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 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 egg, beaten
1/4 C whole or 2 % milk
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

Yankee Cook’s Chicken Soup

Somehow, whenever I’m feeling under the weather, no matter how tired I may feel, I find myself in the kitchen making this soup. Partly because for me, cooking is a relaxing activity and I hardly notice the effort, but also because I see chicken soup as a valid cold remedy. Honey doesn’t hold a candle to schmaltz in soothing a sore throat.

The thing with using chicken soup as a cold remedy is that not just any chicken soup will do. Opening up a can of chicken soup isn’t going to cut it. It has to be homemade. Simmering fresh vegetables and chicken into a stock creates a deep steep of flavors, fat and chicken essence that will clear the head better than any over the counter decongestant. Boneless, skinless chicken breast isn’t going to cut it either, because the end result misses the beneficial extracts from the chicken’s skin and bones.

I like to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to get the benefits of simmered chicken bones, but ease of removal once the stock is complete. I also like to utilize larger, tougher vegetables for the stock and save the smaller, sweeter ones for the soup. The thinner carrots and inner ribs of celery are much sweeter, more tender and make for a better texture in soup. A quick ten minute simmer once the soup is assembled, rapidly braises the vegetables without cooking all of the vitamins away.

Noodles add texture and act as a vehicle for all of the goodness, and along with hearty morsels of chicken and sweet vegetables, you have a what may be the closest thing to a cure for the common cold. Up next, Yankee Cook creates a recipe for world peace…

Chicken Soup -Makes 8 – 10 servings

2 lb bone-in, skin-on chicken thigh
4 celery ribs – two tougher outer ribs and two soft inner ribs
1 celery heart (the inside of the celery bunch, leaves and all)
3 carrots – 1 large and 2 thin carrots, if possible
2.5 quarts water
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
6 sprigs of parsley
1 t sea salt
2 cups fine egg noodles

Begin by making the stock. Loosely chop the two outer celery ribs and the large carrot. Rinse the chicken if desired and place in a large stockpot. Add the chopped celery, carrot, three sprigs parsley, salt and water.

Cover and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and adjust the lid so that steam can escape. Simmer for 1. 5 hours.

While the stock simmers, prepare the vegetables for the soup. Peel the two thinner carrots, split lengthwise and cut into 1 inch strips. Split the celery ribs and also cut into 1 inch strips. Remove leaves from the last 3 sprigs of parsley and finely chop.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the thighs from the water to a cutting board to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile uncover the stock and simmer on medium for an additional 15 minutes. Remove vegetables and discard. Season to taste. Allow to rest off heat for about 5 – 10 minutes to allow the excess fat to rise to the top.

Remove the skin from the cooled chicken thighs and discard. Harvest all meat and loosely chop.

Using a ladle or spoon, remove any excess fat from the top of the stock. Raise heat to medium. Add chicken, noodles and vegetables. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Serve hot and feel better.

Ingredient origins: Organic Chicken – unknown; Organic celery – unknown; Organic carrots – California; Onion – unknown; Parsley – Massachusetts; Sea salt – Maine; Egg noodles – Missouri

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

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Why have pork chops when you can have pork tenderloin? This question came to mind tonight when we were enjoying our Roasted Pork Tenderloin, which to be quite honest, makes pork chops look like chopped liver (which, isn’t really an insult coming from me, since I actually like chopped liver, but that’s another post).

Pork can be difficult. Overcooking dries out the meat and undercooked pork is toxic. It’s really easy, however to get a moist and juicy result with pork tenderloin. A quick season and sear before it hits the oven keeps the meat from drying out. Paprika and olive oil bring color and crust to the exterior, and garlic and salt bring flavor.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin – serves 2

1 lb pork tenderloin
1 t sea salt
1 t paprika
1 t dill
2 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and pressed
2 T olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine salt, paprika and dill. Add olive oil and pressed garlic and stir to combine. Massage the mixture into the pork.

Heat 1 t cooking oil on a griddle over medium high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the tenderloin. Using tongs, lightly brown on all sides.

Transfer to a rack in a roasting pan and place in the center of the oven. Roast approximately 25 minutes until internal temperature reaches 155. Remove from oven and allow to rest at least 10 minutes.

Slice into medallions before serving.

Ingredient origins: Pork tenderloin – unknown (this was another “natural” antibiotic and hormone free meat from the supermarket, which is great but the origin is not listed); Sea salt – Maine; Paprika – Spain; Dill – Massachusetts; Organic Garlic – New Jersey; Olive oil – Italy

White Bean Chorizo Bake

We are quite literally snowed in today. So, I made my good ol’ snowed in standby of White Bean Chorizo Bake.

I like to keep local fresh (not smoked) chorizo on hand in the freezer because, as strange as it sounds, it’s pretty versatile. The spice goes well with most sweet vegetables and adds zip to mellow things like white beans or potatoes. The idea for this dish is similar to cassoulet – in that it consists of white beans and sausage – except there is no duck, goose, lamb shoulder, salt pork or wine. It’s more dressed down than that. The pajama pant of the cassoulet world. The indoor shoe.

In fact, forget what I said. It’s nowhere near as complex and interesting as cassoulet. It’s more of a knock-off Manolo Blahnik of the cassoulet world. But really. Who wants a whole farmyard in a pot? Just throwing that out there.

I will say though that White Bean Chorizo Bake is packed with protein and flavor. The Great Northern beans pick up what the chorizo puts down and the bacon takes no guff about it not being salt pork. It’s happy just as it is. Serve with a crusty French bread and a fresh green salad and you’re having a fine time.

White Bean Chorizo Bake – serves 4- 6

3 C cooked Great Northern beans, or 2 – 15 ounce cans
1/2 lb bacon, cut into small 2 inch strips
1/2 lb chorizo, about 4 links
4 garlic cloves
2 C chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a cast iron or enamel dutch oven saute the bacon on medium-low heat to melt down the fat, about 20 minutes. Watch to be sure it doesn’t burn.

While the bacon cooks, crush the garlic with the side of a knife and loosely chop.

Slice the chorizo in half crosswise and then in half lengthwise.

Remove the bacon from the pan and drain the fat (this can be reserved in a canning jar and used for other recipes.)

Place the sausage cut side down in the pan and allow to brown slightly on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the beans, garlic, chicken stock and bacon to the pot. Stir to combine.

Place on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 1 – 1.5 hours. Serve hot.

Ingredient Origins: Great Northern Beans – Michigan; Bacon – Maine; Chorizo – Maine; Garlic – California; Chicken Stock – Oregon