It sounds like you are making healthy version of meatloaf.
May I ask where you got the recipe?

As Escoffier suspected, it was based on the recipe in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook (The New Best Recipe). Although their recommended meat mix is 50% beef, 25% pork, and 25% veal. I doubled the onion and the thyme, and where the recipe gives options for binders and moisture, I used crackers and yogurt. It was not at all dry.

Did some cooking this weekend. Friday night was my old standby (ie, date dinner when I was a youngin'): Spagetti Carbonara with enough bacon to kill a horse.

Saturday I got up early made braised short ribs with ancho chilli sauce and a chocolate mousse. Dinner was the ribs, polenta with gorgonzola, and the mousse.

For Superbowl Sunday I cooked up a batch of chili based on a recipe (DING DONG EIGHT-ALARM CHILI) that I found on epicurious.com. I used a habanero pepper instead of the serrano listed and thought it still needed a little more spice. I made it on Friday and let the flavors develop in the fridge until Sunday. Decent recipe, but I would add a bit more garlic and another 1/2 T (at least) of chili powder.

Served it on top of cheddar cheese polenta and then homemade toasted almond ice cream for dessert.

Last night I made a cold shrimp and noodle dish. The dish contained finally julienned carrots (that were crisped in ice water), thinly sliced scallions, cubed avocado, marinated and sautéed day boat shrimp (marinated for five minutes in a soy, and sake). Since I did not have vermicelli, I went with fresh angel hair pasta. This was all combined with a simple vinaigrette of lemon juice, honey, ginger, tamari, and vegetable oil. It was topped with toasted sesame seeds.

We had some chili (made with poblano and New Mexican chilis) I had made on Sunday, with some jalapeno-cheddar biscuits that txaggie made.



And then some steamed meyer lemon puddings with blackberry sauce (from some frozen ones that we had picked this past summer) for dessert.

Last night I did a true meat and potatoes dinner. Pan seared steak topped with wine hinted sautéed mushrooms, with a baked potato. I rarely eat baked potatoes, mostly because I have found them to be rather boring. Last night I followed the method laid out by Mark Bittman in How to Cook Everything. Bake at 350 for 75 minutes. But I rubbed the skin in oil, and gave sprinkled it with some sea salt. What came out was what a baked potato should taste like. The interior was light, and tasted delightfully earthy. The skin had a crisp exterior and became wonderfully chewy on the inside. I only ate half of my steak, but did not leave a bit of my potato on the plate.

cjsadler, your dinner photos are fabulous! Where did you get your NM chiles (red, I presume)?

Mom was too busy to cook today:

Turkey sandwich with tomato and guacamole, or roast beef with red onion and Maytag blue cheese mayo.
Homemade chicken broth with noodles.
Assorted crudite.
Chocolate pudding (not homemade, alas)

heck, I want the recipe for the steamed puddings!

Me, Too!

trying to get over a cold that both Grover and I are sharing, I decided I'd do the way easy way out tonight. Stopped at Safeway and bought both the prepared Steakhouse Chili with Beans and the Crab and Corn Chowder and a freshly baked baguette. Heated up the soups, put them in nice china, cut the baguette into nice size pieces, put out some chevre, a bit of Stilton, some well-aged English cheddar and went for it. Dinner in 10 minutes and Grover appreciated it. Hubby brownie points for being thoughtful...what more could you ask for.

It's this recipe here. It's very simple and good. A favorite of mine, really, as they split into a thin layer of almost lemon curd like stuff at the top and then a souffle at the bottom (with the meyer lemons, this wasn't as pronounced for some reason). I think you'll really like these. Just don't wait too long to serve them like I did this time, as they tend to shrink/deflate a bit and aren't as good. The time in the recipe is off, too. They'll probably need to steam for about 40 minutes. Forget the golden on top instruction, too, just pull when they seem nice and set after you take the foil off (by the time they're golden on top, they'll usually be overcooked).

Thanks. The NM chiles (red) were from Grand Mart (MD suburbs), where you can get bags of them cheap.

Sauteed crimini mushrooms with balsamic vinegar and madeira wine with rosemary and thyme, served over reconstituted prepared polenta, gussied up with more rosemary, thyme, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. I usually buy those tubes of polenta, slice them up and fry them but this was much better. Supplemented the polenta with a mish-mosh of items from Wheatberry Deli up the street from my home. I love that place.

