Classic Meatloaf

Like many children of the 80s, my mother worked full time and cooked every dinner. Although my mother was (and is) an expert at getting home from work at 5 and having a nutritious and interesting dinner on the table by 7, it was decided at one point when I was in elementary school that my father would make dinner one night per week, in addition to his weekend morning pancake and bacon feasts.

This meatloaf made a regular appearance when my father cooked. Despite our family’s utter lack of interest in anything sports related, my father dubbed it “football” meatloaf because of its free-form shape. What’s great about free-form meatloaf, as opposed to meatloaf baked in a loaf pan, is that the air circulates around the whole loaf, preventing it from becoming soggy or saturated in its own fat.

I’ve taken it a step further and devised a drainage system by forming a little dish out of aluminum foil to catch the drippings and placing the “football” on a cooling rack to keep it off of the pan and prevent soggage. Also, I like to buy whole beef and grind it at home to ensure that what we’re forming into a loaf is actually “meat” and not the odds and ends of trimmings that often compile ground meat sold in stores. Sirloin works nicely, or even just stew meat.

As common as it is these days to make updated or “grown-up” versions of old classics, the idea makes me cringe sometimes. Why mess with perfection? Sure harissa, truffle oil, and chipotle peppers have their place. Just not in my meatloaf. Because once you start updating comfort food, it’s no longer comfort food. It then becomes a bizzaro, exaggerated carnival act of what had been a comfort food. And sure you could make a glaze, but free-form meatloaf forms a crust on its own. And it’s not a cake, okay? So just back off.

This recipe is the classic, quintessential meatloaf intended to be served with buttery mashed potatoes and (gasp!) perhaps a bit of ketchup.

No truffle oil (which by the way, is kind of 7 years ago). No garlic. No herbs. Nothing new-agey (not that truffle oil, garlic or herbs are new-agey). Just plain old meatloaf and mash.

Classic Meatloaf – serves 4

2 lb freshly ground beef
1/4 C bread crumbs
2 T tomato paste
1/2 t salt
1/4 C finely diced or grated onion
1 T Worcestershire sauce

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

To create the little dripping catcher, cut foil into a square about 12″x12″. It doesn’t have to be exact. Fold up the edges and fold the corners into themselves to create walls. Place the foil onto a baking sheet and place a cooling rack over the foil.

Using your hands, mix the ground beef with the other ingredients. Form the meat into an oval loaf and place on top of the cooling rack.

Bake for 1 hour or a little longer until it gets to 160 degrees in the center. Allow to rest 10 minutes before serving. Serve with buttery mashed potatoes and a green salad.

Ingredient origins: Organic Beef – unknown; Bread crumbs – New Jersey; Tomato paste – California; Salt – Maine; Onion – California; Worcestershire Sauce – California

Slow Cooked Beef Stock

It is raining, cold and windy here today. There are whitecaps out on the water and raindrops on the windows. It’s the perfect weather for making a nice soup. Homemade stock makes all the difference with soup. Sure, it’s easy to open up a carton of beef or chicken stock, but it’s just as easy to make a good stock at home, it just takes a little while longer.

A few simple ingredients arranged in the slow cooker, covered with water, and voila! 12 hours later, you have a rich, flavorful stock and a house filled with the aroma of homemade soup. What’s great about using the slow cooker for stock is that you don’t have to keep an eye on it or worry about it boiling over. Even set to high, the water content of the stock keeps it just under a simmer. Marrow lends sweet undertones to the stock and the veggies keep the beat.

Note: After a chat with our friendly butcher, I learned that marrow is sadly under appreciated these days and because it is, it’s always a good idea to ask the butcher for a fresh cut of marrow or soup bone if you’re buying it in a supermarket, because (horrors!) due to low demand, they often don’t replace the bones that are out in the refrigerator case and they could be a few days old.

Slow Cooker Beef Stock – Makes 4 cups

1.5 lb beef marrow bone
1 large potato, peeled
2 carrots
1 onion
1 celery
3 sprigs parsley
2 quarts water

Loosely chop vegetables and arrange the bones, vegetables, parsley and peppercorns in slow cooker.

Cover with 2 quarts water and cook on high for 12 hours.

Using a slotted spoon, remove bones and large vegetables from stock to prevent splatters. Pour the rest through a mesh strainer and into a stockpot or heat proof bowl (or whatever… it’s your kitchen). Discard bones and vegetables.

Allow the stock to cool in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Remove solidified fat with a slotted spoon.

Use the stock to make a tasty homemade soup, sauce or gravy.

Ingredient origins: Beef marrow bone – unknown; Organic potato – Maine; Organic Carrots – unknown; Organic onion – Washington; Organic celery – unknown; Organic parsley – Massachusetts; Peppercorns – India. As you can probably guess, a lot of these ingredients were purchased at a conventional supermarket, which is an unfortunate fact of life in winter in New England. Sometimes the best we can do is purchase as thoughtfully as possible, given the circumstances, so in this case I tried to keep to organic produce. Oftentimes though, even if an item is raised organically, the location of origin is not disclosed because the distributor buys from many different suppliers. I think it may be time though to consider signing up for a meat share

Yankee Cook’s Steak Tips

We drove out to a nearby farm yesterday to stock up on all natural, hormone-free locally raised meats. Once we got there, we both remembered the organic chicken awaiting our attention in the freezer at home and it just didn’t seem as pressing to buy a plethora of meats. After driving an hour, we ended up getting beef tips and andouille sausage. Sometimes life is about the journey.

