine Cooking.  UD browses through these also, and sometimes stops on a page and says "will you make this for me?".  Most often it is something I would like too (with the exception of pea soup), so I am happy to do it.  This is the Feb/March 2011 issue of Fine Cooking.  When UD got to this page, he was salivating while asking me to make one of these meatloaves.  (Not really, that would be gross, and a very legitimate cause for divorce.)  I don't remember why I didn't do it when he first asked, but this magazine has been open to this page since last February.  Every once in a while over the spring/summer, he would hold up the magazine and ask me when I would make one of them.  Well I finally did it.

This is the page with the various meatloaf combinations.  They all looked pretty good, but UD picked ...

... this one, the Double Mushroom and Sherry Meatloaf.

The recipe called for veal and pork.  I switched it to beef and pork.  I believe that is the only change I made. 

The basic ingredients are

2 lbs of ground meat

2 large eggs

4 oz medium-coarse stale white bread (I used Italian)

1 cup of whole milk

1 tbls Worcestershire sauce

2 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

The add-ins for this meatloaf are

3/4 cup fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup of dry sherry

1/4 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, re-hydrated

1 tsp sage

1 tsp thyme

3 tbls ketchup for glaze

The first step is to coarsely chop the onion and mushrooms.

Saute them with canola oil or EVOO, and 2 whole smashed cloves of garlic, until softened.

Then add the sherry and simmer briskly until almost dry.  About 4 or 5 minutes.

Then move the mixture to a large bowl and let it cool.

Then soak the stale bread in 1 cup of whole milk.  Flip it once, until it is soggy, but not falling apart.

Lightly squeeze a handful of bread at a time, to remove some of the milk.

Chop it as finely as you can, and add it to the bowl with the cooked onion and mushrooms.

Next, finely chop the thyme and sage.

Hydrate the mushrooms according to package directions.

Crack two large eggs into a bowl and lightly beat them.

Add the meat to the bowl with mushrooms, onions and bread.

Sprinkle the sage, thyme, shiitake mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt and pepper over the meat.  In other words, throw everything into the bowl that you haven't used yet.  Use your hands to gently mix it, without compacting the meat.  That would make for a tough meatloaf, rather than a nice tender one.

Now for the taste test.  This is a practice that a lot of people use for meatloaf, and it is a great idea.  I often forget to do it, so I was happy that this recipe actually included the taste test in it.  Heat some canola oil in a pan and cook a small patty through to doneness.  Taste it, and add more salt, pepper or other seasonings, if you think they are lacking.  UD and I both tasted it, and thought it was spot on.

Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of a 9x13 (ish) baking pan, and form the loaf into a 10x4-inch (ish) rectangular block.  Spread the ketchup over the top and sides, and bake in a 375 degree oven for 40-55 minutes.  I like my meatloaf well done, so I went with 55 minutes.

Once that was in the oven, I put some potatoes on the stove for mashed potatoes.  Now this post is all about the meatloaf and gravy, so forgive me for omitting the mashed potato portion.  But you can see that process all over this blog. 

The next step was the Mushroom Sherry gravy.  Oh boy, was this good.  And very easy to put together.

The ingredients are:
1 cup low salt beef broth
1 tbls. EVOO
2 slices center-cut bacon, diced (I didn't have center cut, so I just cut off some of the fat from the two slices I used)
6 oz. cremini (baby bella) or white mushrooms, about 1/8 inch thick
1/2 cup minced onion
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbls. dry sherry
3 tbls. flour

Combine the broth with one cup of hot water.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat, then add the diced bacon and cook, until they are starting to crisp up.

Add the mushrooms.

Stir the bacon and mushrooms together, until the mushrooms start to get some color.  Do not add the salt yet.  That will draw out the water in the mushrooms, and make them soggy.

Now add the onion, salt and pepper.

Cook until everything has cooked through, and the bottom of the pan is starting to brown. Remember, brown food tastes good.

Then add the sherry, and that will start lifting those delicious brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  Stir this for about 1 minute.

Sprinkle in the flour.

Stir constantly until the mixture has browned and it is slightly dry and crumbly.  30 seconds to 1 minute ought to do it.

Whisk in half the broth mixture and continue whisking until the liquid is absorbed into the flour, about 30 seconds.

Whisk in the remaining broth mixture and bring the gravy to a gentle boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5-10 minutes.  Season to taste with more salt and/or pepper.  The gravy can be thinned out with more broth or water if necessary.

Now the meatloaf is ready to come out of the oven.  The parchment paper has saved you some of the yucky clean up.  But believe me, this meatloaf is worth every bit of the yuckiness.

Transfer it to a platter and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

I used that time to open up a box of Green Giant brussel sprouts, and introduce them to my friend the microwave.  Every now and then, we all need a little help from our friends.

I sliced up the meatloaf, and added two to my plate.  Then I gobbed on some creamy mashed potatoes and added some tender brussel sprouts.

But the crowning glory was the delicious and mouthwatering mushroom and sherry gravy.  Boy were we feeling the love with that meal.

A bientot!  See you soon.