Turkey Chutney Meatloaf

In this less than robust economy, I'm sad to say that my experimental food budget has taken a hit. Much to the delight of my husband and family, I'm cooking up cheap and tasty eats for dinner. My menu this week includes cheddar dogs with boxed mac 'n' cheese, French toast and sausage links, BLTs, pancakes and eggs, grilled cheese sammies with tomato soup, frozen pizza and a value pack of pork chops, breaded, fried and served with twice-baked potatoes. I do plan on making a yam gnocchi with sauce this week. I'm thinking that a citrus brown butter sauce with walnuts would be really nice. I am also pleased to report that my co-worker Jeremy cleaned his plate of my turkey chutney meatloaf, so I'm delighted to give you the recipe below.

Turkey Chutney Meatloaf

• 1 pound ground turkey breast
• 1/3 cup cranberry and mixed fruit chutney (see my post on Jan. 12 for the recipe)
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup white rice, cooked and cooled
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Non-stick cooking spray

Essential Tools:

• Large bowl
• Dinner fork
• 1-1/2 quart (or similar-sized) bread pan (I used a glass pan)
• Spatula
• Meat thermometer

How To:

Beat the eggs lightly and combine all ingreadients in a large bowl, mixing lightly with a dinner fork until everything just comes together. Don't overmix! Coat the bread pan with non-stick cooking spray and turn the meatloaf ingredients into the bread pan, pressing the top down lightly with a spatula. Bake in a 350 degree oven for one and a half hours or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the meatloaf reaches 170 degrees on a meat thermometer. Serve with additional cranberry and mixed fruit chutney if desired. Enjoy!

Yours truly,

The Domestic Foodie

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatloaf

Sweet, tangy and oh-so-moist with a kick of heat at the finish. My turkey chutney meatloaf was delightful, but not well-suited for the selective palates of daughter and husband. Finishing my helping (and theirs) tonight, I grudgingly trudged back to kitchen to make boxed mac 'n' cheese to fill still-hungry tummies. Without votes of confidence from my family, I quickly called on a fellow foodie to try the recipe that launched this blog.

"I like chutney," was all I needed to hear from my co-worker Jeremy, who regularly brings lunches packed with homemade leftovers including couscous, lamb and broccoli rabe. He's the perfect taste tester!

"I'm bringing you lunch," I volunteered and quickly hung up the phone to pack a Tupperware with a hearty slice of meatloaf and some white rice. I'll keep you posted, faithful reader.

I do feel confident that my chutney is a winner, so here's my recipe:

Cranberry and Mixed-Fruit Chutney

Ingredients:

• 6 ounce bag of dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped, dried apples
• 1/2 cup chopped, dried apricots
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground

Essential Tools:

• Large, non-stick pot
• Large spoon

How to:

Measure all ingredients into a large, non-stick pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat then reduce the heat and simmer until the dried fruit plumps and puffs, stirring frequently with a large spoon. Continue to simmer until the liquid in the pot is thick and syrupy, stirring often. Remove from the heat and let cool. Refrigerate. Chutney will keep in the refrigerator for two weeks. Enjoy on poultry and to cool down fiery curry. This chutney is also an essential ingredient for my turkey chutney meatloaf. You'll find the recipe in my Jan. 17 post.

Yours truly,

The Domestic Foodie

Mushroom-Stuffed Chuck Steak

While I pride myself on from-scratch meals with fresh and natural ingredients, I too have ramen noodle soup, boxed mac 'n' cheese and hot dogs in my pantry. Try as I might, convincing my daughters, Zoe (7) and Kalie (3), to try everything on my weekly menu is a challenge. There are rules however: you must try it before you proclaim "I don't like it."

Admittedly, my daughters aren't epicureans, but Zoe's eager request for a third helping of my mushroom-stuffed chuck steak was all the endorsement I needed to go public with this recipe. It's not perfect yet. There are a few modifications I'll make next time (and I've noted them below), but I feel confident enough to post it here.

First, a few notes about my cooking style. 1) I season my savory creations liberally with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and taste as I go (unless I'm working with raw meat or other ingredients that might carry foodborne pathogens before being cooked). I find that seasoning each layer of the dish as it's built yields tastier food. 2) I measure in palmfuls and handfuls and pinches and sprinkles, so bear with me. I'll try to be precise as much as possible to ensure consistency. One final note: Don't feel constrained by my recipe. Experiment and modify to your heart's content and then let us all know how it went!

MUSHROOM-STUFFED CHUCK STEAK

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 pound chuck steak
• Beef broth or stock (1 can should do it)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 8 ounces brown mushrooms
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (the grocery store variety in a can are fine)
• 1/2 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese
• Handful of fresh, flat leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste

Essential Tools:

• Aluminum foil
• Carving knife (very sharp)
• Cutting board
• Food processor
• Heavy-bottomed skillet
• Meat-flattening tool
• Plastic wrap
• Small casserole dish
• Toothpicks

How To:

Liberally sprinkle the chuck steak with sea salt and several grinds of black pepper. Measure out about 36" of plastic wrap. Lay the chuck steak on one end of the plastic wrap and fold the excess over the meat. With your favorite agression-relieving, meat-flattening kitchen tool (meat mallet or rolling pin) pound the steak until it is  approximately 1/4" think.

In a food processor (essential for this recipe), pulse the mushrooms until minced. Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Heat half the olive oil in the heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onion, season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook until softened. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds until it is fragrant. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Put the mushroom mixture back in the food processor with the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, basil and butter. Sprinkle these ingredients with a generous pinch of sea salt and several grinds of black pepper. Process until the ingredients are well-combined and minced. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary and let it cool slightly until it is cool enough to handle.

