Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Italian Stuffed Meatloaf

I was looking at older recipes and it dawned on me that I needed to make Polpettona Ripiena again. I really enjoyed it the first time around and wanted to do a better job documenting my changes and results.
The finished product is just beautiful, the colors really stand out.

1 pound Italian-style pork sausage (sweet or hot), casing removed
1 pound meatloaf mix (beef, pork and veal) You can use all beef if you can't find it
2 + 1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 cups Pecorino Romano, freshly grated
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 pound baby spinach
2 carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise into 3 x 1/4 x 1/4 sticks
6 scallions, root ends trimmed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for extra dusting
5 thin slices mortadella
6-8 slices of a semi-soft sheep's milk cheese, I used greek Kasseri
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a large bowl, combine the sausage, beef, 2 cups of the breadcrumbs, the pecorino, eggs, milk, and salt and pepper. Mix gently but thoroughly with your hands. Cover and refrigerate.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Set up an ice bath nearby. Add 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling water.
Add the carrots to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes, then remove with a spider or slotted spoon and drop into your ice bath.
Drop the scallions into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Add to the ice bath

Combine the flour with the remaining 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, lay out 2 sheets of overlapping wax or parchment paper then spread out the flour and remaining 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs. Press down the meat to make a flat rectangleish shape

Lay the spinach over the meat, leaving a 1-inch border on the sides.

Lay the carrot pieces and then the scallions over the spinach, arranging them lengthwise down the rectangle.
Lay the mortadella and cheese over the scallions.

Starting from a long side, roll the meat up like a jelly roll, use the wax paper as a tool to help keep it tight, make it as compact as possible; patch any holes like modeling clay. Behold the loaf ready for baking.
 
Pour 1 cup of water into the pan. Drizzle 1/4 cup of the olive oil down the length of the loaf.
Bake the loaf for 1 hour, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.
Carefully transfer the loaf to a cutting board and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.
Slice the meatloaf into 1 inch-thick slices and serve.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Vodka Sauce

There are hundreds of recipes out there for vodka sauce. I have made it 3-4 times and I don't think I have ever used the same recipe. This batch turned out so well that I was seriously considering eating it like a bowl of soup. My inspiration was a recipe from The Gourmandmom.com, I didn't follow her recipe particularly closely but I liked the method she used and I figured it was a good place to start. As a general rule I do like to start any tomato based sauce with whole tomatoes, or as close too it as possible. Most Vodka sauce recipes I see start with a pre-made (hopefully home made) tomato sauce and build from there. Sadly I didn't have enough in my freezer to make vodka sauce in the time I had available so I had to punt. As a result I think I may have settled upon a very quick and very easy vodka sauce recipe.



Cook time 40-45 minutes
Prep time 10 minutes
Ingredients
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup (or more) vodka
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 28 oz can tomato puree
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Chop the onions and garlic, heat your olive oil in a pan, any sauce pot will do, I like my calphalon everyday pan, and saute the onions for a couple of minutes until they soften, then add your chopped garlic and cook for a couple more minutes. Carefully pour the vodka in the pan and cook it for about 5 minutes. I found that the smell changed pretty drastically when it was ready, it went from smelling like, well like alcohol, to something much more pleasant. Once most of the alcohol had cooked off I added about 1/2 of the butter, I don't know why I added it then, I just did. Next stir in your tomato puree and heat it to a simmer, I simmered the sauce for 8-10 minutes and tasted it, I thought the vodka flavor was lost and added more, perhaps an ounce, you may not need it. Once the tomatoes started to lose some of the canned tomato flavor I added the basil and oregano and some more salt. Have I mentioned tasting as you go yet? You really need to do it for this recipe. Simmer for another couple of minutes to incorporate the herbs and give it a taste, adjust if needed and add in the cream, bring the sauce back up to a gentle simmer and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust, I added still more vodka here. Next up add the cheese and let it come back to a simmer, simmer another 10-15 minutes on low, stirring so it doesn't stick.  Right at the end add the rest of your butter and swirl it in. You could let it cook longer if you wanted to, I was out of time and it tasted delicious so I called it good. We actually brought this over to a friends house for a pasta bar night and it got reheated for 15-20 minutes but that was more for temperature than flavor. It tuned out wonderfully and I think I have found my go to vodka sauce recipe, and one I can make in under an hour.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Lobster and Foie Gras a l'orange

Foie Gras has become a bit of a tradition for Kerries Birthday, I order a couple of slices from Dartganan and figure out what to do with it from there. This year I found this recipe on the Cointreau website and just couldn't get it out of my head. I used a loaf of French pain de campagne and cut off the crust. I really hesitated to do so because I love a good crusty bread but I'm glad I did, the pan fried bread was a perfect crunchy element for a dish that could have been too soft. If I had left the crust on it would have made it too hard to cut through and it could have been hard to eat. With the crusts off it was easy to slice through it and get a complete bite of crispy bread, buttery foie gras, tender lobster and the slight acidity of the oranges. The shallot and Cointreau sauce was a perfect complement and cut through the richness of the dish.  For a dish this decadent it was incredibly simple. You can easily cook the lobster up ahead of time.


A note on foie gras, make sure you let it come to room temp before trying to pan sear it. it only cooks for 15-20 seconds per side so if it is cold it won't have the right texture. I use the joy of cooking recipe which is simple, season the foie gras on both sides with salt and pepper.  Heat a pan up with a very thin coat of vegetable oil, you want  the oil to get right up to almost smoking, add the room temp foie gras, sear on one side for 15-20 seconds and then flip, cook for another 15-20 seconds and then remove from the pan and let it drain on a paper towel.

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INGREDIENTS

2 qts water
2 lobsters of about 450g (2lbs) (Maine lobsters)
180g (6oz) fresh slices of foie gras
salt
White pepper, freshly ground
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon shallots, peeled and minced
1/4 cup (60ml) Cointreau
1/4 cup (60ml) lobster or chicken stock
2 slice white bread, crusts removed, buttered and pan toasted
10 mandarin orange slices 
2 fresh thyme sprigs

PREPARATION

1- Poach lobster for 6 minutes in boiling water; drain; chill
2- Remove tail and claws from shells; slice tail into 4 medallions; reserve.
3- Heat skillet over medium heat; season foie gras; crisp sear on all sides; drain on paper towel; reserve.
4- Heat butter in skillet over medium heat; add shallots; sauté until golden; deglaze with Cointreau; add stock; reduce by 60%.
5- Add lobster to skillet; sauté 30 seconds.
6- Place foie gras and lobster on toast; drizzle with sauce; garnish with thyme and mandarin slices; serve.