A comfort food kind of night

I make dinner basically every Sunday and have been doing it for a long time now. Generally, everything goes just fine but every once in a while I screw something up. It doesn't happen that often but when it does, it really happens. And then it becomes an endless source of hilarity for all of the regulars. They take every opportunity to mention it in their (usually futile) attempts to get a rise out of me.

The most memorable screw up as of late - and apparently everyone's current favorite -  was the gravy incident. It was the Realtor's birthday and he had requested a German meal. I made Sauerbraten, red cabbage, and Spaetzle. If you've ever had Sauerbraten, you know that the gravy makes the meal.

A good Sauerbraten takes time (days, actually) and the gravy to me is the final piece of a long puzzle. The gravy is, in my opinion, the most important part of the Sauerbraten. It adds the sweetness and spice to the sour and savory meat and, well, it's delicious. Sauerbraten gravy calls for old fashioned, dark ginger snap cookies. For the occasion of the Realtor's birthday, I decided to make the cookies from scratch. I made the cookies the day before so they would be perfect for the gravy. That Sunday, I spent the day cooking and prepping and when the meat had been cooking for hours and was getting lovely and tender, I started on preparing for the gravy. I cooked tons of beautiful veggies in the broth with the meat to really flavor it and once we were almost ready to eat, I was going to finalize the last steps of the gravy - adding the cookies and thickening the gravy: After you remove the meat to a platter, you get rid of the veggies (put a colander in a bowl in the sink), reserve the precious liquid, then you add the cookies, etc...

So, I put a colander in the sink and at the very moment when I dumped the veggies and all that broth in, I realized I had forgotten the bowl as I watched all of that glorious liquid for the gravy go down the drain. NOOOO!!! I tried to reach in and scoop it up but it was still near boiling hot and, lets face it, how much was I going to save with my bare hands anyway? Yeah, that didn't work. All I could do was watch it all go away.

The meal that night was still good but it was certainly not the same as it should (or could) have been.

Since that night, every time I make anything that has any type of gravy, somebody - or everybody - says something along the lines of "do you need a supervisor to save the gravy?" or "uh oh, we're not going to have gravy tonight."

I have never again lost gravy like that (and I have since been vindicated by the Realtor doing a similar thing that involved the loss of pasta water that was meant for a sauce) but I definitely tend to shy away from meals that involve gravy.

This past Sunday, however, I made gravy. There was no mishap or incident, although that didn't stop The Boys from making their usual gravy-related comments. It wasn't even a necessary part of the meal but it made me remember the Sauerbraten story so there you have it.

This Sunday was a raincheck meal. If you recall, the Professor had a birthday recently and although he had originally requested meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans, we decided to go for Greek food instead because we had had the very meat-heavy Southern Fried Sunday the week before. So, the Professor suggested we go back to the meatloaf idea this weekend. And we did.

I decided to go for a traditional style meatloaf but I tweaked it a bit. I used 3 types of meat (beef, pork, and veal) and I used carrots, celery, and onion instead of just onion. I also decided to go with the free form loaf rather than a loaf pan. The meatloaf turned out well. It was moist and flavorful and the (s)mashed potatoes were creamy enough that they didn't even really need gravy.

Here's a before pic of my meatloaf (2 loaves, actually)

And, since I forgot to take a picture when they came out of the oven, here's a version of an after picture:

I know it looks like it is burned but it's not. That part is actually caramelized and freaking delicious!

So, here are the recipes:

Meatloaf:

(I adapted this from a Martha Stewart recipe called "classic meatloaf")

Ingredients for one meatloaf:

1/2 a medium onion

2 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)

1 carrot (peeled)

1 celery stalk

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1 lb ground beef (I use 85% lean because that fat adds juice and flavor)

1 lb ground pork (I use spicy but you can just use plain)

1/2 lb ground veal

1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of dried breadcrumbs

1 egg

about 1/3 cup of ketchup (plus another 1/3 cup for later)

1 Tblsp. Dijon mustard

1 Tblsp. Worcestershire sauce

salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Put the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and parsley in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

3. Put your meat in a large mixing bowl, add the veggies, breadcrumbs, egg, 1/3 cup of ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and a generous pinch of salt & pepper.

4. Get in there with your (clean) hands and mix it up but just mix it until it's all combined. You don't want to over-mix it - that tends to make it tougher than you want it to be.

5. Form the loaf on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish (baking dish is good if you want to capture the juices to make a gravy).

6. Brush the top with the remaining ketchup. (Lots of recipes call for a ketchup, brown sugar mixture here but I think ketchup is sweet enough as it is.)

7. Bake at 375 for about an hour. Check the internal temperature (you want to be get to about 160 - 165). If you don't have a thermometer, you can cut into the meatloaf and take a look. If it's too pink or too mushy, keep it in the oven a little longer.

