by request: MEAT CUPS

I was talking to my sister on the phone and I mentioned that I was making meat cups. As is generally the reaction, she immediately demanded the recipe, so I am posting it here for her:

1. Sautée ground meat (I use turkey, most like beef).
2. Take some Pillsbury Grands dough. Tear the dough in half height-wise (so each biscuit would now be two of equal diameter just not as tall). Put said dough in muffin cups.
3. Put meat in muffin cups.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes on 350 (or according to biscuit instructions).

It's that easy. Now the trick is combining flavors. Yesterday I seasoned the meat with teriyaki as I cooked, then stirred in horseradish mustard, mozzarella cheese, and maple syrup. In the past I've had good luck with garlic and cheddar. The source of the recipe (my friend Becky) always makes them with some nice sweet barbecue sauce. Go with your heart.

Just make sure you eat them warm, or nuke them. Once they get cold I really don't enjoy the texture of the rolls.

Also, when talking about them, you must always stress the long "e" sound. "mEEt cups." Emphasize it like you're some sort of villain discussing his evil plan. That's just how it is, capisce?

holy crap, quiche doesn't suck

I've never liked quiche. But then, I only just started liking eggs. About a week ago, I started craving quiche for no apparent reason. So I found this recipe. Of course I had to screw with it, so here's what I settled on.

4 eggs
2 cups half-and-half cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cumin
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
2 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 lb ground turkey
broccoli ("some")
onion ("a bit")
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

Preheat to 425. Brown the meat. Saute the onion & broccoli. In a bowl, mix eggs, cream, spices, and cheeses. Add meat + veggies. Pour in to pie shell. Cook 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350, cook another 25 minutes. Filling should set.

This turned out to be really, really good. I plan to make it again soon.

feeling saucy

On a whim, I decided to make pasta sauce recently, so I promptly called my mother and asked for instructions. We refer to this as homemade, but I'm not entirely certain it deserves that label, because it doesn't involve any actual fresh tomato. Your mileage may vary; I just know this is kind of tasty.

One starts with a 28oz can of crushed tomato, a 15oz can of tomato paste, and about 45oz of canned tomato sauce (in this case a 29oz and a 15oz, but whatever's in stock, obviously). Dump these all into a large pot, cover, and simmer. This is where I made my first mistake. In general, it has been my experience that the ideal way to simmer something in a pot is to bring its temperature up to a reasonable level, then turn the heat down, cover, and continue cooking. As a result of this reasoning, I got to clean tomato sauce off every surface in my kitchen - including the ceiling - mere moments after cracking the first can. So believe me when I say you should start it on the lowest heat your range can swing, and do so with the cover on.

Once the body of the sauce is underway, one is invited to add whatever one thinks would be appropriate. Personally I went with well-diced onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, some ground paprika, and a truly absurd quantity of garlic powder. There is certainly an argument to be made for the use of fresh garlic instead - and some day I very much want to try the razor blade trick from Goodfellas - but I went with what I had on hand. I am not a big fan of mushrooms, generally, but the sauce would have been all wrong without them, no doubt due to the fact that my mother always included them. Whatever works.

In the future, if I'm feeling feisty, I might try such things as artichoke hearts, or perhaps even corn. I'm sure there are a variety of other options - feel free to suggest some.

At any rate, I also made meatballs. My typical meatball strategy is a pound of turkey, an egg, a third cup or so of french fried onions, and whatever spices strike my fancy at the time. (Bake for 20 minutes at 350°, flip halfway through.) The biggest problem with making these meatballs is that I tend to eat way too many while they're still warm, and this time was no exception. I doubled the recipe this time around, and tossed them in the sauce as soon as they cooled enough to move, but there still weren't any left after the initial dinner, so I'll probably make some more when I serve the leftovers.

I should note that these proportions produced a reasonably large pot of sauce - I fed five hungry people, several of whom went back for seconds, and had enough left over for a half-dozen or so more servings. It freezes well, as one would expect, and I know from past experience that having meat in the sauce doesn't change that. Once this is gone I might make a pot just to freeze; it certainly is convenient to have on hand.

americana, thy name is meatloaf

A while back, I went off red meat for a year or two. During this time, I used ground turkey an awful lot, because I wasn't really that in to cooking yet, and ground meat is easy to deal with. I've long since started eating beef again, but turkey still tends to be my default ground meat - it's lighter, doesn't overpower seasonings, and generally cheaper.

At any rate, I've been experimenting lately with turkey meatloaf, and I'm quite pleased with the results. My first attempt (adapted from this recipe) was extremely basic - two pounds of turkey, two eggs, a cup of bread crumbs, some onion, a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, some poultry season sprinkled on top, 350° for 60 minutes. It came out well, if somewhat boring. Also the onion was overpowering, and I hadn't chopped it anywhere near thoroughly enough. The texture was okay - I think I used a potato masher to mix it all up, but I didn't feel like that had done a very effective job.

Then I tried something a little bit more like the basic recipe here. Two pounds turkey, two eggs, two tablespoons W. sauce, 1/2 cup of oats soaked in 1/3 cup of milk, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, and some onion. The result was a lot more ... damp. It didn't hold together terribly well, although the taste wasn't bad. The texture was also too smooth, largely because I used an electric mixer, which was a terrible idea, but I was tired that day, and it seemed sensible at the time.

So last night I did the turkey, eggs, sauce, a cup of crumbs, a much smaller amount of very finely diced onion, and about a cup of shredded cheese. Also, I added garlic & paprika, mixed it all by hand (literally, I just gloved up and squished it around for a while), and sprinkled curry powder over the top. This time it had to cook a little longer - about 75 minutes was the final total - but I was really impressed with how well it turned out. The texture was rough, but it didn't crumble the second you cut it. The flavor came out very well, and I love how the top crisped.

So, anyway. The classic suburban dinner, updated a little. Enjoy.