Patty Melts for Everyone

When you last saw me I was writing from warm and sunny Los Angeles, (it was a long while ago I know) things have changed considerably and I am now freezing my ass off in Detroit.  Despite the lower temperatures I have (voluntarily) found myself temporarily unemployed and you know what that means……more time for cooking!  At least more time to potentially write about it.

Recently I found myself home alone and bored out of my mind, so I decided to make patty melts and homemade chips.  Why?  It happened to be the first recipes I came across that seemed fun, and I do love a good patty melt.

So both of these recipes are coming from the September 2014 Bon Appetit. (which just happened to be the first thing I picked up to look for interesting recipes)

The BA Patty Melt

Caramelized Onions
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 large onions, thinly sliced

Patties and such
1/4 small onion finely chopped
1 lb ground beef chuck (20% fat)….I'm pretty sure the meat I bought was leaner but whatever
1 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
8 slices of rye bread
4 oz aged sharp cheddar, thinly sliced
4 oz Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
8 tsp mayonnaise

First you need to caramelize the onions.  Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onions.  Constantly stir and add water when necessary to avoid burning the onions.  Cook until they are nice and golden, it probably took 20 minutes or so.  I'd like to mention at this point that I am cooking without my favorite skillet…..I miss it, but it is in a box somewhere.

If you can grow a few extra hands, than while the onions are cooking you can mix the beef, onion (the other onion) ketchup, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl.  I did not grow extra hands, so I just waited until I was done with the onions.  Separate the meat mixture into 4 separate patties.  Make the patties roughly the same shape/size as the bread you are using, it gives you the proper bread to meat ratio, which is key.  The recipe says to use two pieces of wax paper to squish the patties between when you are shaping them, which I did, not entirely sure what I accomplished with that.

Heat the oil in a large skillet (cast iron worked well) and cook the patties (you can work one or two at a time….I did).  Press the patties gently while cooking.  When the patties are browned but still pink in the middle transfer to a plate.  You might wonder how you will know if the middle is still pink without cutting it open.  Well if your meat mixture is anything like mine then there is a good chance the patty will completely fall apart when you flip it over, which will give you a good look at the middle.

Wipe out the skillet and reduce the heat to medium.  Top 4 slices of bread with cheddar, beef patty, caramelized onions, and swiss cheese in that order.  Close the sandwich and spread each top with a little mayo, (1 tsp if we are being precise about these things).  Place in the pan mayo side down.  I know the mayo thing as opposed to butter may seem a little weird to people but actually it was good.

Now the recipe says that you should place a foil covered heavy pan on top of the sandwich to weight it down while it cooks.  I chose to just push on it VERY HARD and often with my spatula.  It seemed to work out for me.  Let the patty cook for a few minutes until the bottom slice is a nice golden brown.  Spread some may on the top and flip it and repeat for another few minutes.  And that's it.























Homemade Potato Chips

1.5 lbs russet potatoes
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
vegetable oil (for frying. The recipe says 8 cups, I got this done with about 6 cups or so, it was fine, nothing tragic happened…..I promise….seriously though it was fine)
Kosher salt

So I got to use a mandolin for the first time, and I didn't cut my fingers off or anything!  I recommend using one in order to get thin enough slices of the potato to make chips.  Once you have cut them all (recipe suggest roughly 1/8 inch thick…sure I used the mandolin…it cut it really thing…good enough for me)

Put the potatoes in a large bowl and add water to cover.  Stir to release starch and drain.  Repeat this process until the water runs clear.  Then cover the potatoes with the vinegar and 6 cups of water.  Let that sit for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.  Drain the bowl and pat the potatoes dry.

Put the vegetable oil in a heavy pot and heat over medium- high heat until the frying thermometer registers 300.  Now I do not have a fry thermometer.  So here is how I figured this out:  I let the oil heat up for a while, then I took a turkey/meat thermometer and stuck it in the oil.  This thermometer only went up to 220, so basically when the needle fired up towards 220 and looked like it was going to keep going I figured it was hot enough.

Working in batches (and letting the oil heat back up in between) fry the potatoes, turning them occasionally to cook evenly.  When they are golden brown use a slotted spoon to put them on a paper towel lined wire rack and season with salt.

Who Loves Risotto and Creepy Sea Creatures?