8. Once you remove it from the oven, transfer it to a serving plate and tent it with foil while you finish up the rest of the meal.

Creamy mashed potatoes:

I use waxier potatoes than the traditional russets. I use baby gold potatoes or red potatoes, depending on the look I want. I also don't peel the potatoes.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. potatoes (unpeeled but washed)
2 to 3 Tblsp. butter
1/2 cup heavy cream (add more if they are too dry)
salt

Directions:

1. Cut the potatoes into quarters and put them in a large pot of cold water.

2. Salt the water and bring it to a boil.

3. Boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes until they are very tender.

4. While the potatoes are boiling, combine the butter and the cream in a microwave safe dish (or a pan on the stove) and warm it a little, just enough to start the butter melting in the warm cream.

4. Strain the potatoes and put them in a large serving bowl and add the cream/butter mixture.

5. With a potato masher or a sturdy large fork, smash the potatoes until they are a fairly creamy consistency. I like mine to have some potato lumps but that's up to you.

6. Add a little salt at the end if it's needed but since you already salted the water earlier, you probably won't need much additional salt.

Lemony green beans:

Ingredients:

1 to 2 lbs of green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup of chicken broth
2 garlic cloves (crushed/minced)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 small lemon

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, bring the chicken broth and the garlic to a boil.

2. Add the green beans and simmer, stirring occasionally, until they are bright green and tender (I like it when they're still a bit firm but that's up to you).

3. While the beans are cooking, slice up the lemon into thin slices.

4. Remove the green beans to a serving dish and drizzle with the olive oil.

5. Dump the lemons on top and give the whole thing a good stir. Enjoy!

- You can use the leftover chicken broth from the beans to flavor any gravy you might be making, just don't dump it out if you're intending to use it. :-)

Lemony garlicky green beans

- I don't remember where I originally found this recipe but it's so simple that I make it fairly often.

Ingredients:

1 to 2 lbs of green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup of chicken broth
2 garlic cloves (crushed/minced)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 small lemon

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, bring the chicken broth and the garlic to a boil.

2. Add the green beans and simmer, stirring occasionally, until they are bright green and tender (I like it when they're still a bit firm but that's up to you).

3. While the beans are cooking, slice up the lemon into thin slices.

4. Remove the green beans to a serving dish and drizzle with the olive oil.

5. Dump the lemons on top and give the whole thing a good stir. Enjoy!

- You can use the leftover chicken broth from the beans to flavor any gravy you might be making, just don't dump it out if you're intending to use it. :-)

Creamy (s)mashed potatoes

- I use waxier potatoes than the traditional russets. I use baby gold potatoes or red potatoes, depending on the look I want. I also don't peel the potatoes.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. potatoes (unpeeled but washed)
2 to 3 Tblsp. butter
1/2 cup heavy cream (add more if they are too dry)
salt

Directions:

1. Cut the potatoes into quarters and put them in a large pot of cold water.

2. Salt the water and bring it to a boil.

3. Boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes until they are very tender.

4. While the potatoes are boiling, combine the butter and the cream in a microwave safe dish (or a pan on the stove) and warm it a little, just enough to start the butter melting in the warm cream.

4. Strain the potatoes and put them in a large serving bowl and add the cream/butter mixture.

5. With a potato masher or a sturdy large fork, smash the potatoes until they are a fairly creamy consistency. I like mine to have some potato lumps but that's up to you.

6. Add a little salt at the end if it's needed but since you already salted the water earlier, you probably won't need much additional salt.

Meatloaf

(I adapted this from a Martha Stewart recipe called "classic meatloaf")

Ingredients for one meatloaf (this is easily double-able):

1/2 a medium onion

2 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)

1 carrot (peeled)

1 celery stalk

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1 lb ground beef (I use 85% lean because that fat adds juice and flavor)

1 lb ground pork (I use spicy but you can just use plain)

1/2 lb ground veal

1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of dried breadcrumbs

1 egg

about 1/3 cup of ketchup (plus another 1/3 cup for later)

1 Tblsp. Dijon mustard

1 Tblsp. Worcestershire sauce

salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Put the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and parsley in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

3. Put your meat in a large mixing bowl, add the veggies, breadcrumbs, egg, 1/3 cup of ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and a generous pinch of salt & pepper.

4. Get in there with your (clean) hands and mix it up but just mix it until it's all combined. You don't want to over-mix it - that tends to make it tougher than you want it to be.

5. Form the loaf on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish (baking dish is good if you want to capture the juices to make a gravy).

6. Brush the top with the remaining ketchup. (Lots of recipes call for a ketchup, brown sugar mixture here but I think ketchup is sweet enough as it is.)

