A Comforting Dinner

An early winter's storm is supposed to roll in

tonight, so it seemed a good time to serve some

comforting Midwestern fare.

First up was a meatloaf.

This time around I purchased about 2/3 of a pound of

ground beef,

1/2 pound ground veal and

1/2 pound ground pork.

To this I added:

1 minced celery rib (cleaned and trimmed)

1/2 carrot finely shredded (peeled first, please)

2 garlic cloves, grated

1/4 cup onion, grated

1 teaspoon dried Herbes de Provence

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

4 teaspoons Sycamore Falls™ Original Style Barbecue Sauce

50 grinds black pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon)

1 egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Mash the meat together with a fork* together

in order to avoid over mixing the meat.

*Or as Sandra Lee would say, "fork it."

Twit.

Add in the other ingredients.*

*I wouldn't recommend this method as one should

rather attempt to mix the ingredients as equally as possible.

I did this just for demonstration purposes.

Do as I say, not as I do.

Mix well with a fork.

Remember, your patience will be rewarded.

Shape and turn out into a baking dish.



Cover with more barbecue sauce.







Now on to the second dish.



I picked up a package of Klondike Medley™ potatoes.



I also have onion, bacon, salt and black pepper.






Here we have Peruvian purple potatoes,

red skinned potatoes, Yukon potatoes,

onions and bacon.








I urge you to seek out these Peruvian beauties.



They really don't taste any different, but they are lovely

on the plate.

I roast them with onion, salt and pepper in a 400 degree oven
for 1 hour,

adding the bacon for the last half-hour.






Finally, we have the Brussels sprouts.



I have had a hankering for these lately,

but unfortunately, it is difficult to buy them

- at least in limited quantities -

at our local stores.



I purchased three sprouts, but had to remove several

outer leaves due to mildew.

I also have bacon, sugar, salt and black pepper.









I have found through trial and error that I best like these

beauties when their leaves are exposed so that they

are exposed to the heat and can be caramelized.



This is tedious work,

but I find that I like to do my prep work for dinner

earlier in the day.



It is somehow restful for me.




After the bacon has been mostly cooked through,

the Brussels spout leaves are added to the pan.



Then the sugar, salt and pepper are added.





This is cooked until the sprouts are lightly caramelized.

And dinner is served.

I'm a happy Foodie.

An Appreciation for New Tastes

I’m sure we all remember our parents’ well-meaning efforts to get us to expand our

culinary horizons as we were growing up.

*

Liver and onions?

Beef heart?

Pork and Saur kraut?

Stewed tomatoes and bread?

Canned spinach with vinegar?

*

Hm, guess my parents weren’t very successful with me at the time.

On the other hand,

they ended up being successful far beyond their wildest dreams as I did eventually learn on my own to embrace the new and unusual in food tastes and textures.

~*~

As I have grown older I have actively sought to expand my culinary horizons.

That has meant trying new ethnic restaurants in our Big 10 college town

as well as many new dishes.

*

Now, there are certain foods that I have decided

that I just don't like and don't have to like.

Foods such as saur kraut,

liver,

sushi (I just can't stand nori),

broccolini,

cooked spinach,

ham and bean soup,

chili with beans

(notice a trend here? I admit it, I really don't like beans),

cherries,

and I'm sure that there are others that escape my grasp at the moment.

*

One food that I have tried in the past and really haven't liked is Brussels sprouts.

But this has been one food that I have been determined to conquer as I could sense that it had potential, if just given the chance.

I have, of course, blogged about Brussels sprouts before,

but I still felt that there was room for improvement.

My mise en place consists of

4 Brussels sprouts

2 slices bacon, cut into lardons

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pinch kosher salt

1 dash ground black pepper.

I had earlier discovered that separating the leaves of

the Brussels sprouts makes for a dish that is more palatable to me as this allows more of the sprout to be caramelized.

This takes some time, so I typically do this in the afternoon.

In fact, I often take the sprouts, a cutting board, a paring knife and a bowl

into the library so I can work on the sprouts at my desk while I watch the Food Network.

Once it is time to cook the dish, I first brown the bacon before adding

the Brussels sprouts leaves.

Then the seasonings are tossed in and

the Brussels spouts are caramelized.

All in all, this is a very quick and easy dish to prepare.

Of course, if you wish, you can simply cut each sprout in half before sauteing.

These sprouts were the perfect accompaniment to

Mustard Beef Short Ribs and homemade applesauce.

And the addition of the sugar was just what was needed to make this dish even better.

Another Friday Night, Another Dinner

Isn't it amazing how quickly those Friday night dinners roll around?

Once a week, it seems.

Well, for this Friday night, I had a new idea for dinner.

Why don't you come along and see what we had this time?

Yet once again, the Internet comes to the rescue as I found a recipe for Pork Medallions with Balsamic Honey Glaze.