I love risotto.  When its done right it really can be just heavenly.  My previous excursion into risotto was absolutely perfect.  The Bacon and Leak Risotto with a Poached egg is really spectacular, I've made it several times and had many happy customers with that recipe.  This time I wanted to try it with something I had not tried to cook before, scallops.

I've always liked scallops, they can be a little bit on the fishy side depending on how they are prepared but I like working with different ingredients so I figured it was worth a shot.


Caramelized Scallops and Risotto with Sherry
For the risotto:
-  8 Tbsp butter
-  1/2 Cup Onion finely chopped
-  2 cups of Carnaroli rice (for the life of me I could not find this stuff so I went with Arborio rice   instead.  I have no idea what impact this has on the recipe but it seemed to work just fine for me.)
-  2/3 Cup of Sherry Fino (also couldn't find sherry fino specifically, so I just went with plain old cooking sherry)
-  8 Cups of Chicken stock
-  1 Cup of Parmesan, grated

For the Scallops
-  2 lbs Sea Scallops
-  1 Cup Kosher Salt
-  1 Cup Hot Water
-  8 Cups Cold Water
-  1/4 Cup Olive Oil
-  1/4 Cup Sherry
-  4 Tbsp Butter

To get this party started, bring the chicken stock to a boil in a pot and then lower to simmer.

As that is happening you can prepare the brine for the scallops.  In a bowl, combine the salt and the hot water.  The recipe says to stir to dissolve the salt.  Science says that is way too much salt to dissolve in that small amount of water.  So I say, mix it as best you can and then add the cold water.  Once all of the water is in the bowl the salt should dissolve pretty easily.  Add the scallops to the bowl and let them sit for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, drain the scallops, rinse them in cold water and pat dry.  The overwhelming fish/seaport smell that accompanied the scallops should be significantly diminished.  At least it was for me.  I should note at this point that my kitchen smelled like fish for two days after making this.  My kitchen is right next to the front door, therefore I was greeted with the smells of the sea whenever I walked in the door.  This may have had something to do with the pan that I had to soak for a bit to get clean and then left overnight.  Ok the smell part is probably my bad.  The lesson here kids is clean as you go.

In a big heavy saucepan (it is important to make sure its big enough otherwise you'll end up with risotto everywhere when it starts to expand as it absorbs the stock) melt 4 Tbsp butter on low heat.  When the butter is melted add the onions and cook slowly for 10 minutes, making sure that you do not brown the onion.  You want it to end up flaccid and translucent.  (I'm proud that I managed to work flaccid into a sentence...win for me!)

After 10 minutes turn the heat up to medium and add the rice.  Stir the rice constantly until it is covered in butter.  You don't want the rice to brown so make sure the heat stays at medium and stir a lot.

Add the sherry and let it reduce, continuing to stir until the mixture is almost dry.  If you've read my previous post about risotto, you know that this is just the beginning of all of the stirring.  Make sure you are equipped with a good glass of wine nearby and you should be fine.  It is even better if you can find someone to refill that glass as you cook, you know who you are.






Turn the heat down to low and start adding the chicken stock (which should still be on the stove) 1/2 cup at a time stirring frequently until almost all of it is absorbed.  Lather, rinse and repeat this step until the rice is tender and the risotto is creamy but not too soupy.

Here is where things get hysterical to me.  The recipe I used for this says that the adding of stock phase should take about 18 minutes.  On what planet does this take 18 minutes?  I stirred and added chicken stock for about an hour and a half.  I'm ok with that because I knew better from previous experiences.  But seriously?  seriously?  18 minutes?  The lady that put this recipe up is crazy.

When the risotto is ready, and you're all out of chicken stock remove the risotto from the heat for about 5 minutes.  After letting it sit, add the other 4 Tbsp of butter, then the parmesan cheese and stir it in to the risotto until completely mixed.

At this point the recipe also says to "Pay attention to not burn yourself".   Was she stirring with her bare hands?  I do not understand how at this stage of the recipe I am supposed to be overly concerned about burning myself.  I'm about to essentially pan fry scallops in oil, that seems more dangerous than stirring creamy rice.  People are weird.

Don't forget to season the risotto with a bit of salt and pepper to taste and then you can set it aside while finishing the scallops.

For the scallops you can probably use any heavy frying pan.  However may I recommend a cast iron skillet?  Here's why:  At the end of this recipe we will be using the pan scrapings to make a little sauce for the scallops.  In my experience, using a non-stick skillet generally leaves no pan scrapings to go after.  The cast iron skillet will get mighty hot and you will have all sorts of goodies in the pan at the end.





Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat until the oil begins to smoke.  Add the scallops to the pan, taking care to make sure they are well separated.  Apparently these creepy sea creatures are antisocial.  In reality if they are too close together you will essentially steam the scallops instead of caramelizing them.  Cook the scallops without moving them until the bottom is a nice golden brown color.  When I first read this my initial thought was "how am I supposed to know if the bottom is golden brown if I can't move it?"  I feel like this is a valid question.  However I found an answer while cooking the scallops.  At first I cheated and I would pick them up and see how the bottom was looking. Then I realized that since they are sitting in a bit of oil you can just keep an eye on sides of scallops.  The bottom of the side will start to brown eventually and that tended to be a good indicator that it was ready to be flipped.  Which leads me to my next step, flip the scallops and do the same thing to the other side.

Maybe I went a little past the golden brown stage with these

Once all of the scallops are cooked (I don't have an enormous cast iron skillet so it took a few batches) set them aside and pour most of the fat from the pan.  Add sherry to the pan, which will boil instantly and scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  When the liquid is reduced by half, turn the heat down and add salt and butter to the pan and stir until it is slightly thickened.


The scallops can then be served on top of the risotto and topped with a bit of the scallop sauce.

Its a good recipe depending on how you feel about scallops.  I know a lot of people have issues with the taste and/or texture of scallops.  I think this recipe takes away the overwhelming fish taste you can get from scallops (which is a good thing).  But for scallops, that texture isn't going to change much so if that doesn't work for you this recipe is probably not a good idea.




I really enjoyed it.  I probably added just a touch too much chicken stock to the risotto this time around and so it was a little soupier than I would have liked.  Adding the scallop/sherry sauce to the dish certainly didn't help in that respect but it was still delicious.

Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese

Ok so remember that part where I promised more posts in the new year?  So much for that.  But I have returned!  I haven't stopped cooking, I just keep forgetting to take pictures and write about it.  There was an unfortunate evening involving clams sauteed in a jalapeno-type sauce, which for me just ruined the clams.  It was that evening that I realized the traditional steamed clams in some kind of a white wine sauce is all you ever need.  Speaking of, anyone want to go to Seattle and gorge themselves on clams, mussels and salmon?

When I left you all last I was lamenting my inability to properly roll/stuff a chicken breast.  Something I'm convinced I still don't quite have figured out.  But I am nothing if not tenacious so I figured I would try again.  This time around I will be stuffing my chicken with a pesto and mozzarella cheese mixture.


Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese
-  2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-  2 Tbsp of pesto
-  2 Tbsp of sour cream
-  2 Tbsp of grated mozzarella
-  2 eggs, beaten like a red-headed step child
-  3 Tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese
-  3 Tbsp of almond flour

Preheat the oven to 375 while you prep the chicken.  I'll be honest prep is easy and quick with this one. The recipe said to put the chicken breasts in a "heavy plastic bag" but the picture showed it inside a ziploc bag.  What sorcery is this?  Could this be the secret to my chicken pounding issues?  Every time
I try to pound a chicken thin it does not go well.  So I pulled out a ziploc bag (I bought some at costco about 2 years ago and I'm not quite through the first box so if anyone needs ziploc bags let me know) and put one chicken breast inside and pounded away.  I have no idea what the point of the plastic bag was.  I took care to make sure there was no extra air in the bag and yet somehow I still popped the bag and the chicken slid out.  Lesson learned: pounding chicken is not a strength of mine.







In a bowl of your choosing mix the pesto, sour cream and mozzarella.  I don't like how recipes tell me to use a small bowl, I'LL USE WHATEVER BOWL I WANT TO THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  Also I should note that I added a little extra pesto and little extra mozzarella to the mixture because, well because I said so, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Using a rubber spatula (I'm not condemning you to this utensil, just letting you know what I used, I believe you have a right to choose your own utensils) I spread the mixture onto the flattened chicken breasts.  I was careful to leave a little extra space around the edges.  If I have learned anything from my previous chicken rolling/stuffing experiences its that you cannot overload the chicken with stuffing.  That's where it all goes wrong for me, I want all of the good stuff crammed in there and then when you roll it up it doesn't fit and you get filling spilling all over the place.  It is less than ideal for creating a neatly rolled chicken breast.