7. Bake at 375 for about an hour. Check the internal temperature (you want to be get to about 160 - 165). If you don't have a thermometer, you can cut into the meatloaf and take a look. If it's too pink or too mushy, keep it in the oven a little longer.

8. Once you remove it from the oven, transfer it to a serving plate and tent it with foil while you finish up the rest of the meal.

I made dessert!!

I am not a baker. Mostly it's because I have a hard time following directions so precisely. Now, I know that might surprise some people because I tend to be a fairly precise person but there's something rebellious that rises in me when a piece of paper is telling me what to do. I can't help it!

When I cook, I don't usually follow recipes. I use them as a starting point, a suggestion, a source of inspiration. As you can see from the recipes I've posted so far, they all say, "adapted from" or "based on" or something of that sort because I never follow a recipe exactly. First off, I very rarely measure anything, I eyeball it instead.

And that does not work well when baking. It needs to be more precise than that, especially if you are not  a regular baker.

However, as I was getting ready for Sunday dinner this past weekend, my mother posted a picture and video of a dessert on Facebook. I didn't look at the video until I saw the next day that a friend of mine had used her post to make an afternoon dessert and posted a picture that looked just like the one my mother had posted. I was intrigued so I watched the little video and it looked so simple!

I have said before that I rarely serve dessert with dinner but this weekend I did. Look!!

That was before they went into the oven.

Here's what they looked like when I took them out. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them nicely presented on a pretty plate & dusted in powdered sugar but I had put my phone away by then.

Of course I didn't follow the recipe/video exactly. I used mango preserves instead of the recommended apricot because I could not find apricot jam or preserves without high fructose corn syrup and I didn't feel like going to multiple stores. Also, I doubled the recipe, which meant the time it took to "cook" the apples in water and lemon juice was a lot longer. You'll see in the video, it says to put the apple slices in the water and microwave for 3 minutes. It took about 9 minutes to do the double batch. Whatever you do, just make sure the slices are cooked enough to be soft and "rollable". You'll see why.

Here's the video: Baked Apple Flowers

I was amazed at how easy these were. A bit time consuming but really pretty simple and everybody loved them. They weren't too sweet, they were just the right size for a small dessert after dinner and I served them with plain vanilla ice cream. 

As an added bonus: Panda decided to have a porter float to go along with her dessert, which was also a big hit: pour any porter or other very dark beer into a tall glass - don't fill it all the way! It will overflow - then add a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream and enjoy! 

Professor More-Right had a birthday

Professor More-Right is brilliant. I've already told you that much. However, sometimes brilliance isn't enough to keep you from doing something less than genius. I have also told you that our dear professor is talented in the kitchen and we all especially love his pizza dough. Sometimes though, it's easier to just pop a frozen pizza in the oven and call it a day.

One evening a while back, Professor More-Right went for the frozen pizza. But instead of taking it out of its packaging like a normal human, our dear professor used one of his appropriately-sharp-for-a-chef knife to cut the packaging and promptly sliced off the tip of his finger. Yup. You read that right. He sliced off the tip of his finger. Just the tip, though. :-)

He immediately started bleeding. Duh. He grabbed a towel to put pressure on the finger to stop the bleeding. He couldn't get it to stop and, of course, every time he tried to do anything, he had to let go of the towel over the finger and the blood just kept coming. So, of course he decided to call his best friend, the Slovak, for help. Naturally. But to do so, he had to let go to pick up the phone, he had to let go to make the call, etc.

The call went something like this:

Professor, "Hey, what are you doing?"
Slovak, "Not much, just sitting down to eat something. What's up?"
Professor, "Well, I cut my finger. Can you come over?"
Slovak, "Sure."

Yes, they are really that calm.

And so the Slovak went over to the Professor's place to assist. Have you seen the TV show Dexter? Well, that's how the Slovak describes the scene. Lots of blood. Everywhere. From the front door to the kitchen, all over the kitchen, the bathroom, everywhere. It makes sense really. If the finger spurted blood every time Professor More-Right let go, of course there was blood everywhere. He cut the tip of the finger off in the kitchen, went to the bathroom to get a towel, went to get the phone, made the call, had to go to the front door to open it for the Slovak, etc.

Anyway, the Slovak helped to bandage up the now slightly shorter finger and then the boys continued making that damn frozen pizza and ate it like nothing happened.

Everybody at Sunday dinner knows this story and we laugh about it regularly. Even more so once we learned that our professor is part lizard and eventually regrew that finger tip...

-

Whenever a regular has a birthday, that person gets to choose the meal. Since it was his birthday last week, Professor More-Right got to choose. He originally wanted meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and some sort of vegetable but after our amazing Southern Fried Sunday, he decided to go with something a little lighter and chose Greek food instead. I love Greek food and so I had a ton of fun with this meal.

