Jamie’s Recipes

We have now been in our house for one month. How quickly that month has gone too. Most of our boxes have been unpacked, we still have a few that have a mish-mash of things in them, nevertheless we are feeling quite settled. There are still things that I want to do to make this place feel like my own. Every room needs to be painted, the basement needs carpet (to cover the asbestos tiles), and we decorations to hang on the walls. I know this will all happen over time, unless we win the lottery then I am going to go shopping immediately (I can dream, right?). I love this house and am really excited to see it transform into ours over the next year.

One thing that I love about this house is that it is double the space of our previous apartment. Which means we actually have space to entertain, and I love entertaining. A couple weeks ago we had our first of hopefully many cocktail parties. Alex mixed up drinks popular in the 1960s and I made a bunch (too many) appetizers for our guests to enjoy.

One of the appetizers I made was Swedish Meatballs. These particular kind of meatballs are typically served in a creamy brown sauce. You could eat Swedish meatballs as a main course served with mashed potatoes, but they make the perfect appetizer served on a toothpick.

SWEDISH MEATBALLS
from Alton Brown, Good Eats with my own method
2 slices fresh white bread
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons clarified butter, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
A pinch plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 pound ground chuck (I used 1 pound)
3/4 pound ground pork (I used 1 pound)
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups beef broth
1/4 cup heavy cream

My method: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Alton’s method (which I followed here): Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small mixing bowl along with the milk. Set aside.

In a 12-inch straight sided saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the bread and milk mixture, ground chuck, pork, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions. Beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes.

My method: Scoop up about 2T of the meat mixture. Roll into a ball (should be about the size of a ping-pong ball). Place the meatballs into a 9×13 baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes, turn meatballs, bake another 10 minutes. In order to make the gravy I added some of the drippings from the baking dish into my preheated (medium heat) cast iron skillet. I followed the rest of Alton’s directions for making the gravy.

Alton’s method: Using a scale, weigh meatballs into 1-ounce portions and place on a sheet pan. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into rounds.

Heat the remaining butter in the saute pan over medium-low heat, or in an electric skillet set to 250 degrees F. Add the meatballs and saute until golden brown on all sides, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Remove the meatballs to an ovenproof dish using a slotted spoon and place in the warmed oven.

Once all of the meatballs are cooked, decrease the heat to low and add the flour to the pan or skillet. Whisk until lightly browned, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add the beef stock and whisk until sauce begins to thicken. Add the cream and continue to cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Remove the meatballs from the oven, cover with the gravy and serve.

Enjoy as a tasty dinner with mashed potatoes or rice, or as a fun appetizer!

I love Mexican cuisine, from traditional “comida muy authentico” to TexMex. If it is labeled Mexican food, chances are I will love it –unless it is Carlos O’Kelly’s, that place is an embarrassment to Mexican food lovers. I think the only thing good on their menu is their margaritas.

A quick history about Cinco de Mayo: It is NOT Mexico’s Independence Day (that is Sept 16), but it is a holiday celebrating Mexico’s defeat of a larger and better equiped French army at the Battle of Puebla back in 1862.

Here in the United States Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican culture, with food, drinks and dancing. I think Cinco de Mayo is a day for us Americans to be as Mexican as we are Irish on St. Patrick’s day. I love to eat, drink, and if I’ve had enough to drink you may even catch me dancing; so this is a favorite “holiday” for me.

Here are some of my favorite tried and true Mexican recipes that I hope you will try for your Cinco de Mayo fiesta. Feliz cinco de Mayo!

MEXICAN TORTAS

BEER AND LIME CHICKEN FAJITAS

Recipe for delicious Mexican ground beef.

A yummy and easy margarita recipe.

Have you ever heard of a Cottage Pie before? I hadn’t. I have always called this dish Shepherd’s Pie regardless of the meat used. Traditionally Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb, something I am not a fan of. I can say “I do not like lamb” because I have given it many tries. I think ground lamb (with spices and herbs mixed in) is tolerable, but the thought of lamb chops or leg or lamb make my stomach turn.

At Easter I ate at a brunch buffet with my in-laws. As I was eyeing all the lovely food options, I saw a man (actually a teenage boy) standing at the carving station with a beautiful piece of meat in front of him. I thought to myself “Wow that looks like some good  prime rib, I will have that for lunch.” I waited in line, and as I held my plate up to him I said “I will take a couple pieces of prime rib.” He slapped the meat on my plate without a word.  I returned to the table and eagerly cut into my “prime rib”.  I took one bite and almost regurgitated it all over the table. I leaned over to my husband and said “DO NOT get the prime rib, I think there is something wrong with it.” He took a bite of mine and agreed it had a funny flavor. After awhile we heard my husband’s uncle and cousin talking about the lamb –my stomach turned even more. That experience has tainted my perception of lamb, because lamb tastes nothing like prime rib.