I actually remembered to buy toothpicks this time around (I usually dont) so I rolled up the chicken and probably went a little overboard with my toothpick use.  I just wanted to be absolutely sure those things weren't going to fall apart.  Especially since I still had to work with them a bit.

Prepare two bowls, one with the beaten eggs and one with the parmesan-almond flour mixture.  Dip the chicken breast into the eggs first and roll it around, try not to throw up in your mouth (dripping egg on raw chicken....mmmm) then coat it in the parmesan-almond flour mixture.  Make sure the chicken is well coated and place into a casserole dish that you have sprayed with a little non-stick spray.  This non stick spray is an important step.  I made a second attempt at beef wellington recently and it went very well until I forgot to grease the damn pan and everything fell apart as I had to scrape it out of the pan.

After you have the chicken breasts in the pan, throw it in the oven for about 25-35 minutes.  Ultimately I was a little disappointed that my crust on the chicken didn't get to that nice golden-brown color, however everything was cooked just fine.





















To go with the chicken I decided to roast a little cauliflower.  Nothing overly fancy and honestly nothing overly tasty either.

Oven Roasted Cauliflower
-  1 medium cauliflower broken into florets
-  1/4 cup Olive Oil
-  1 Tbsp garlic, sliced
-  1 tsp salt
-  1/2 tsp black pepper
-  2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
-  1 chive, chopped for garnish

Apparently this is the only picture I took of the Cauliflower

As I said the recipe was very simple, preheat the oven to 500.  Put the cauliflower into a roasting pan and drizzle the olive oil over it.  Season with the garlic, salt and pepper.  Throw it in the oven for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even roasting.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese, garnish with the chives and serve.

Here was my problem in the end with this one, there was no flavor.  I like cauliflower, but cauliflower isn't exactly bursting with flavor on its own.  The garlic didn't do enough to punch up the flavor of the cauliflower.  Or maybe I am just used to my other favorite cauliflower recipe which involves roasting it in butter and sage (it is delicious by the way).

All in all I thought it all turned out pretty good.  It isn't the best thing I've every cooked, but it was all fairly easy so you can't argue with that.  Or you could I guess, but ultimately that's up to you.

Chicken Cordon Bleu....Sort of...

I know it has been a while, but you get busy, ND starts winning football games, and the next thing you know I hadn't really cooked anything worth writing about since August.  That's depressing, I promise I'll do better in the new year.  The good news is I'm here with a new recipe!  So quit complaining and enjoy.

I've been browsing epicurious lately trying to find something that sparked my culinary imagination, and while epicurious can be awesome, if you don't have a plan it can be a recipe wasteland.  There are so many ways to search through their recipes that if you don't go in with a plan you're doomed, you'll never find anything you want to eat.  I think its the exact opposite of going grocery shopping when you're hungry.  I know if I've shopped hungry because I come home with enough food to feed myself for two weeks, and some kind of Hostess product (R.I.P) usually Ho Ho's.

It took me a while but I finally found a dish that spoke to me, Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce.  I don't know why exactly it spoke to me, but I do love prosciutto and since its been a while I figured I'd go with it.

Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

-  4 chicken breasts
-  Kosher salt
-  Fresh Ground Pepper
-  8 thin slices of prosciutto
-  8 thin slices of provolone
-  32 fresh basil leaves (you can definitely get by with less, 32 is a little overkill...and I love basil)
-  3 Tbsp Unsalted butter, divided
-  1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
-  4 cups mixed mushrooms, chopped into small pieces (crimini, chanterelle, and maitake...or in      my case just crimini because the Ralph's near me sucks and never has a good selection of mushrooms or herbs.
-  2 cups low sodium chicken broth
-  1 tsp red wine vinegar
-  2 Tbsp mixed chopped fresh herbs (I went for basil and chives...again small selection)


Part of why I wanted to try this is because the last time I was rolling/stuffing chicken I definitely had mixed results, not on the food, just on my own stuffing/rolling abilities.  Start off by halving the chicken breasts horizontally and open halves like book.  This is a slightly more delicate task than I first thought. I realized this after I almost sliced my hand open, and then when I essentially cut the first piece of chicken in half.  My advice, be careful and patient.  Patience is not one of my best cooking qualities, I long to be skilled enough with a knife to work as a chef at Benihana.  I don't actually want to work there, I just want to be that skilled with a knife, just to impress my friends.

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4 inch thick and season on all sides with salt and pepper.  This is another task that never goes well for me.  If someone has some kind of advice as to how to pound chicken thin without it essentially disintegrating that would much appreciated.

