In the Kitchen With Mattie

Archive for July, 2010

I don’t have a picture yet because it is still in the oven. I am doing a kind of experiment tonight on one of hubbys favorite things…..meatloaf. If you have been keeping up with this blog of mine you might remember that I said meatloaf is not one of my favorite things, I do like a good hamburger but for some reason when it is mixed with all sorts of other things (even those I love) it just somehow doesn’t make me happy. I have had and made so many different meatloaves over the years you would think it was one of my favorite foods but alas it still has not found its way into my favorite foods list. Another of hubbys favorites is carmelized onions, he is wild about them and would eat them as his main vegetable every day if he could. I like doing little things for him that make him happy and making him some of his favorite things once in a while even if they are a little more work in the kitchen just gives me pleasure too. I probably would never have tried this when the boys were still at home because they would have turned their noses up at just the thought of it but combining some of hubbys favorites just seemed logical to me tonight. Hubby is working all day today and won’t be home for any meals, he called a little while ago and said he won’t be getting off when he thought he was so it will be even longer by the time he gets home, maybe there will be a nice surprise for him when he finally does make it home, I hope this turns out like I think it will and I hope he loves it. I’ll put pictures up tomorrow after it is done and has been cut, I’ll also put up how it came out and if he likes it. When I started this blog I decided that even if something comes out awful I will still put it up here and tell everyone about it because I am not perfect and sometimes my cooking turns out badly as everybody elses does occasionally and I want new cooks to realize that those of us who have been cooking for ourselves and our families for many years also have disasters in the kitchen once in a while.

                                        Carmelized Onion Stuffed Meatloaf

An hour or two before you will assemble your meatloaf peel and cut into 1/4 inch slices 2 large yellow onions. Put a tablespoon of butter and one of oil into a medium saute pan and allow them to melt and foam, add the onions and a few grinds of fresh pepper and turn heat to medium low, continue to cook and stir occasionally until they are wilted and browning, be mindful of them as they burn easily, if neccessary turn down the heat under them. They should be nicely caremlized in about 45 minutes to an hour. Place into a bowl and set into fridge to chill.

                                               Meatloaf Mixture

2 pounds ground beef (I used some ground sirloin tonight)

1 jumbo egg

1 shallot diced finely

1 cup panko bread crumbs or use fresh bread torn and soaked in the milk

1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pepper

1 package Maggi Onion soup mix (my first time trying this)

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

one splash of Maggie Seasoning liquid

You will notice I didn’t add any salt to this recipe, that is because these soup mixes tend to be salty on their own and just in case this one is the meatloaf would be way too salty, as it is I am keeping my fingers crossed that this mix won’t be so heavily salted.

Place all the meatloaf ingredients into a large bowl and mix together very well. On a clean counter or cutting board place the well mixed meat and flatten it into a large flat rectangle. Spread the chilled onion mixture  across one end of the rectangle and then roll the mixture like a jelly roll, encasing the onions in the center. Place into a shallow roasting pan with the seam side down and cook at 350 until it tests at 180 degrees in the center of the roll, remove it from the oven and let it sit for 20 minutes to firm up before slicing. I am keeping my fingers crossed with this experiment and hope hubby loves it when he gets to try it. You can also use your own favorite meatloaf recipe and just try the carmelized onions in the center if you are an onion lover.

THE UPDATE:  This is a really good meatloaf!  I think I would like to make it again and maybe kick it up a little with the addition of maybe some dried mushrooms and a few sun dried tomatoes diced small. The Maggi Onion Soup mix wasn’t salty at all, it had a nice moist consistancy and sliced without falling apart, hubby really liked it too. Finally a meatloaf that tastes like more than a big dried out burger, the shallots added a nice flavor and the carmelized onions are a nice touch. Hubby is looking forward to taking meatloaf sandwiches to lunch on Monday. The onion taste didn’t overpower the loaf at all, the soup mix wasn’t as harsh as others we have tried. And now for the picture.

 

On my recipes you will see the use of this seasoning. I have been using this since I started cooking more than 40 years ago. I grew up in a blue collar immigrant neighborhood of mainly german and irish and so our foods naturally used the ingredients that our elders had used in their old countries. The large bottle on the left I found in a local Chinese grocery store and cost $5.99, the small bottle came from another local Chinese store and cost $8.39, what the difference is I am not sure except that the writing on the smaller bottle is all in french and I can’t read french. I will say that the smaller bottle tastes the same but seems to be stronger when I use it, I have to literally use it by the drop in my cooking, whereas the large bottle I use by the half or full teaspoon. I use this seasoning in most meat dishs as it really give the gravy and sauces you make have a nice taste, if you see it in your grocery store (usually in a small bottle) pick one up and give it a try, remember to use it sparingly until you determine if you like it…….a little goes a long way, also cut down on the salt in any recipe you use it in.