This recipe for steak tips is as tasty as it is simple. The Worcestershire sauce tenderizes the meat a bit during a quick marinade and lends just enough of its spice and sweetness to flavor the meat without over doing it. We served the tips with quinoa and pan-fried Brussels sprouts.

Note: Be sure to buy all natural Worcestershire sauce if you’re not interested in consuming high fructose corn syrup. What!? Yes. Sadly, conventional Worcestershire sauce contains high fructose corn syrup and who wants that?

Yankee Cook’s Steak Tips - serves 2 – 4

1 1/2 lb sirloin tip
1/2 C Worcestershire sauce

Cut the sirloin into 1 1/2 – 2 inch cubes. Toss with Worcestershire sauce in a shallow marinating dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Flip the pieces of beef and refrigerate for an additional 30 minutes. Remove tips from marinade.

Heat a lightly greased griddle over medium high heat. When the grill is smoking hot, add the meat. Using tongs, turn the tips after 5 minutes. Lower heat to medium and continue turning the meat every few minutes to cook the meat on all sides, forming a nice seal.

Cook to desired doneness. About 10 minutes for rare, 20 minutes for well done.

Ingredient origins: Sirloin tips – Massachusetts; Worcestershire sauce – California

Slow Cooked Short Rib

This holiday season, I was given the greatest gift of all. A slow cooker! Yay! I decided to christen it with short ribs.

The meat melts down over the course of hours, turning into rich, tender bits of falling-off-the-bone loveliness. I like to use vegetables that hold their shape well, like mushrooms and onions for dishes that cook more than two hours and I avoid ones that turn to mush, like carrots. The onions add a subtle sweetness and the mushrooms lend additional heft. Served over mashed potatoes, this dish becomes a serious winter warmer.

One last note is that I like to remove the meat from the bone before serving just to make it a little easier to eat and slightly more presentable.

Slow Cooked Short Rib – serves 2 – 4

2 lb beef short rib
1 T olive oil
16 oz whole button mushrooms
2 leeks, cleaned and loosely chopped
1 yellow onion, quartered
1 C dry red wine
2 C beef stock
1/3 C brown sugar

Prepare vegetables and arrange the first layer of leeks and smaller mushrooms in the slow cooker.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high. Sear the short ribs on all sides. Remove ribs from skillet and arrange on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker. De-glaze the skillet with red wine, scraping up any small bits. Stir the beef stock and brown sugar into the wine.

Arrange the larger mushrooms and quartered onions over and around the ribs. Pour the wine mixture over the short ribs. Cover and set the slow cooker to low. Cook for 8 hours.

Slide the meat off of the bone and serve with vegetables over mashed potatoes.

Ingredient origins: Short rib – can’t be sure (I know it’s terrible! I bought it at a store whose name rhymes with stop and flop, which means the cow was probably raised on a brown, hideous feedlot somewhere in the Midwest, consuming corn and other things that cows should not eat, like hormones and antibiotics. I know, I know! I’m sorry! The natural foods store was out of local short rib. Sigh. I’ve lost all cred now, haven’t I?); Olive Oil – Italy; Mushrooms – Pennsylvania; Leeks – New Hampshire, Onion – New Hampshire; Red wine – California; Beef stock – Colorado; Brown sugar – Florida

Classic Beef Stew with Dumplings

This type of meat stew washed up on the New England shores with the colonists. If the Puritans hadn’t already been making it in England, they likely learned it from the Dutch (the Puritans who eventually landed in New England originally fled to the Netherlands before leaving for America).

On a trip to the Netherlands a few years ago, I was invited to dinner at the home of a local family. The meal was described as “truly Dutch”. It was a beef stew that was almost identical to what I’d been raised on in New England.

Great for warming up a house on a dark winter day, hearty and nutritious, beef stew is the original stick-to-your-ribs meal. I like mine with dumplings. It’s like having fresh baked bread on top of your stew.

Classic Beef Stew with Dumplings – serves 4-6

1 1/2 lb beef (any stew cut) cubed
1/4 C flour
1 t salt
2 T canola oil
15 pearl onions
15 small to medium mushrooms
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 T chopped scallion
2 T chopped sage
1 quart vegetable or beef stock
1 C flour
1 T canola oil
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 t sugar
3/4 C light cream or half and half

Start by peeling the onions. To do so blanch them in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Cut off the root and make a slight knotch in the skin (a paring knife works well for this). Pinch the opposite end. The onion should easily slip from the skin. Remove any remaining long strands or dark spots.

Toss the beef with salt and the 1/4 C flour. Heat canola oil in cast iron dutch oven (or oven-proof stockpot) over medium-high heat. Add the beef and sear on all sides. Reduce heat to low and pour one cup of stock over the beef and stir to break up any bits stuck to the pan. Add the vegetables, scallion, sage and the rest of the stock. Cover and simmer on low heat for 1/2 hour.

Move to a 325 degree oven and braise uncovered for 2. 5 hours, stirring occasionally. (I use the oven for this rather than the range because the stew cooks more evenly and there’s less risk of burning the bottom.)

Make the dumpling batter by combining the 1 C flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Stir in the cream and oil.

Using a greased tablespoon, scoop dumpling batter into the stew. Cover and return to the oven for 10 minutes to allow the dumplings to brown. Remove cover, move the rack closer to the top of the oven, increase heat to 450 degrees and cook for another 15 minute. This will lightly brown the dumplings.

Serve hot with a good glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Ingredient Origins: Organic grassfed beef – Maine; Flour – Vermont, Organic pearl onions and carrots – California; Parsnips – New Hampshire; Scallion – my own kitchen; Sage – Massachuestts, Cream – Massachusetts