a laugh

So my boyfriend says that if you write a food blog under a pseudonym, that means you have a nom de nom.

Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Soup

Roasted Red Pepper Soup (serves 6-ish)

8 red peppers

8 peppercorns, 3 sprigs of thyme, 1 bay leaf - tie into a cheesecloth bag

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cups diced onion

4 cups vegetable broth

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 head of roasted garlic (see note)

Halve and clean peppers. Broil skin-side up for 15 minutes - the skin will blacken and blister. Remove from broiler and place them into a ziploc bag or a tightly sealed bowl. Let sit for 20 minutes. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel off and discard the skins. Chop the peppers up a bit - rough chop, no need to be precise. If there is juice in the bottom of the ziploc bag or the bowl you let the peppers sit in, save that to add to the soup.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the chopped onion and cook until transparent. Add the peppers (and juice), the little bag of spices, the broth, vinegar/lemon juice, and salt. Turn the heat up, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the spice bag, add the roasted garlic, and puree with a stick blender.

Note: For roasted garlic - take a head of garlic. Brush away any loose papery skin. Cut off the top of the whole head to expose the cloves. Drizzle olive oil over the head, wrap it in aluminum foil, and roast at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes. To use, squeeze the soft cloves out of the papery outsides.

homefries and meatloafs....

So the Nightowl posted about the awesome home fries. And she's right - they are awesome. They last time she was here we were going to make a batch and even prepped for it.

Which is how I came to find 2 cups of nicely diced onions carefully packaged in a ziplock with the air squeezed out in the bottom of my fridge last night. I stood there holding the little cubes and realized I would have no opportunity during a work week to make the home fries. The are awesome - but they also take time. (I think this is so you can absorb enough coffee to be really awake when you taste them.)

I remembered another friend who needs recipies for food that you can set and forget... and it occurred to me that I was holding one of the base ingredients for meatloaf. And this friend - she looooves my meatloaf. She said so. Lots of times. I have no option but to believe. She was very emphatic.

So tonight I have put a meatloaf in the oven with the Nightowl's onions.  We are such pals!

Following is my go-to receipe for meatloaf. This makes one loaf

Classic Meatloaf (from Joy Of Cooking)

12 oz ground chuck
12 oz ground pork
1.5 cups finely diced onions
1 cup quick cook oats
2/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup chopped parsley (cilantro is good too)
3 large eggs lightly beaten
1 teaspoon ground Thyme
1 teaspon salt
1/2 teaspon black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get out your largest Cast Iron fry pan. If you don't have one of these - put it on a list of things to buy next weekend and get out a heavy duty cookie tray. It must have SIDES.

In a large bowl - combine all ingredients and knead together gently. Do not overmix.
Put the mixture into a loaf pan to create a mould and up end into the Cast iron pan preferably, or in the center of the cookie sheet.

(you can also throw in some whole baking potatoes at this same time and have roasted potatoes with your meatloaf)

Place in the oven and Bake for 1 hour or until firm to the touch and an instant read thermometer reads 160 degrees. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before cutting.

This receipe is easily doubled -- You put half the mix in the oven and half in the freezer for another meal.
After the first loaf is in the oven - line the loaf pan with plastic wrap. Pack with remaining meat. Fold over plastic on top to cover meat and place in freezer overnight. In the morning - Unpan the meat (you might have to run warm wate rover the bottom a bit to loosen things up. Double wrap in tin foil once you get it out. Will keep in freezer at least 3 months.

To Cook Frozen:  Unwrap Tin foil. DONT FORGET TO REMOVE PLASTIC WRAP.
Place in cast Iron pan still frozen. Put in 350 degree oven about 2 hours.

Enjoy!!
The DayBird

Killer Home Fries

For the Daybird, since I didn't get a chance to make them this weekend and I promised her the recipe.

Six to eight fist-sized Yukon gold potatoes (or white boiling potatoes)
One large sweet onion, diced
One stick of butter, cut into 1-teaspoon pats
Lawry's Seasoned Salt (the one with the red top)

Wash potatoes, cutting off any spots or eyes. Slice evenly, about 1/8 inch thick. Heat a heavy-bottom frying pan with high sides (a chicken fryer) over medium heat. Put about 6 pieces of the butter in the pan. Sprinkle a generous handful of the diced onion into the butter. Lay out potato slices to cover the onions. Sprinkle the seasoned salt across the top of the potatoes. Put 6 pieces of the butter across the top of the potatoes and sprinkle a handful of onions across them. Add another layer of potatoes and seasoned salt. Continue until you run out of ingredients. Cover and cook until the potatoes are softened (about 30 minutes). Uncover and turn the potatoes. They should be brown on the bottom. Keep cooking and turning, cooking and turning, until desired doneness. They should look mostly browned, not white. Serves (in theory) 4 to 6.

First post! Canning at LK's

This past weekend, I traveled down to the Daybird's Ogre Mansion for a bit of canning. It's almost Thanksgiving, and I needed to make the whole cranberry relish that I am required to bring to my family's dinner. I had found some very small clementines (clementinies?) that I desperately wanted to candy whole, plus I've been thinking about trying to make an Italian-style mostarda.
Daybird was interested in the canning process, as she hadn't actually done it herself. It's been a few years for me, so I had to do a quick review to remember specific water bath times, etc. Finding canning jars this time of year is always a bit of a challenge, but we managed to get a couple dozen of the 1-pint size.
I started Saturday with the mostarda. I have to say up front that it was not the success I was hoping for, but I know what I did wrong and the next batch will be better. I chopped up some Meyer lemons, oranges, dried apricots, and sweet onions, then simmered them in pomegranate juice. Toward the end, I added some roasted mustard seeds (ground up) and some roasted coriander. The peels from the citrus made the product too bitter, so I added salt and sugar to cut down the bitterness. Popped it into sterilized canning jars and processed for 10 minutes. We had it with our baked ham for dinner, and the saltiness of the ham also ameliorated the bitter taste. I found that the mustard flavor really didn't come through as much as I wanted. I plan to mix the finished mostarda with some prepared mustard (something spicy) to get closer to the result I was aiming for.
Sunday was cranberry relish and the candied clementines. I started out by scrubbing the clementines and removing the little green thingies on the stem end. Pierce 6-8 times with a toothpick. Submerge them in a simple syrup of 3 cups sugar to 2 cups water and simmer until tender. Place in jars and process in a water bath for 10 minutes. I haven't tried them yet, but I imagine slicing them very thinly and using them as a garnish for meats or stinky cheese or on a dessert. There was leftover syrup, so I saved that for using in drink-making.
Cranberry relish is as simple as it gets. I use one quart of tangerine juice (had to squeeze it myself this year, but I usually do store-bought), two bags of Ocean Spray cranberries, two bags of Dole Mixed dried fruit (apple, cranberry, raisin, etc.), one box of golden raisins (don't get the dark ones), 2 oranges cut into supremes, and 2 oranges juiced. Wash and pick over the cranberries and discard any squishy ones. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer until all the cranberries pop. Add Demerara sugar or honey to taste. Either pour into canning jars and process 10 minutes in a water bath, or freeze.
If you use the golden raisins rather than the dark ones, the finished product looks like stained glass.
Somebody comment, please! Be kind; it's my first blogpost.

~the nightowl