Dinner 2019

[lindag]

14 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

This almost ended up in the “I will never again…” thread because I’m not sure I’m ever making meatloaf again.  For most of my early adult life, I couldn’t make meatloaf to save my life.  It tasted fine, but fell apart – no matter what recipe I used.  Mr. Kim and I used to joke that my meatloaf made great spaghetti sauce.  Then, about ten years ago, it suddenly started working for me.  They held together and served great both hot and cold.  I haven’t made one in a long time and got a craving.  So, I used one of my usual recipes - Barbeque Meat Loaf.  I didn’t put it in a loaf pan – just patted it into shape on a sheet pan and put it in the oven.  When I went in to brush it with sauce 20 minutes later, it had begun to spread out over the pan.  Luckily, I’d put it on top of foil, so I just gathered it up with the foil and fitted it into a loaf pan and finished baking it.  It was obviously much too loose to take out of the pan, so I chilled it completely. 

 

When I took it out and sliced it, it was still very crumbly:

 

I ended up heating it in the microwave and piling it on toasted buns, topping with the sauce and an onion ring and serving it that way:

 

So frustrating.  I have no idea what I’m doing wrong considering this is a recipe I’ve used before.  Sigh.  I also served leftover pintos and collards:

Whole

 

 

The ingredients don’t look too wet to me.  How fatty is your ground beef?

Btw, I like to use CI's recipe for meat loaf (omitting the bacon) and it turns out beautifully every time, and, it is delicious!

nothing beats a meatloaf sandwich.

 

 

 

 

[ElsieD]

17 minutes ago, lindag said:

 

The ingredients don’t look too wet to me.  How fatty is your ground beef?

Btw, I like to use CI's recipe for meat loaf (omitting the bacon) and it turns out beautifully every time, and, it is delicious!

nothing beats a meatloaf sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

We make the same recipe except we include the bacon.

[Kim Shook]

@lindag, @ElsieD, and @Toliver  – thanks so much for the questions and comments.  I used both beef and pork.  The beef was 80/20.  But, I just realized looking over the recipe that it calls for 1 1/2 lb. of meat and I used 2 lbs.  Could that be the issue?  I don’t have the meatloaf recipe you talked about, but I do have a Cook’s Country cookbook with a meatloaf recipe that looks simple enough.  I think I’ll try that on the rest of the meat I’ve got in the freezer. 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Yes. Olive oil, garlic, shallots and chilli.

 I asked because your dish looked interesting and there are times when there is not very darn much in this house to make a sauce with. With so few ingredients I could manage it quite well.  It belongs in my “what to eat when there’s nothing to eat” list.   Thank you.

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, scamhi said:

 

Prawns to me look raw not cooked.

Hmmm.  I have never seen raw prawns curl selves into such perfect little commas. Commas that are not too loose and not too tight. Goldilocks’ commas.  Commas that indicate to me perfectly cooked prawns.

[ElsieD]

57 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

@lindag, @ElsieD, and @Toliver  – thanks so much for the questions and comments.  I used both beef and pork.  The beef was 80/20.  But, I just realized looking over the recipe that it calls for 1 1/2 lb. of meat and I used 2 lbs.  Could that be the issue?  I don’t have the meatloaf recipe you talked about, but I do have a Cook’s Country cookbook with a meatloaf recipe that looks simple enough.  I think I’ll try that on the rest of the meat I’ve got in the freezer. 

 

Check your PM.

[lindag]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

@lindag, @ElsieD, and @Toliver  – thanks so much for the questions and comments.  I used both beef and pork.  The beef was 80/20.  But, I just realized looking over the recipe that it calls for 1 1/2 lb. of meat and I used 2 lbs.  Could that be the issue?  I don’t have the meatloaf recipe you talked about, but I do have a Cook’s Country cookbook with a meatloaf recipe that looks simple enough.  I think I’ll try that on the rest of the meat I’ve got in the freezer. 

 

Perhaps there was not enough filler for all that meat.  Also I see there's no egg in your recipe which would have helped bind it.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

17 minutes ago, lindag said:

 

Perhaps there was not enough filler for all that meat.  Also I see there's no egg in your recipe which would have helped bind it.

 

 

There was an egg.  @Toliver suggested adding another to help bind things.   

 

 

 

 

[lindag]

Just now, Kim Shook said:

There was an egg.  @Toliver suggested adding another to help bind things.   

 

 

Oh, I missed that.

 

 

[kayb]

FWIW, my standard recipe is a pound of ground beef, an egg, two slices of white bread, crusts removed, torn in bits and soaked in a little milk, about a half-tbsp of Worcestershire, about 1/4 cup of ketchup or tomato paste, and seasonsings (generallly seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder). I squeeze out the bread crumbs (and give the leftover milk to the dog, who loves it), and knead everything together by hand, very thoroughly. Then I pack it firmly (none of this "loose" meat loaf for me) into a dish, brush some more ketchup on top, and bake. Being that I make meat loaf specifically for the leftovers for sandwiches, I want it to hold together. 