Braised Polyface rabbit legs with mustard-cream sauce
Israeli couscous with mushrooms
Haricots verts with Meyer lemon olive oil

2004 Grove Mill Marlborough Pinot Noir

Flourless chocolate cake with warm mixed berry coulis and creme chantilly (OMG this was good!)

Sausage tortellini with pesto
3:1 Tanqueray 10 Martinis
Double Vanilla Pound Cake

Ever start cooking later than you should have then look up and all the sudden it's 9:15 and you're not even that hungry anymore? The pasta is rolled, the broth is done, the duxelle is finished. To be continued....

Crostini topped with arugula, fresh mozzarella, and speck
Beer-steamed shrimp
Sweetbreads in lemon butter sauce with hazelnuts
Risotto with mascarpone
Corn on the cob

Thank goodness the power came back on at 4:30 after more than 12 hours of chilliness! Otherwise we would have decamped to a hotel (and the dogs to the hospital where I work) with dinner out somewhere (and probably not great). I was never so glad to be cooking at home!

Where do you buy your sweetbreads?

It was my turn to cook dinner last night. We had asian glazed pork chops and pan-roasted broccoli with asian flavors. Delicious.



Both recipes were from Cook's Illustrated.

Last night was a sweet glazed tri-tip on the grill.
First time I've tried tri-tip. I enjoyed it quite thoroughly. A nice piece of meat for the price.
Sauteed veggies leftover from Friday's dinner at el Golfo.
Killed off the remnants of a bottle of 2004 Ch Valcombe.

Chicken in a honey mustard curry sauce over steamed rice with sauteed spinach. Perfect comfort food!

I had comfort foot last night as well. My version was a seasoned hamburger topped with lettuce, a slice of onion, mayo, and a fried egg. Served with rice, broccoli, and a pale ale from Dogfish.

I get them at the Wegmans in Fairfax. They don't always have them, but when they do, I make a point to buy them.

Must have been the night for comfort food. Grover and I had bulgogi, some newer kimchee and 5 grain rice (in honor of the full moon). A nice vouvray and we were done for the evening. Tonight, Oxtail soup...yum!

"Effie!" the farmer's wife said to the hired girl, "I'd like you to make some oxtail soup tonight."
"Well, I would," Effie replied. "But I tried makin' oxtail soup once and it didn't work. Nope. Christ, soon's I got the water t' boilin' that darned ox pulled his tail right outta the pot and ran outta the barn. I run after him, but I couldn't catch him again, neither."

Vermont humor.

A-yup!!

Old-Fashioneds made with Wild Turkey Rye
Irish lamb stew reserved from earlier this winter
Irish Soda Bread
Greens w/olive oil vinaigrette

I'm so glad to be cooking/eating again after last week's five-day stomach virus!

Braised Short Ribs w/Parsley and Horseradish Gramolata
Pumpkin Orzo
Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

Oxtail soup made with Korean radish and onion.
Five grain rice (which is really 17 grain rice) in honor of the first full moon of the new year.
Kimchee at exactly the right ripeness.
Oh Wow! chocolate covered cakes with a layer of cocoa icing (Brian calls them Korean Little Debbie's)
Dried oyster mushroom and garlic nibblies.
Japanese mocha filled yellow cake.

Pan-seared chuck eye steaks (from Wegmans)
Oven-roasted red potato wedges
Creamed spinach

We now return you to shogun's dinner already in progress....

Ok, so here's how it went down: I went to Harris Teeter to buy stuff to make comfort food of comfort foods (behind mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, Japanese curry, peanut butter cups, ..., ...) beef strogonoff! However! In the fridge case near the fish counter, next to the ground bison: Duck breasts! Plans were hastily changed and I bring you...

Duck and mushroom ravioli in mushroom broth.

Chopped roasted duck mixed with a mushroom duxelle in two gigantic mutant thyme-embedded ravioli in a reduced broth made from white and portobello mushrooms with cognac, garnished with the rest of the sliced duck breast and rosted portobellos. As seen through my wholly inadequate camera. Good start, but room for improvement...not bad for my first ravioli!

Tonight was pork loin chops braised in apple cider with garlic and fennel (fresh), and campanelle pasta with broccholini, garlic.

Charcoal grilled tri-tip steaks with spice rub
Gratin of rainbow chard with comte
Honey-glazed gingered carrots
Fingerling potatoes
Loudon lettuce salad with Meyer lemon olive oil and verjus

2003 Domaine La Garrigue Cotes du Rhone, cuvee Romaine

Flourless chocolate cake with mixed berry coulis (again)

Beef bourguignon over noodles
Haricots verts

Rustic plum tart (epicurious) with lightly sweetened creme fraiche for dessert. The tart recipe was great!