I wanted to use a recipe I've been eyeing for years that calls for either quail or partridge. Well, those aren't all that easy to come by so I opted for Game Hens instead. This meant I had to adapt the recipe a bit since game hens are bigger than both partridges and quails.

So, we had spicy broiled game hens, roasted lemon potatoes, a traditional Greek village salad, and rocket salad.

The meal.

Here are the recipes. They are all quite simple. The challenge here was timing. I have a small, ancient oven and so broiling the game hens while also roasting the potatoes was interesting but since we like the potatoes to be a bit crispy, it worked out to put them in the oven while the broiler was on and let them roast at a slightly higher temperature than usual.

(Each recipe is also its own post so you can click on the title of each if you want just the recipe and not this entire post for future reference.)

Spicy Broiled Game Hens

- this recipe is adapted from the Spicy Broiled Quail recipe I found in "The Book of Greek Cooking" by Lesley Mackley

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves
salt
1 Tablespoon each of ground cumin and coriander
1 small onion, cut into rough chunks
a handful of fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup of good olive oil
4 game hens (cut in half) (1/2 a hen is about enough for one person)
2 - 3 lemons cut into slices for garnish

Directions:

1. Put the first 7 ingredients into a food processor and make a paste. Spread the paste over the game hens (top and bottom). Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

2. Preheat the broiler.

3. Place the game hen halves on a broiler rack or baking rack and broil, turning every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes until the game hens are slightly charred on the outside.

4. If they're not fully cooked, put them in the oven to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the juice runs clear when pierced. (Or you can pull back one of the legs to check if there's any pink left.)

5. Serve garnished with lemon slices.

Roasted Lemon Potatoes

Ingredients:
small baby potatoes (I typically estimate about 4 potatoes per person)
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup (or enough to coat) olive oil
lemon juice (about half the amount of oil you used)
a few teaspoons of sea salt
a little less fresh ground pepper
a few tablespoons of dried rosemary

Directions:

1. Cut the potatoes into quarters and put into a large bowl.

2. Add olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and rosemary to the potatoes and mix until the potatoes are evenly coated (feel free to use your hands for this - after you wash them, of course).

3. Put the potatoes into a baking dish and bake at 425 for about 30 to 45 minutes. It's fine if there a little crispy, it's actually preferred.

If you're making these at the same time as you are using your broiler and if your oven is heated by the same source as the broiler, that's perfectly fine too. Just check the potatoes after about half an hour and keep an eye on them. When they're soft, they're done.

Rocket Salad

“Rocket” is British for arugula; the Greeks call it roka.

Ingredients:

1 bag of arugula
2 large oranges
1 big chunk of feta cheese
1/3 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Dump a bag of baby arugula into a large salad bowl or platter.

2. Peel 2 large oranges and cut the sections into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle on the arugula.

3. Cut up a chunk of feta cheese into bite sized pieces and add to the salad.

4. Douse the salad well with olive oil and toss gently. If desired, squeeze some orange juice and or lemon juice over the salad.

Greek Salad

Greek salad does not need to have lettuce. Use the freshest vegetables you can find. If the tomatoes are not in season, it helps to peel them for more flavor.

Ingredients:

4 - 6 tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1 red onion
1 chunk of feta cheese
pitted Kalamata olives (however many you want)
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon (or more if you like) dried oregano

Directions:

1. Cut up the tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion into bite-sized chunks and dump them all into your serving dish.

2. Top the salad with a good chunk of feta cheese and Kalamata olives.

3. Pour olive oil over the top and sprinkle with dried oregano & toss when you serve.

That's it!

As a final note, this was one of Professor More-Right's birthday presents, appropriately gifted by the Slovak.

blood spatter cutting board

As always, Happy Eating! 

Now, who wants leftovers?

Spicy Broiled Game Hens

Spicy Broiled Game Hens

- this recipe is adapted from the Spicy Broiled Quail recipe I found in "The Book of Greek Cooking" by Lesley Mackley

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves
salt
1 Tablespoon each of ground cumin and coriander
1 small onion, cut into rough chunks
a handful of fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup of good olive oil
4 game hens (cut in half) (1/2 a hen is about enough for one person)
2 - 3 lemons cut into slices for garnish

Directions:

1. Put the first 7 ingredients into a food processor and make a paste. Spread the paste over the game hens (top and bottom). Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

2. Preheat the broiler.

3. Place the game hen halves on a broiler rack or baking rack and broil, turning every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes until the game hens are slightly charred on the outside.

4. If they're not fully cooked, put them in the oven to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the juice runs clear when pierced. (Or you can pull back one of the legs to check if there's any pink left.)

5. Serve garnished with lemon slices.