 

If I'm making a bigger one, and add another pound of meat, it may be pork or veal, or venison, depending on what I have on hand, and I add another egg and another slice of bread.

 

The first recipe makes a meat loaf "sheet" that's about a half-inch thick in an 8 x 8 dish. I like crust, so I design the meat loaf accordingly.

 

Brie of some sort is my favorite cheese for it.

 

[HungryChris]

Garlic and herb Allouette Cheese stuffed Portobello caps, roasted garlic, oven roasted bread with soft butter and a smallish salad. One of our favorite meals! 

HC

 

[robirdstx]

 

Spicy Red Pork and Bean Chili  ~ over Rotini ~ topped with Shredded Cheese and Red Onion

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

there are times when there is not very darn much in this house to make a sauce with. With so few ingredients I could manage it quite well.  It belongs in my “what to eat when there’s nothing to eat” list.   Thank you.

 

Exactly why I made it!

[sartoric]

Reverting to form...spiced veggie patties with tomato chutney, okra, dal with spinach, rice and paratha.

 

On the meatloaf discussion...I used to make one with hard boiled eggs lined up in the middle. Each slice of meatloaf comes with a slice of egg !

[lindag]

:Store bought Yakisoba noodles stir fried with a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and snow peas and stir fry sauce.

No chicken this time.  

I'm grateful there's enough for leftovers tomorrow.

Sunday the nearby Catholic Church is doing a Corned Beef fund raiser dinner.  I can’t wait; they make the best corned beef I've ever had and that’s saying a lot!

[chord]

Big Salad

 

Leftover chicken, Irish Porter cheddar, roasted cauliflower, carrots, spring onions and mixed greens

 

[mgaretz]

A couple of recent meals:

 

Pork chop (double cut), cooked SV then seared and glazed with maple/bourbon, served with green beans

 

 

And pizza that was quite the hot mess - overcooked the pepperoni and shouldn't have added the extra cheese on the top (which also overcooked) but it tasted fine.  A glass of Lodi Zin helped!

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

Cochinita Pibil for dinner tonight. I used banana leaves to wrap the pork, used achiote paste from a really reliable local spice merchant and mixed some fresh orange and lime juice with it for the marinade. Somehow it just didn't work out that great. Not sure why. 😟

 

Does anyone else do this dish? My pork was super tender, cooked for 4 hours at 300F or so. I didn't make my own achiote paste, but maybe that's the missing link. Or maybe I just don't like annatto, though I'm pretty sure I've enjoyed it before.

 

Also, had an epic fail with rice and that hasn't happened for a long time. Used a different brand of rice and decided to do it stovetop instead of Instant Pot. The rice was so bad, I just threw it all out and we had the pork on tortillas instead.  OMG  😞

 

The fun part was unwrapping the banana leaves and the pork really did smell good and was so tender. And my pickled red onions were good! 

 

 

Shredded so nicely. 

 

 

With some queso fresco crumbled over top and also added some sauce after the photo. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by FauxPas (log)

[liamsaunt]

Wednesday we had crispy chicken with a warm radicchio-arugula-fennel-cherry tomato salad

 

 

Last night I made ricotta gnocchi with a garlicky cherry tomato sauce and baby spinach

 

 

Both recipes are from the cookbook Dinner Illustrated.  I find it a very helpful cookbook for busy work nights.  

[KennethT]

I love achiote pork... I made my own marinade using achiote paste, garlic, sour orange, etc following Rick Bayless recipe on his website.  Then after wrapping in banana leaf, I would smoke it on my stovetop smoker for 30 minutes or so before I put it in the SV...  I always enjoyed it... but I think I would also squeeze some lime on the tacos as well.

Edited March 15, 2019 by KennethT (log)

[CatIsHungry]

Hello all! *waving at everyone* - newbie here :o) 

Well, my standard dinner is rice, chicken and kimchi (multiple multiple food allergies - its a horrible thing) - BUT - my husband OTOH - I made him pulled pork the other night with fresh coleslaw - took the leftover pork and wrapped it up in puff pastry and baked it - yummy, he said! -

 

My son came by and he got pulled pork rolled in pizza dough - baked and sliced - he said it pretty good, too - I don't know - smelled good!

 

It's mom-in-law's birthday today so she is getting a  repeat of the same thing - except you know - fresh - I like her :o) (hubby's dinner, not mine :o) ) 

 

I'll keep looking around the site and figure out the photo thing soon :o) 

[liuzhou]

 

Lemon pork with asparagus.

[shain]

11 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Lemon pork with asparagus.

 

And coriander seeds?

[Shelby]

Pork belly noodle bowls last night

 

 

[liuzhou]

21 minutes ago, shain said:

 

And coriander seeds?

 

Yes