Here I have

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (remember, since we are cooking this, it can be a lesser quality)

3 tablespoons honey

2 large cloves garlic, grated

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

salt

ground black pepper

It's all mixed together now.

Since there would just be two of us for dinner, I bought two thick-cut America's Cut Pork Chops (tm) at the butcher's counter of my local grocery store.

The recipe directions say to sear each side for 1 to 2 minutes on the stove.

Okay, that is done. Now, don't mind me, but I highly doubt that a mere 8 to 10 minutes more in a 350 oven will result in our chops reaching our desired 140 degrees.

And in fact, my handy dandy thermometer confirmed this fact, as it took amost three times as long to reach the target temperature.

Reading through the reviews for the recipe, I decided that the glaze should be reduced a bit more.

So I added the glaze to the hot pan and allowed it to reduce by about 1/3 before adding it to the meat that would be going into the oven.

Looking better.

Now, I'm thinking that I would have cooked these just a bit more on the stove the next time.

But I kinda, sorta followed the recipe this time.

While the meat finished in the oven, I turned my attention to the sides.

In honor of my daughter, I started off with bacon.

Then I added the previously blanched green beans from our garden and the store.

I let the green beans cook till until almost done before removing them to the oven.

Looking good, right?

Then I moved on to the piece de resistance of the evening.

Sauteed Brussels sprouts.

After much trial and error and much determination on my part, I have decided that I like my my Brussels sprouts separated and sauteed with bacon.

The Brussels sprouts leaves are caramelized and oh so very tasty.

Now tell me that this doesn't look good.

The pork chops have reached the optimum temperature of 140 degrees.

The sides are ready.

In the end we decided to split our pork chops in half and save the rest for later.

The veggies we ate right away.

The husband even declared that he liked the Brussels sprouts.

You know what?

The dear husband moved just that much closer to being able to be called the Foodie Husband.

It's a process, dear.

You have to earn it.

A Mid-Week Dinner

I am always on the look-out for a new twist on an old favorite. Recently, I decided to make an Asian-inspired boneless pork rib dish. Having given up on trying to find the 'right' recipe, I began pulling out ingredients from my very own refrigerator and pantry. Hey, that makes me a Semi-Homemaker, according to Sandra Lee! Except not.

Here are the likely suspects for this dish. From the back left we have rice vinegar (always get the unsalted version), Low-Sodium Soy Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce, Honey, a Scallion, a Garlic Clove, Ginger Root (I wrap this in plastic wrap and then seal in a zipper-top plastic bag and freeze) and the boneless pork ribs. I grated the garlic and about a tablespoon of ginger and chopped the scallion.

I knew that I wanted the meat to marinate overnight, so I began working on this after the previous night's dinner.

I sliced the pork rib into bite-size pieces and placed in a zipper-top bag. Then I added ingredients, mixed and tasted until I was happy with the marinade.

A bit of the marinade went in with the pork while the remainder was kept apart to be used as a finishing sauce. This all went into a plastic container to guard against leaks and was placed in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning I pulled the pork out of the marinade and placed the pieces on a rack over a pan so that the pieces could dry out. This went back into the refrigerator. The used marinade was discarded.

And now it's time to work on a side dish that I know only I will be eating. Oh well, they don't know what they are missing.

I have decided that I actually do like Brussels Sprouts, but only if cooked in a certain way. Here I have my good Balsamic Vinegar, Brussels Sprouts, Black Pepper, Salt, Bacon and a Shallot.

I decided to handle the tedious chore of separating the leaves of the Brussels Sprouts while I watched Sandra Lee commit her crimes against food on her show on Food Network.

First I cut out the core and pulled off the outer leaves. Then, it gets to be very difficult to get the things off, so I cut the sprouts in half through the core. Be warned, you will likely find evidence of bugs that once resided inside the sprouts. Clean that out or discard those leaves. Makes you wonder about eating the entire sprout, huh?






There, the leaves have been separated and the bacon and shallot chopped.

First I cooked the bacon and shallot.

Once the bacon is nearly cooked through I added the Brussels Sprouts.

These continue to cook until the sprouts have begun to lightly brown. It was at this point that my daughter wandered in and complained that I was making the whole house stink. I think you can guess that she won't be eating any.

Now, this looks good. The Balsamic Vinegar was drizzled over the top at this point. I still had the entree to finish, so I placed the dish in a warm oven.

And now you can see why I wanted the meat to dry before I cooked it. I added a bit of oil to a pan and cooked the pork in batches. Once cooked, the meat went into a dish that was placed in the warm oven.

I also baked some waffle fries (the Semi-Homemade part of the meal) for my daughter.

The reserved sauce was drizzled over the meat. Sweet, yet tangy.

The Brussels Sprouts were sublime.

All in all, this was a good and satisfying meal.