Spread the mushroom filling on the chuck steak and roll it into a log (ala Buche de Noel) and a secure with toothpicks so it holds it's shape. Pour the all-purpose flour onto a plate and carefully roll the meat in the flour. Measure the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet and brown the entire log. Remove it to a cutting board.

Sharpen your best carving knife (even if you don't think it needs it) and carefully slice the rolled steak into four pinwheels. Run a toothpick or two through each pinwheel to help them hold their shape during cooking. Then, carefully lay them in a buttered 9"x7" (or similar-sized) casserole dish. Pour enough beef stock or broth around the pinwheels so the liquid comes about halfway up the meat. (I simply can't give you a precise measurement of beef broth or stock. It will depend on the size of your pinwheels and the casserole dish.) Cover with aluminum foil and braise in a 300 degree oven until the meat is tender, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Enjoy!

Notes on recipe modifications: When I made this dish, I did not slice the steak into pinwheels. I left it rolled like a log and baked it in a covered casserole on a rack. The meat came out reasonably tender (Hubby says middle-of-the-road tenderness), but I think the tenderness would have been improved if it had been braised, hence the modification above. If you have other suggestions, please post them. I can't wait for your feedback.

Yours truly,

The Domestic Foodie

Humility 101

I suffered two disappointments today. The first came in a phone call this morning from Safeway's customer service center. A problem with their driver meant no grocery delivery this afternoon. Yikes! My fridge was bare! And, I was eager to try new recipes on my week's dinner menu, mined from cookbooks I received for Christmas. Not to mention my turkey chutney meatloaf and a stuffed chuck steak I've been dreaming of. Luckily, the call came on the way home from church, so a quick detour to the grocery store would salvage Sunday supper at least. But what to cook?

With my family waiting in the car, I wandered the aisles, searching for inspiration. I've been thinking about rolled lasagna lately, so I hastily grabbed pasta, proscuitto, ricotta, parmeson and parsley. I would roll the noodles around proscuitto and a ricotta mixture and then ladle bechamel over the whole dish. Once home, I put water on to boil, made my bechamel and ricotta filling and began rolling noodles, documenting the entire process with my camera.

Perhaps the fact that I had first encountered rolled lasagna at the Olive Garden should have tipped me off to impending failure. OK, so I know that the Olive Garden is far from culinary Nirvana, but my attempt to improve on an interesting idea was noble! Right? But once served, there were several problems with my lasagna rolls, indicated by my husband's half-eaten, abandoned meal.

Enter disappointment number two. But with my failure comes a lesson, learned from the school of culinary hard knocks: Maybe there's something to those classic combinations I'm so desperate to break away from.

The bechamel in my dish added decadence, but the proscuitto didn't impart the salty, meaty goodness I'd hoped for. My lasagna rolls were bland at best and they desperately needed some acid to cut the richness of the bechamel. A tomato sauce would be nice! See lesson number one above.

Back to the drawing board, or the cardboard box in my case. As much as I cringe as I type this confession, my favorite lasagna recipe is from the packaging for store brand pasta. It's rich and tomatoey without being so saucy that its layers slide off each other when cut. So, what would improve this recipe? How can I make it my own? Well, I love sundried tomatoes and I'm still clinging to the bechamel, so I abandoned the mountain of dirty pots in my kitchen and sat down to my laptop to create a second lasagna recipe, building upon my old standby. After all, many great recipes have humble beginnings or come from humbled cooks?

Yours truly,

The Domestic Foodie

From "Garfield" by Jim Davis

Cookies for Santa Claus

I must confess. As much as I like to cook, baking sweets is not my favorite pastime. Kneading dough and cutting in butter require more muscle than I care to flex in the kitchen, and hovering over a candy thermometer or waiting for dough to rise really test my patience.

Cooking, however, is much more forgiving. A pinch or handfull of this and a drizzle or splash of that, added to my favorite savory dishes, have produced delicious variations I can claim as my own. When baking, such compulsive additions and inexact measuring can almost certainly destine any cake, cookie, candy, pie or pastry for the trashcan.

Baking is an exact science I just haven't mastered. Nor do I care to memorize ratios of one ingredient to another or the culinary science behind leaveners and such. Yet, this may all change with the addition of one essential appliance to my collection of cooking hardware.

Santa (a.k.a. my dear husband) splurged on a red KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer for me for Christmas. For years, I've been limping along with a wimpy substitution my mother passed along to me after she purchased her KitchenAid. At the time, I was green with envy but thrilled about the hand-me-down until I pulled it out to make flour tortillas. An inferior brand, it lacked the necessary heft to bring the ingredients together. Even on the lowest speed, it danced about my kitchen counter. My full weight was required to restrain the jitterbugging mixer while the dough hooks kneaded my dinner. With every use, I complained loudly. I had to in order to be heard above the din of my gyrating appliance.

Thankfully, my hubby heard my cries, but I don't think his gift was an altruistic purchase. With it comes the expectation that I will bake, and regularly. I've hastily rearranged my kitchen countertops to make room for this gorgeous machine. I'm throwing out my stockpile of boxed Better Crocker brownie mix and perusing the unread pages in the baking chapters of my cookbooks.

Here's where I need you, my faithful reader. I humbly request that you comment with your tips and tricks for successful baking. Or, be so kind as to share your best recipes for sweets. Santa wants more treats! I promise to make every every last one of your submissions and blog about them of course.

Yours truly,

The Domestic Foodie