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Some items we have prepared over the last several months. Most are sweets, I will try and focus more on the dinner stuff going forward. The roast chicken is from the Bouchon cookbook and is quite good

Burgers with Blu di Moncenisio and a salad with a Spanish olio and some young balsamico. First time I've cooked this year!

Medium-rare NY strip steak with parmesan/thyme-roasted asparagus, balsamic-glazed mushrooms and mashed potatoes. I don't have a grill, so I used my handy Le Creuset grill pan to sear the steak on one side and finish it up in a hot oven. Best steak I've ever made.

Txaggie and cjsadler came over to cook:

legant -- Shrimp and spinach dumplings w/ sweet chili dipping sauce

cjsadler -- Masa harina corn cakes with chipotle shrimp -- The picture doesn't
do the cakes justice. They really were yummy. Perfectly crispy on the
outside.



legant -- Chicken and Andouille Sausage Ragu w/ Pasta and parsley butter



txaggie -- chocolate-glazed hazelnut mousse cake -- the picture is from Gourmet; the
pictures we took were too blurry to post



Louise

Cioppino with shrimp, scallops, squid, monkfish, fluke and mussels

Salad of haricots verts and frisee

Camembert from Fields of Grace Farm in Remington, VA
- bought at Arlington Farmers Market last Saturday, this cheese was unbelievably good-- ripe, runny and unctuous. We devoured it.
Fourme d'ambert

Flourless chocolate cake with strawbs and blackberries
(this cake has provided several great desserts to my family this week--finishing up by feeding six people, still very deliciously)

2004 Domaine Philippe Cotes du Rhone Blanc
2003 Kermit Lynch Cotes du Rhone

Marinated, pan-seared veal loin chops, steamed corn on the cob, and sweet-potato gnocchi in browned butter with pine nuts, arugula, and fresh mozzarella.

Churchills -- Scotch, Cointreau, sweet vermouth, and lime juice
Aged Grafton cheddar & wheat crackers

Chicken fried steak
Mashed potatoes
Peas

Chicken and pork adobado from the All About Braising cookbook, with steamed broccoli on the side. My first use of country-style pork ribs. Not too bad, though I would have liked a thicker sauce -- even after reducing it by two-thirds, as directed by the recipe, it didn't cling at all to the meat. Maybe a touch of cornstarch next time.

I made this a few days ago (and ate the leftovers last night). Will not make this again. So far I haven't found a Molly Stevens recipe better than what I have found on epicurious.

A big ol' pot of chili was the solution to keeping the chill away last night. I made it with a combination of ground beef and ground venison (thanks to a very kind farmer for that!) and lots of beans (kidney and black) and corn. Nice and spicy and LOTS of leftovers.
Took the heat away with a small dessert of homemade Meyer lemon sorbet.

TonKatsu with rice and kimchi with Jindalee Syrah 2004 because the 2003 is gone.
Dessert is a Chocolate stout cake with chocolate sauce.

A few things from Jose Andres' Tapas book - Garlic Soup, Tomato Bread with Serrano Ham and Orange, Goat Cheese and Almond Salad. All were very good, especially the soup. Chunks of bread gave it an interesting body.

I went to a funeral this morning. My daughter's advisor and Spanish teacher last year, a man who challenged and pushed her to do her best, who really connected with her, obviously cared a lot and who was very important to her. He was in his mid-forties and had a young wife and a three year-old child. So very sad. He was born in Italy, and according to his eulogists, was a man who passionately enjoyed life and its pleasures-- food and wine, music, friends and sports cars and fine clothes and soccer. A tragedy for a man so full of life, to have it ended by cancer--with a child too young to remember very much about him as she grows up. We were admonished by the priest and by his friends who eulogised him, to embrace life and appreciate and enjoy it while we can, as he had.

So I cooked a fine meal for my family tonight:

Pan grilled Moulard duck breast with Montmorency cherry sauce
Lentils de Pouy
Risotto with shiitake and porcini mushrooms
Oven roasted broccolini

2002 Morambro Creek Shiraz

La Tur

Lemon tarts from Bonaparte Bakery

Ciao, Antonio!

Coho salmon burger with lemon thyme (from WF in Alexandria), sauteed asparagus & shiitake mushrooms, and sliced polenta with pine nuts.