What I Baked for Dessert :: Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Cookies

http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/11/the-best-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

What We Made for Dessert :: Blackberry Fool

Maya and I made Blackberry Fool, following the recipe in the picture book A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat (written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Sophie Blackall).

It's basically whipped cream with fruit purée folded in. It's rich and creamy with a slight tang from the blackberries.

What I Made for Dinner :: Meatloaf

My mother makes a mean meatloaf. I grew up eating her fantastic version so it was never an "Ugh! Meatloaf!" kind of dish for me. It was moist and juicy, but not soft and squishy like there was too much wet bread in it. And she always put a surprise in her loaf: either a whole hard boiled egg or an entire sausage!

And because I was a spoiled, ungrateful child, I never learned to make any of my mom's amazing dishes. So, when it came time for me to make meatloaf on my own, I had no idea how to make it. In fact, I was so clueless, my first attempt entailed me slapping a package of ground meat into a pan and throwing it in the oven. Yes, just ground meat.

Thankfully, I've learned a bit about cooking since then and my few attempts at making meatloaf have been edible. Tonight's version is from Nina Planck's The Real Food Cookbook: Traditional Dishes for Modern Cooks and it's a keeper for its ease and tastiness. My one tweak would be to not use two whole slices of bread; I wish she had given an exact measurement of how much breadcrumbs to use.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk (optional)
• 1 small bunch parsley or sage
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 2 slices bread
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork --> my version had Italian sausage instead (see Step 5 below)
• 2 eggs
• ketchup or tomato jam

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F
2. Dice the onion, carrot, celery, and herbs.
3. Sauteé the vegetables in olive oil until soft. (I only used a tablespoon or so of olive oil because of the high fat content of the ground meat I used.) Season with salt & pepper. 
4. Toast the bread, let it cool and dry out, and make into bread crumbs using a food processor.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the ground meat, eggs, and bread crumbs. Instead of the ground pork, I used Italian sausage, so I took it out of the casing and mixed it really well with the other three ingredients. Combine the sauteéd vegetables with the meat mixture.
6. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray (mine is olive oil spray), and coat the bottom of the pan with ketchup or tomato jam. Pack the meat mixture firmly into the pan and spread more tomato jam or ketchup on top. 
7. Bake for an hour, or until the meatloaf is bubbling. Let it cool a bit before serving.

[The ketchup looks like a ghastly shade of red, but it keeps the meatloaf moist in the oven.]

The Real Food Cookbook: Traditional Dishes for Modern Cooks
by Nina Planck
photographs by Katherine Wolkoff 
published by Bloomsbury © 2014
246 pages; $32.00

What I Made for Dinner :: Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon, Green Olives, and Thyme

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon, Green Olives, and Thyme (serves 4; marinating time, 2 hours; on the stove time, about an hour)

Ingredients for the tagine:

• 8-10 chicken thighs or 4 whole legs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil with a pat of butter
• 2 preserved lemons, cut into strips (I used half a jar of the new TJ's preserved lemons, rinsed and patted dry. You could probably use the whole jar if you like it lemon-y.)
• 6oz cracked green olives
• 1-2 teaspoons dried thyme or oregano (I used fresh thyme because I had some to use up)

Ingredients for the marinade:

• 1 onion, grated
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• a small bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
• a pinch of saffron threads
• freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon coard sea salt
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

[steamy pan = blurry photo]

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the marinade. (I used my mini-food processor to chop up the onion and ginger.) Put the chicken in a shallow dish and coat in the marinade, rubbing it into the skin. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
   
2. Heat the olive oil with butter in a tagine or heavy-based casserole dish/pan. I would suggest removing as much of the chunky parts of the marinade (bits of onion, garlic, etc.) from the chicken before browning in the oil to prevent burning. I wasn't very good about that and I had to cut the browning process short so everything else wouldn't turn black! After browning, pour the rest of the marinade into the tagine/pan and add enough water to come halfway up the sides of the chicken. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, turning the chicken from time to time.
   
3. Add the preserved lemon, olives, and half the thyme. Cover again and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Check the seasoning and spring the rest of the thyme over the top. Serve immediately. (I served it with couscous, obviously!)

From Tagine: Spicy Stews from Morocco by Ghillie Başan

What I Made for Dinner :: Super Bowl Edition

Top: Asian-Style Pork Nachos with Red Cabbage and Scallions

Left: Korea-style Chicken Wings with Soy Dipping Sauce

Bottom-right: Salty Lemon Chicken Wing (lighter-colored) and Miso Garlic Chicken Wing (more caramelized)

[Asian-style Pork Nachos, not shown with the red cabbage and scallion "salad," but it's a must-have when you eat it. So good!]

[Garlic Miso wings (back) and Salty Lemon wing]

Air-drying the chicken wings overnight after mixing well with a coating of egg white, baking soda, and salt. (For about two pounds of wings, I used 1 extra large egg white, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 0.875 teaspoon of fine sea salt.) Korean-style Chicken Wings by Ideas in Food (scroll down for link to full recipe).