Yes, You Can Make This at Home

Do you like sandwich spread but are somewhat leery of what may be lurking in that package sitting in the deli case of your local grocery store? Then you are in luck, as I can show you how to make your own sandwich spread, using only the good ingredients (credit Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa).

Here are our usual suspects:

One pound package beef bologna

garlic mustard sauce

mayonnaise

relish

red onion

celery

For some unknown reason I decided to chop everything by hand, despite the fact that I had spent nearly an hour outside this morning working in the garden.

At this point I added mayonnaise and the mustard sauce and mixed to taste.

I decided that the mix was just a bit too salty for my taste, so I added perhaps just under a half teaspoon of sugar to the sandwich spread to counter the salt.

Remember, sugar counteracts salt in food. But be careful to not go overboard, as you really don't want a sweet sandwich spread.

If I had a red bell pepper, I would have put that in this just for the color, taste and texture.

It was still good.

And it was even better in a sandwich with a fresh pasta salad and good potato chips with homemade chip dip.




Just remember to use the good stuff.

A New Twist on a Pasta Salad

Since my family has been so finicky lately, I decided to up the ante. Tonight's dinner was a pork loin roast with apples and onions and a pasta salad. Now, you may recall that I made a similar salad for our family's Easter dinner, but tonight's version has a different vinaigrette, giving it an entirely different identity.

I added broccoli (which I later blanched for a few seconds), red bell pepper, carrot, green onion, celery and roma tomato.

I cooked farfalle pasta for the dish.

On a whim, I decided to toss in a few blue cheese crumbles. Unfortunately, I didn't have any feta cheese on hand, or I would have used that instead.

Now it's time for the vinaigrette. The ingredients: one lemon, juiced, dijon mustard, salt, black pepper and olive oil. After tasting, I decided to add a bit of honey to round out the flavors.

What do you know? My family actually liked this. I had begun to give up on them.

What's that, you say? What about the pork roast? Once again, I forgot to take the after pictures. But since you asked so nicely, I will give you an idea of what you missed.

Earlier in the day, I prepared a marinade of balsamic vinegar, honey, dijon mustard, salt, black pepper, a smashed garlic clove and canola oil. The pork loin marinated for several hours in the refrigerator.

And now it's time to cook. I went out on my deck and pinched off a couple of small sprigs of my now-growing thyme, and a few leaves off my new sage plant. Then I roughly chopped some onion, and pulled a cup of homemade turkey stock out of the freezer. After some thought, I also grabbed an apple and sliced that thinly.

I seared the pork loin in canola oil, added the sage, thyme, apple and onion and allowed them to cook for a bit before adding the remaining marinade and the turkey stock. I placed a remote temperature probe into the thickest part of the meat and baked this in a 350 degree oven until the meat reached an internal temperature of 140 degrees.

I pulled the meat out and covered it with foil. I then placed the pot back on the stove top and reduced the liquid. After about 10 minutes, I sliced the pork loin and laid it on top of the apples and onions.

Now, you clever readers might notice that there are no more pictures. I really do need to work on remembering to take pictures of the finished dishes. Bad blogger, bad blogger.

Marinated Flank Steak and a Trial Run

The flank steak and the ingredients for the marinade. The recipe follows.

BOURBON AND BROWN SUGAR FLANK STEAK

Beef or pork tenderloin will also work in this recipe. If cooking in an oven, browning the meat quickly over high heat on the stovetop will sear the outside of the meat nicely.

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup minced green onions

1/4 cup bourbon

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 (2-pound) flank steak, trimmed

Preheat grill or oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare marinade by combining the all the ingredients, minus the meat, in a bowl. Place meat in a plastic zipper bag, and pour the marinade over the meat. Squeeze out most of the air in the bag before sealing. Place the bag in a dish and refrigerate for approximately 8 to 12 hours, turning the meat over several times.

When grill or oven is ready, place meat on oiled surface. Cook over high heat with lid closed. Once the meat releases easily from the grate, it is time to turn the meat. The tenderloin will cook to rare in approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Allow the meat to rest off the heat, covered under aluminum foil, for 10 minutes before carving.

I made the marinade this morning and put the flank steak in it. Remember to place the plastic food storage bag in another container in case of leakage. I do believe that one of Murphy's Laws' Corollaries covers this occurrence: the one time you do not put the liquid-filled bag in another container would be the one time the bag would leak.

And now we experiment. I have to take a pasta salad for our family's Easter get-together on Sunday, and I need to have a good homemade dressing to go with the salad. I settled on a balsamic vinaigrette and decided to do a test-run for tonight's dinner.

I chopped up several vegetables that I had on hand.

I added the cooked, and not-rinsed, farfalle (psst, bowtie) pasta to the mix. Then the dressing is added and we are ready to serve.

Well, I will blame my husband for this: he came home from work late, so by the time dinner was ready, the last thing on my mind was taking pictures of the food. So I give you the next, best thing: the aftermath. I had seared the meat on both sides, added the remaining marinade mixture, brought it up to a hard boil to kill nasty bugs, and then covered and simmered for several more minutes.

The verdict? My very picky husband liked this dinner very much. Of course, some of that may have been due to the fact that he once again skipped lunch (and he doesn't eat breakfast.). Hey, I'm sticking with the idea that he loves my cooking...