I digress. Since I do not like lamb I could not called this dish Shepherd’s Pie, it most certainly is a Cottage Pie made with ground beef. It is tasty. I found my recipe on a really cool website called Cooking for Engineers. They lay out their recipes in a unique manner, for those who like to cook and have an analytical mind. Head over there and check out this recipe for Cottage Pie.

Great looking recipes from blogs I read:

Family Pleasin’ Shepherd’s Pie from Picky Palate

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie from Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Easy Shepherd’s Pie from Simply Recipes

Cottage Pie from What Geeks Eat

My recipes:

Rachael Ray’s Shepherd’s Pie Redo

Authentic Mexican food, maybe. Well as authentic as a white girl from Iowa can make. There is a small town near where I grew up that was home to a dark, dingy, smoke-filled bar/restaurant. This bar/restaurant at the time was called Lou’s and it served delicious nachos, tacos and burritos. They were only open the last half of the week, and the line to get in was always long. You would stand shoulder to shoulder with everyone else waiting to eat, it was like a crowded nightclub.

I have so many memories eating at Lou’s, mainly because we would always go with my family and my grandparents. The adults would order their beers and my sister, brother and I would have to agree on a choice of soda, because we would get to order AN ENTIRE PITCHER OF IT. Occasionally we would get to order a Shirley Temple; my brother drank so many of these (non-alcoholic) cocktails that he threw-up in the parking lot. Since he is not yet 21 we always ask if he wants a Shirley Temple when we are ordering our beers; I don’t think he finds it as funny as I do.

Usually every time Alex and I go back home, we request to eat there with one of our families. The nachos are covered in gooey cheese, the portions are large, the salsa is hot and the beer is cold. Lou’s is now called something different, and it is more of a restaurant than a bar, it is well lit and the smoke is all gone. Going there isn’t the same, something about a cramming a bunch of people into a dark, cigarette smoke-filled room made the food taste so much better; don’t get me wrong the food is still delicious the environment is what changed.

I’ve been ordering the same thing for as long as I can remember; a combination burrito with gravy, adding lettuce, tomatoes, onions and smothering it in sour cream and their hot salsa. YUM! This is a meal that I have always wanted to cook at home. The ground beef in the burrito is so fine, and I was told that is because they boil their meat. Usually when I make tacos I brown my beef, which results in large chunks of browned meat. I searched high and low for authentic Mexican recipes and I came across a great website. The beef recipe is so good and to me it seems authentic. At least it is very similar to the meat they serve at Lou’s.

MEXICAN GROUND BEEF
(from mex-recipes.com)

2 lbs ground beef
1 tsp salt
2 T chili powder
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp cumin
2 T paprika
water to cover meat

1/2 medium white onion, chopped
1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped

But all ingredients (besides onion and pepper) into a 2 qt sauce pan. Use enough water to cover meat. Bring to a boil. Simmer over medium low heat about an hour. In about 15 minutes take a potato masher break up the meat; don’t want it to cook up in lumps. Repeat this process 2 or 3 more times. Also make sure we don’t run dry of water. Add water if needed.

Add chopped onion and chopped bell pepper, continue cooking 20 or 30 more minutes.

To finish:

Remove from stove pour into strainer. Let set for 10 or 15 minutes to make sure all grease was removed. At this point we do want to keep the liquid.  Place liquid in freezer for a few minutes. When grease separates and starts to hardened take spoon and remove. Should have very little liquid left.

1/2 cup would be fine. Place in small pan bring to a boil. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of corn starch in 1/4 cup of cold water add to liquid simmer 4 or 5 minutes. Fold into meat. Now we have a tasty moist taco, grease free.

I had never before had cabbage rolls, nor have I ever even heard of them until I saw them featured on the dinner menu at work. I tried a bite of a roll that was left over, and it was a lot better that I thought it would be, in fact, I really liked the flavor combinations. I decided to try to tackle these rolls at home for my family.

CABBAGE ROLLS

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES F

1 large head cabbage, halved and cored
salt

Boil a large pot of water. Add salt. Drop individual cabbage leaves into the pot and boil 3-5 minutes. You will want the leaves pliable. Drain leaves and set aside.

1 T unsalted butter
1/2 T EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 c yellow onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic)

Sautee first three ingredients over medium heat until onion is soft (8-10 minutes). Add garlic and sautee for 2 minutes. DO NOT allow garlic to brown! Take off heat to cool.

In another pan over medium-low heat sautee the following for 1 minute

2 T EVOO
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic)

Add and simmer 5 minutes
28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Add and simmer the following for another 5 minutes
1 1/ T white wine vinegar
1 T sugar

In a mixing bowl add the following:
1 lb ground beef
1 c cooked white rice
1 egg
2 tsp salt
cooked onion mixture

Combine well.

ASSEMBLY: Pour 1 c tomato mixture in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan.

Lay out cabbage leaf, put 2 heaping spoonfulls of meat mixture on center of leaf.

Roll the leaf around the mixture.

Lay seam side down in pan. Repeat until meat mixture is gone.

Cover with remaining tomato mixture. Cover with foil, bake for 50 minutes.