And four hours later...
Sep. 7th, 2005 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aamusedinatxI'm glad now, that I wimped out last night and left that bookcase sitting in it's long, heavy IKEA box. I really needed the exertion tonight. I took a lot of my angst against the pseudo-ex on those boards of particle board. In essence, I beat the shit out of it with a hammer while putting it together (using card board to cushion blows so it didn't mar the veneer.)
Then, not satisfied yet, I did the next and more oft used physical therapy for my mood; I got into the kitchen and I cooked.
The methodical, purposeful motions of chopping food, stirring, combining, seasoning, kneading, forming...who am I kidding?
I pounded the hell out of a vegetable meatloaf. :)
Well...with a bit more finesse than the pounding I did on the bookcase earlier.
And so, now, I have a new bookcase for my plethora of books and to set off my bedroom, just slightly, from the living room without closing me off (it's a see through shelving bookcase...) and my house is filled with the smells of meatloaf cooking in the oven. Of course it will cook for a while...and really isn't for dinner tonight. I'll have it over the next several days actually.
Meatloaf. It's one of those dishes people like to snigger about. You almost *never* serve it for company. It's one of those dishes easily done badly. Anyone who ever had dinner at my mother's house can attest to that. Most cafeteria's and places like Boston Market don't do it very well either. It's always too bland, or too dry, or too tomato-ey, or not tomato-ey enough, or too salty, or served with gravy that's too cold or too gloopy or....well it's often bad. Let's leave it at that.
Everyone does it different. My Texas grandmother used a half bottle of ketchup in hers and a half a cylinder of salt along with a whole column of saltine crackers crumbled up in there with a beaten egg and a dash of black pepper. She served it with green beans and collard greens that were boiled with water, salt and margarine until they were gray. But, she made the most fabulous corn bread and I would basically inhale that with the over tomato-ey, soupy meatloaf.
My mother liked to put olives in hers for some weird reason. I think it might be why I really don't care for olives much now.
I have my own way of making it, of course, who doesn't? Some of my modifications are done because of health reasons: I use ground turkey with a little ground pork and ground beef thrown in. I dice up a lot more variety of vegetables in order to increase my intake...of course part of that is also simply taste. I love fresh vegetables and I get them plenty here in NorCal. Another reason is cost. Vegetables are cheap, meat is expensive. You can make 2 lbs of ground animal protein go a hell of a lot farther with 3 varieties of diced bell pepper,some onion, mushroom, zucchini, yellow squash and serrano pepper thrown in to add to the volume of what you cook. I also add minced or roasted garlic in mine (depending on what I have on hand), a SMALL amount tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, worcester sauce, white pepper, spike seasoning, ancho chili powder, sage, cumin, (all to taste).
I DO NOT COOK WITH SALT. Not even really for health reasons, tho my blood pressure isn't all that good. I don't like masking flavors. Besides things like worchester, or soy sauce have enough sodium in them. A heafty squirt of stone ground mustard, a large drizzle of olive oil, a splash of red wine, about 1 cup of grated cheese, two eggs, and then I commence with the SQUISHY FINGERING COVERING FUN in a large roasting pan for about 5 minutes.
And...here's the key:
Form it loosely in a large pan with plenty of room to breath and expand in the oven while it cooks. If you do that you will never, ever have a dry, dense, ugly tasting meatloaf.
My mother and my grandmother both packed 3 lbs of meat into a 1 lb loaf pan and the end product was as dense of as the Red ACME brick they made all those central Texas ranch houses out of :P And just about as edible most sunday afternoons. What wasn't hard and dry was dripping with un drained grease.
Ick.
Anyway...if anyone wants the actual recipe, let me know and I'll create a recipe filter and post it.
Meanwhile, dinner for me tonight is some roast beast roll ups with munster cheese and a yogurt, swilled down with a diet dr. pepper.
It sure smells good in here!
Then, not satisfied yet, I did the next and more oft used physical therapy for my mood; I got into the kitchen and I cooked.
The methodical, purposeful motions of chopping food, stirring, combining, seasoning, kneading, forming...who am I kidding?
I pounded the hell out of a vegetable meatloaf. :)
Well...with a bit more finesse than the pounding I did on the bookcase earlier.
And so, now, I have a new bookcase for my plethora of books and to set off my bedroom, just slightly, from the living room without closing me off (it's a see through shelving bookcase...) and my house is filled with the smells of meatloaf cooking in the oven. Of course it will cook for a while...and really isn't for dinner tonight. I'll have it over the next several days actually.
Meatloaf. It's one of those dishes people like to snigger about. You almost *never* serve it for company. It's one of those dishes easily done badly. Anyone who ever had dinner at my mother's house can attest to that. Most cafeteria's and places like Boston Market don't do it very well either. It's always too bland, or too dry, or too tomato-ey, or not tomato-ey enough, or too salty, or served with gravy that's too cold or too gloopy or....well it's often bad. Let's leave it at that.
Everyone does it different. My Texas grandmother used a half bottle of ketchup in hers and a half a cylinder of salt along with a whole column of saltine crackers crumbled up in there with a beaten egg and a dash of black pepper. She served it with green beans and collard greens that were boiled with water, salt and margarine until they were gray. But, she made the most fabulous corn bread and I would basically inhale that with the over tomato-ey, soupy meatloaf.
My mother liked to put olives in hers for some weird reason. I think it might be why I really don't care for olives much now.
I have my own way of making it, of course, who doesn't? Some of my modifications are done because of health reasons: I use ground turkey with a little ground pork and ground beef thrown in. I dice up a lot more variety of vegetables in order to increase my intake...of course part of that is also simply taste. I love fresh vegetables and I get them plenty here in NorCal. Another reason is cost. Vegetables are cheap, meat is expensive. You can make 2 lbs of ground animal protein go a hell of a lot farther with 3 varieties of diced bell pepper,some onion, mushroom, zucchini, yellow squash and serrano pepper thrown in to add to the volume of what you cook. I also add minced or roasted garlic in mine (depending on what I have on hand), a SMALL amount tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, worcester sauce, white pepper, spike seasoning, ancho chili powder, sage, cumin, (all to taste).
I DO NOT COOK WITH SALT. Not even really for health reasons, tho my blood pressure isn't all that good. I don't like masking flavors. Besides things like worchester, or soy sauce have enough sodium in them. A heafty squirt of stone ground mustard, a large drizzle of olive oil, a splash of red wine, about 1 cup of grated cheese, two eggs, and then I commence with the SQUISHY FINGERING COVERING FUN in a large roasting pan for about 5 minutes.
And...here's the key:
Form it loosely in a large pan with plenty of room to breath and expand in the oven while it cooks. If you do that you will never, ever have a dry, dense, ugly tasting meatloaf.
My mother and my grandmother both packed 3 lbs of meat into a 1 lb loaf pan and the end product was as dense of as the Red ACME brick they made all those central Texas ranch houses out of :P And just about as edible most sunday afternoons. What wasn't hard and dry was dripping with un drained grease.
Ick.
Anyway...if anyone wants the actual recipe, let me know and I'll create a recipe filter and post it.
Meanwhile, dinner for me tonight is some roast beast roll ups with munster cheese and a yogurt, swilled down with a diet dr. pepper.
It sure smells good in here!
