Tag Archives: recipe roulette

Eating, recipes

How could she not make a great meatloaf?

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Amy and I used the random number generator to pick this week’s Recipe Roulette meal from one of Amy’s Paula Deen cookbooks. Incidentally, I’m pretty sure that I thought it was Dean — not Deen — and I’d be willing to bet there are more than a few Paula Dean references to be found here.

Anyway, the RNG was in the mood for meatloaf. We’ve been known to take down a meatloaf, but I wasn’t all that excited by Paula’s Aunt Peggy’s ingredient list. It’s a pretty basic meatloaf, and I like my meatloaf to be a little spicy. I have to say, though: It’s an outstanding basic meatloaf recipe. It was moist, and the glaze had a nice flavor that was just a skosh away from being cloyingly sweet. (In other words, it was my idea of a perfect glaze.)

The moral of the story is, I guess, don’t judge a meatloaf by its lack of chipotle peppers. Or something like that.

Aunt Peggy’s Old-Fashioned Meatloaf
1 pound ground beef
One 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, tomato paste, onion, green pepper, oats, egg, salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Slather the glaze on top of the meatloaf and bake for 1 hour or until the meatloaf is firm and cooked all the way through. Serve hot.

recipes

Infinitely better than a porkchop

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I was tasked with choosing this week’s Recipe Roulette pick, and I think I picked a good one. Amy may disagree, though, because she doesn’t like to handle meat.

The flavors of the Gingered Pork Burgers were just as described: “Reminiscent of Peking-style pork dumpling flavors.” I’m not generally a fan of pork, but in dumpling-flavored burger format I enjoyed it quite a bit. Rockford said, “I like it. It’s got a good flavor.” And then he took another bite and forgot that I’d asked him a question. My in-laws joined us for our Gingered Pork Burger dinner, so I gathered their opinions for you as well.

“I like it a lot,” my mother-in-law said. “I could easily eat another one.”

My father-in-law — who doused his burger with ketchup — said, “The seasonings went together to have a sage-y flavor, but I’m not having any trouble. I’m down to two bites.”

I don’t know that I’d call them rave reviews, but I’d make them again. They were easy and tasty, and I’d say they’re relatively good for you. In relation to, say, this.

Gingered Pork Burgers
from “Good Housekeeping: Fast Weeknight Favorites”

1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/4 pounds ground pork
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 sesame-seed hamburger buns, split and toasted

Prepare grill for direct heating over medium heat.

In a cup, stir mayonnaise and soy sauce until blended; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine pork, cilantro, green onions, sherry, ginger, sesame oil, crushed red pepper and salt until blended but not overmixed. Shape pork mixture into four 3/4-inch-thick burgers, handling meat as little as possible.

Place burgers on grill over medium heat and grill, turning once, 10 to 12 minutes for medium or until desired doneness.

Serve burgers with soy mayonnaise.

Eating

Not a sushi fan

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I think Amy may be trying to make me quit our Recipe Roulette project. Or maybe this is retribution for the Crab Tortilla.

Whichever the case, I was not excited about “Jay’s Potato-Crusted Fish with Mango Salsa.” I rarely make fish, because the smell of raw fish pretty much kills my appetite. (Maybe I should remember that next time I try to lose weight.) But I made it anyway. Mostly. I didn’t make the mango salsa because (a) I didn’t want to buy a mango and (b) I had a jar of mango salsa in the refrigerator.

Some day, I’ll actually taste our Recipe Roulette dish. But this wasn’t the day for that. (See: Raw fish makes me gag.) My chief recipe tester wasn’t impressed. “It tastes like potato flakes and fish with salsa on top,” he said. “The flavors don’t really blend.” Later, he added: “It was awful.”

I think the take-home lesson here is that instant mashed potatoes and fish don’t mix. And that Recipe Roulette is off to a questionable start.

I have high hopes for next Monday’s recipe, though. It was Random Recipe Week, and Poppy was our random-number picker. Her choice should be equal parts delicious and fraught-with-peril.