I love how recipes will sometimes specify that you need to work with one piece of chicken at a time, because obviously I planned on banging these things thin with a mallet in each hand.  First of all I'm ambidextrous but I'm not that ambidextrous.  Second, I don't even own a second mallet.  The other thing I imagine is some bonehead stacking all the chicken on top of each other and trying to pound the whole thing to a 1/4 inch, good luck genius.

I always laugh about this because I'm a big believer that if directions or a sign specifies something absurd it is only because someone else tried the absurd thing to warrant the creation of said sign.

But I digress, once you have pounded out the chicken breast, lay cut side up and overlap 2 slices of prosciutto on top of the chicken leaving a 1/2 inch border.  Perhaps if I could pound chicken properly I would have enough room for a 1/2 inch border, but I did the best I could.  Next put two slices of provolone on top of the prosciutto and layer 8 basil leaves on top of that all maintaining that 1/2 inch border.  I apparently did not buy enough basil so I didn't do 8 full leaves on each chicken, but I still think it turned out pretty good in the end.

Roll up the chicken and tie with kitchen twine to hold it together.  I forgot to buy kitchen twine.  I always forget to buy kitchen twine.  Every time I have to tie something in the kitchen, I forget to buy the twine.  So I rolled my chicken and used gravity to hold the roll by putting the open "flap" on the bottom.

Preheat the oven to 450.  While that is heating up break out your big skillet.  Keep in mind that eventually this whole skillet is going in the oven so if it is a prissy little delicate skillet you might want to grab a different skillet.  Actually the recipe just says "large heavy, ovenproof skillet".  Now I understand that there are different surfaces and different kinds of skillets, but it is a tool that is designed to be put over a direct flame, how harmful can 8 minutes in an oven really be?

Heat 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of veggie oil in your skillet and brown the chicken on all sides which takes roughly 10 minutes, at least it did for me.  Then take the skillet and stick it in the oven for about 8-10 minutes.  The recipe says until an instant read thermometer reads 165 when inserted into the center.

Lets be honest if you pounded chicken down to about a 1/4 inch, then basically cooked it in the skillet for 10 minutes, after about 10 minutes in the oven at 450 its going to be cooked all the way through.

Put the chicken on a plate and scrape the drippings from the skillet.  Put the skillet back on the stove top and melt 1 Tbsp of butter over medium-high heat.

Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are golden brown.  Also remember that your skillet was in the oven, don't grab the handle with your bare hand a few minutes later.  It will hurt.  Also remember what I said about signs and warnings earlier, I'm the bonehead who grabbed the skillet, it did in fact hurt.

Add the chicken broth and vinegar and simmer until the liquid is thickened and reduced, approximately 12 minutes.  Let me say, my mixture reduced, but there was literally no thickening going on.




Stir in the last of the butter and random herbs you decided to chop up and season with salt and pepper.


Cut the chicken into slices and drizzle the mushroom sauce over and serve.  In my case I put the mushroom sauce on the side, I wasn't ready to commit to the mushroom sauce.

While I was doing all of this I was also making a little veggie side dish.  A very easy recipe and in the spirit of my grandmother, the BEST green beans I've ever had.

Slow-Roasted Green Beans with Sage

-  2.5 lbs of green beans, trimmed
-  3 bunches of scallions, trimmed with 1 inch green tops still attached, halved lengthwise
-  6 large garlic cloves cut lengthwise into 4 slices
-  1/2 cup olive oil
-  2 Tbsp fresh sage
-  1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
-  1 Tbsp fresh thyme
-  2 tsp Kosher salt


For the green beans the recipe says to preheat the oven to 375.  Since I already had mine at 450 for the chicken I decided the green beans could handle a little extra heat.

Combine everything in a big bowl and season with fresh ground pepper.  Toss it all around to make sure everything gets nice and mixed in.  Transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet.

Roast the beans, stirring every 10 minutes until they are wilted, shrunken and browned at the edges, which the recipe says is roughly one hour.  I probably had them in there for about 35-40 minutes while I was cooking the chicken and it turned out delicious.  So simple and they were fantastic.

Ok now I have to go find something new to cook.

Thank God I'm Not Allergic to Shellfish

I've been blessed.  I've been blessed to not be allergic to shellfish.  I cannot say the same thing for half my family.  While my mother and one of my brothers can enjoy shrimp and lobster and all of the deliciousness they have to offer, my dad and other brothers are afflicted with an allergy that I don't think I could live with, I could eat shrimp and lobster every day.  I should make this happen.

