Meatloaf

Meatloaf.  A staple of cafeterias, TV dinners, and moms everywhere.  I always keep some ground beef in the freezer for impromptu burgers, burritos, and the like, so I decided to switch it up and go for this old classic.  Now in an ideal world, you would have lots of nice ground meats (beef and pork) to incorporate into your loaf (or get adventurous with lamb and turkey).

The fillings for your meatloaf fall under some basic categories: (day old) crusty bread soaked in milk, ground meat, diced veggies, egg, spices.  

Soak your bread that you rip or dice into cubes.  This adds some texture and airiness in the loaf so it isn't completely dense with meat.  

Next saute your veggies.  This time I had onions, carrots, and garlic to work with.  You don't need to get them completely soft because you will be baking them in the loaf for an hour and the juices from the meat will soften them.  

Now combine your ground meat, 3/4 of the sauteed veggies, soaked bread, one egg, and sauces/spices in a bowl.  It looks pretty gross.  For my seasoning this time I went with some soy sauce, salt/pepper, and thyme.    

With the remaining sauteed veggies, I mixed them with some soy sauce and some ketchup in the skillet.  I then filled a loaf pan with the meaty mixture and spread the ketchup on top.  Add as much or as little of this as you'd like.  

I popped this bad boy in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees.  You can serve with additional ketchup if your diners so desire, or perhaps ditch the ketchup alltogether and go for a gravy instead.  I served with mashed potatoes for a nice hearty meat and potato comfort food dinner.  

Butternut Squash Tart

A great new recipe I discovered around Thanksgiving offers another use for butternut squash besides the typical soup route.  A crowd favorite, this is a nice hearty appetizers that toes the line between sweet and savory.

Ingredients: frozen puff pastry sheet, butternut squash (preferably whole/fresh and sliced to your desired thinness), 1 egg + water, salt, olive oil, fresh sage leaves, honey or maple syrup, parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven 375 and begin by placing the puff pastry sheet on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Beat the egg and a tsp of water to make an egg wash and brush it over the puff pastry.  Arranged your butternut squash slices evenly over the pastry, overlapping as you see fit.

Cover the squash covered pastry with more parchment paper and another cookie sheet of something with a little weight to press down on the squash before putting it into the oven.  As it bakes, the moisture in the squash won't evaporate leaving it dry, but allow for steam cooking.  Bake for about 10-15 minutes.  When you notice some puffing of the pastry, but not browning on top, you're good.

Remove the top layer of parchment paper and cookie sheet, brush or drizzle with olive oil and return the squash pastry to the oven.  Bake for an addition half an hour or so, uncovered, until the squash looks cooked to your doneness (you can poke it with a toothpick or fork to make sure it is soft enough), and the pastry is a light golden brown, but not a burnt mess.

The suggested toppings for the tart are a chili-infused honey, fried sage leaves, and freshly shaved parmesan cheese.  When I made this, we did not have honey and one of our diners was not a fan of spicy things, so for the drizzle, we went with maple syrup instead.  I wanted the syrup to be thicker though, so in a saute pan I heated a few tablespoons of syrup with about half as much water, cooked to a boil, then simmered while it reduced and thickened.  For the fried sage, heat the olive oil in a shallow skillet over medium-high heat and add the fresh sage, one leaf at a time.  It will bubble/pop because of the moisture in the leaves, and it will fry quickly so remove the leaves with tongs after about 5-10 seconds on each side in the oil.

Top the tart with the honey or syrup drizzle, the fried sage, and the cheese (preferably freshly shaved parmesan, but we only had pre-grated).  Slice into individual squares and serve!

Roasted Green Beans

I have recently become a big fan of roasting vegetables as a nice rustic side dish for heartier meals.  Today's recipe comes from my Thanksgiving dinner (a bit delayed in the posting, yes).  Rather than the "traditional" green bean casserole doused in soup, I wanted something with more of a bite and less heavy, since Thanksgiving meals are already so good at weighing us down without an added casserole masquerading as a healthy veggie side dish.

The setup is simple.  Veggies, olive oil, garlic, spices.  I roasted some root veggies for Christmas (sorry no pics) and followed the same system (carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, garlic, olive oil, sage).

For this preparation I took fresh green beans with both ends chopped off, fresh scallions cut to the same length as the green beans, a couple tablespoons of minced garlic, fresh sage (~30 whole leaves), dried thyme (~2 tsp), and dried rosemary (~2 tsp).  I drizzled with olive oil (probably about 2 - 3 tbsp) and mixed until everything was lightly covered.

Lay the beans out on an oven rack and bake in a 400 degree oven for an hour.  Every 10-20 minutes or so I went through and tossed the beans with tongs to move them around on the tray so there was even cooking.

And that's it!  Once done you have some nice caramelization on parts of the beans, a good balance between crisp and "soggy" bites, and a good foundation for any of the gravies or sauces you'll be serving with your entree rather than coming to the party with its own sauce.