 

See this little smiley faced gadget? I love this thing!  It is made by one of my favorite kitchen gadget makers, Kuhn Rikon, and makes getting that wonderful fresh corn off the cob with no problems or struggle. Really, just pull this along the cob and it removes the corn beautifully. If you get some great corn but aren’t going to use it right away then get yourself one of these and remove the kernels, bag them up in freezer bags and freeze them. Or make yourself some nice corn chowder. Right now sweet corn is plentiful and cheap so I will be putting this little guy thru his paces. As I go thru the gadgets and things in my kitchen I am noticing something, many of my favorite most used and well made gadgets are made by this company, I never paid much attention before but now it seems to just stand out, they make some really useful things and the quality has held up on the ones I have and use a lot. I have good knife skills and can cut the corn off the cob with a sharp knife but this little guy actually makes that job more fun and I am all for a little fun in the kitchen. Seriously if you like fresh corn off the cob get yourself one of these little guys.

Here’s a little secret……..I have a jar that I throw all my change into that hubby doesn’t know about!  I have it because I am saving up to get one of Kuhn Rikons pressure cookers someday. I have wanted one forever it seems.  I know that they are very expensive but based on the opinions of some people, whose opinions I greatly respect on the pressure cooker list I belong to I know my saving will eventually pay off in my getting the best pressure cooker out there and no one can deny that that cooker is a Kuhn Rikon. I also picked that brand because as I have said before, when I look at all the kitchen gagets I have bought over the years, the ones that get used most often and have stood the test of time in my kitchen wether here at home or in my kitchen at work (when I was working) are from Kuhn Rikon. You can ask hubby, you know the guy who thinks my kitchen is over run with my treasures, he will tell you that I have almost everything the company makes and he never hears me complain about any of it, also I never have to replace any of it due to it breaking or having shoddy workmanship………heck, even our three boys could not destroy any of their products and that says a lot! Those boys could tear up anything when they got in the kitchen! If you have the need to make quick wholesome meals for yourself and family, and not a lot of time to be able to do that, let me suggest you start a change jar too, get yourself the best, because you deserve it!

 

I thought I would start going through all the gadgets I have collected in my 40 years of playing in the kitchen and listing some of my favorites and tossing those that don’t perform well enough to earn the space they take up. First up are the tenderizers I use with meats and poultry, the three in the picture are my all time favorites, at the top is my Jacquard circa 1996, back then it cost me over $50 but it has repaid that well over the years. Next on the right side is a triangular mallet type, it has one side with fine spikes, one with bigger triangular spikes and one flat side, this one allows you to use the weight of the mallet more than the stregnth of your arm to do its job, it does its job very well indeed, you can flatten steaks into see thru scallops in seconds. The third at the bottom is the flat mallet, it is stainless steel and works well but not as well as the triangular one on the right, it has a large flat area but I think it has more to do with the leverage you have with the other smaller one that does the job better. This larger flat one is good for chicken breasts, you can hit the whole suface area of a breast in one hit. I threw out all the others I ahve had over the years, they more tore up the meats and poultry than flattened it, it I had to only chose one of the above I would keep the white handled triangular one, it is just an all around great gadget and gets the job done quickly with no arm fatique, I have this in a large size too, I remember I paid $12.99 for it at TJMaxx years ago but have seen them there recently too.

What a nice dinner we had tonight! It really did come out as close to perfect as you can get. Hubby really enjoyed it and son is still eating, he says he is savoring his mama’s cooking! Our favorite local market had whole rib roasts on sale and after we tried the first one we purchased we went back and bought another. We have gotten several meals out of both of these roasts and they were some of the best tasting ones we had ever had and by buying the whole roast in a single piece the price was great too, under five dollars a pound.

Tonights roast was seasoned with sea salt, fresh ground pepper, hickory seasoning and ground garlic. I cooked it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes and it was just this side of medium, we don’t like rare meat so it was pretty perfect for us. I let it rest for 10 minutes when it came out of the oven and when cut it was so juicy and tender. Hubby ate 4 slices, Matt ate 3 and I had 1, we also had baked potatoes, fresh corn on the cob and some deviled eggs that the guys requested. It was a simple to put together meal and we are all stuffed. The seasoning on it was perfect and really highlighted the great taste of this beef. Normally when I see these roasts on a great sale like the last one I try to buy some, hubby always says…….next week or next month or something similar and I end up not getting any. Tonight during dinner he said “next time you see these on sale we are getting a few of these” that in itself tells me he really enjoyed these roasts, add to that the fact that most of the meals we are having from these roasts  and thick cut steaks have come in under $10 for the two or three of us and the price is less than it would cost us for a Mickey D’s meal. We still have one more large roast and four thick cut steaks in the freezer, this was a great buy and I sure am watching the papers for the next sale on them.

                                                Deviled Eggs

8 jumbo hard boiled eggs, chilled and peeled

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon horseradish (optional)

1/2 cup mayonaise

Cut eggs in half and remove yolks to a small bowl set the white aside, add the rest of the ingredients to the yolks in the bowl and mash all together to a smooth paste, stuff the reserved egg white half with the mixed filling and chill.