So its been really hot in LA lately and I thought I'd cook something a little lighter and perhaps more "summery" (whatever that actually means).  I came across a recipe for shrimp pasta with tomatoes, lemons and spinach.  This seemed to fit my "summery" description.  Maybe its not summery at all, maybe summery isn't even an actual word, at this point I've decided I like the word so I'm keeping it.  Take that.

Shrimp Pasta with Tomatoes, Lemon, and Spinach

- 1/2lb extra large shrimp, thawed and peeled
- 2tsp lemon zest
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper
- 1 sprig fresh thyme chopped
- 1 sprig fresh oregano chopped
- 4 basil leaves torn (recipe called for 2, I like basil so I used more)
- 2Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2lb angel hair pasta










In a medium bowl, mix the shrimp with the crushed red pepper, half the lemon zest and the chopped herbs.  Toss it around and make sure the shrimp get coated nicely.  And then set it aside.  (Small side note, peeling shrimp is extremely smelly business, be prepared)

In a big skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute, then add the tomatoes and the rest of the lemon zest.  Cook for about two minutes.  Let's pause for a second to talk about how good sautéed garlic smells, very good, ok moving on.







Add the shrimp and cook for about 5 or so minutes until the shrimp is cooked through.  Be sure to keep tossing the shrimp so both sides cook.

So far this is one of the easiest recipes I've tackled.  A lot of ingredients, but nothing too fancy going on.  Everything is making sense, no complaints from me.

Backing up for a second, before you start on the shrimp, boil some water for the angel hair pasta.  if it boils right about the time you are putting the shrimp on you will have mastered the timing of this dish.  And if I may say so, I mastered this dish.  I made this dish my....it went well.

When the water boils throw the pasta in there.  I would have assumed this was obvious, but I teach for a living and I've learned never assume people can get from point A to point B without holding some hands.

Once the pasta is cooked drain all but about 1/2 cup of the water and add the shrimp mixture to the pasta as well as the spinach.  Add the lemon juice too!  Rather than measure out the lemon juice I just used the lemon I had taken the zest from and squeezed the whole thing in there.  It seemed to me to be the perfect amount of lemon flavor, not too strong, not too weak, just right.

Add a little salt and pepper to taste and of course, fresh parmesan.  Sit back enjoy, then talk about how awesome I am for bringing you this recipe.  Even though I got it from someone else.  It was really delicious, and I will definitely be making this again.

Southern Style Meatloaf?

Ok so I decided to make some meatloaf, and I could have very easily used the handy recipe my mother always made.  Her recipe involved a combo meatloaf-mashed potato loaf, which  was always very good, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with mashed potatoes.  So I took to epicurious to find another recipe.  I came across a very simple recipe for what claimed to be "Southern Style Meatloaf."  Basically its meatloaf with bacon all over it.  I asked a few southerners I know and none of them seem to be familiar with this "style" of meatloaf, but I made it anyway, I mean....come on...bacon.

Southern Style Meatloaf

-3 lbs lean ground beef
-1 cup ketchup
-1 Tbsp kosher salt
-1 tsp black pepper
-1 Tbsp Soy sauce
-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
-3 slices of white bread, dampened and pulled into 1/2 inch pieces
-3 large eggs
-1/2 teaspoon tabasco sauce
-1 medium onion coarsely grated (as I'm writing this I'm realizing that I totally didn't do that, I chopped it, good job reading the recipe by me!)
-1 lb bacon (I can't believe I'm saying this but, probably way too much bacon)

So the instructions for this are simple, throw everything into a bowl and use your hands to knead it all together until it is combined.

Using a 13x9 baking dish, create a 12x6 mound, spread bacon strips over the top and bake about an hour until the meat is firm and the bacon is well done.




Ok so this was super simple and the end result was OK I guess.  Here's the problem, it was more like meat mush than meat loaf.  Also cooking 1lb of bacon means a lot and I mean A LOT of bacon grease.   That grease had no where to go so essentially it just sits in the baking dish with your meat.  And while I love bacon, I have no desire to eat massive amounts of bacon grease.

Ultimately it was sort of tasty, but I felt like I had a brick in my stomach for a few hours and I didn't even eat very much of it.  Oh well, next time I think I'll stick with momma's recipe.