One Perfect Bite: ground meat

Showing posts with label ground meat. Show all posts

Friday, October 11, 2013

Frugal Foodie Friday - Baked Pizza Pasta

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a great casserole to keep in mind for game day. It is one of those easy, economical and rib stickingly good meals that is loved by hungry men and teenagers around the world. The casserole, with its crisp edges and bubbling cheese, resembles those pasta dishes that come from the ovens of neighborhood trattorias. There is no trick to making this basic beauty. Any tubular pasta can be used and while I think the zucchini adds a lovely crisp texture to the dish, any vegetable can be used in its place. Ground turkey or sausage can replace the ground beef and if you are feeling really adventurous, swap provolone for the mozzarella called for in the recipe. The only constants in this recipe should be the use of fire roasted tomatoes. They add some heat to the dish and take it up a notch or two without adding fire to the belly. I do hope you'll give this recipe a try. This baked pasta is a perfect meal to serve on Frugal Foodie Friday. Here is how the casserole is made.

Baked Pizza Pasta...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Muir Glen Test Kitchen

Ingredients:
1/2 lb extra lean ground beef
1 cup chopped sweet onion
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (14-1/2 ounce) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces tubular pasta, cooked and drained
3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese
cooking spray

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 375. Spray a 2 quart rectangular baking dish.
2) Cook beef, onion and garlic in a non-stick skillet set over medium heat, stirring frequently, until cooked. Add zucchini and cook 2 minutes longer.
3) Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper. Heat to boiling.
4) Add pasta and toss to combine. Spread in prepared dish. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered, about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Yield: 6 servings.

If you have enjoyed your visit here, I hope you'll take a minute to...

One year Ago Today: Orange Spiced Cashews

Two Years Ago Today: Honey Muffins

Three Years Ago Today: Candied Walnuts

Four Years Ago Today: Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Lasagna

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Stout and Cheddar Meatloaf

                                        Hot
                                                or
                                             Cold

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Save for dyeing fondant green, I think I've covered all the recipes that are usually associated with St. Patrick's Day. Several years ago, in an attempt to keep the spirit of the day, I decided to feature recipes that were traditional Irish favorites but not necessarily associated with the holiday. I am going to expand on that idea this year and include recipes that are usually made with ingredients we associated with Ireland or Irish cooking. I hope you're receptive to the idea because I'm going to be featuring "Irish" recipes for the next week. I want to start with this incredible meatloaf. I plan to serve it to guests on St.Patrick's Day, along with Julia's mashed potatoes and some Irish vegetable dishes that I'll be sharing with you next week. Julia's potatoes can be found, here. The meatloaf is a homely affair but it has wonderful flavor, thanks in part to the lingering effects of the Guinness stout whose bitterness evaporates as it simmers with the vegetables that flavor the loaf. I loved it and I am not a meatloaf person. There is no snobbery involved. Having raised a family, I've made many a gazillion meatloaves and turned away from them out of sheer boredon and the desire to try new things. Every so often, however, recipes such as this one beckon and tempt me back to the chopping block. I mention that, because this recipe uses lots of ingredients and requires more than the usual amount of slicing and dicing. It is also a tad more expensive to make than most. It is worth it. This is not a ladylike entree. Hot or cold it has robust flavor that men will enjoy. The Silver Fox reported his socks were going up and down the first time he tried this. Mine came near that when I had it thinly sliced after a night in the refrigerator. Cold, it is like a heady peasant pate. I have a couple of suggestions to share with those of you who plan to make the meatloaf. If you are unable to find ground veal,ground chicken or turkey breast can be used in its place. You should also know that the loaf will look better if you drape it with thin, rather than thick, sliced bacon. Under the best of circumstances, it will take a lot of lipstick to make this a pretty pig. I really hope you'll give this recipe from Fine Cooking magazine a try. It will be an unexpected treat. St. Patrick would approve. Here's how the meatloaf is made.

Stout and Cheddar Meatloaf...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Fine Cooking magazine

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon canola or olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup small-diced carrots
1/2 cup small-diced celery
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
3/4 cup stout beer, such as Guinness
4 oz. medium-coarse white bread, such as Italian or French, crusts removed and cut into 2-inch pieces (about 2-1/2 cups)
1 cup whole milk
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground veal
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar
1/4 cup dried mushrooms, rehydrated in hot water, drained and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
10 oz. (thin) sliced bacon (about 9 strips)

Directions:
1) Position a rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line bottom of 13 x 9-inch pan with parchment paper. Place dried mushroom in a small bowl and cover with boiling water to rehydrate. SEt aside.
2) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic, cook stirring frequently, until softened and just beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
3) Add stout, and simmer briskly, until almost dry, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool until warm.
4) Pour milk into a shallow bowl that is large enough to hold bread cubes in a single layer. Soak crustless bread in milk, flipping once, until soggy but not falling apart, about 5 to 10 minutes. Time will depend on the thickness, crumb and freshness of bread selected for use. Lightly squeeze a handful of bread at a time to remove some of milk (it should be wet but not drenched). Finely chop and add to bowl with the vegetable mixture.
5) Add beef, veal or veal substitute and eggs to the onion mixture. Scatter Cheddar, drained rehydrated mushrooms, and parsley over meat, and then sprinkle with Worcestershire, 2-1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Use hands to gently mix all ingredients until just combined; try not to compact while mixing.
6) Heat remaining teaspoon of oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Form 1 tablespoon of meatloaf mixture into a small patty. When oil is hot, cook patty on both sides until cooked through, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plate and let cool slightly. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and other seasonings as needed. Repeat until you're satisfied with flavor of meatloaf mix.
7) Transfer meatloaf mixture to prepared pan and form into a 10 x 4-inch rectangular block (it becomes loaf-shaped as it cooks). Finish meatloaf by draping it with slightly overlapping strips of bacon, tucking the ends under the loaf.
8) Bake until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees F in center of the meatloaf, 40 to 55 minutes.
9) Broil meatloaf about 6 inches from the broiler element until the bacon is brown and crisped, about 3 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board or serving platter with a large spatula and cut into 3/4- to 1-inch-thick slices. Yield: 8 servings.

One Year Ago Today: Ballymaloe Brown Yeast Bread for St.Patrick's Day

Two Years Ago Today: Indian Butter Chicken

Three Years Ago Today: Salt Rubbed Roast Chicken

Four Years Ago Today: Pork Indochine and Halong Bay

Friday, July 29, 2011

50 Women Game-Changers in Food - #8 Judith Jones - Frenchified Meat Loaf

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I love tales told by those who are the power behind the throne. Those stories are especially delicious when they are told by people who have compelling stories of their own to tell. Judith Jones, the book editor who brought the likes of Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and Madhur Jaffrey to print, is such a woman. Her work with these and other authors has changed the way we write and think about the food we eat. Her publishing career career began at Doubleday where she saved The Diary of Anne Frank from the rejection list. She later moved to Knopf where she saved Mastering the Art of French Cooking from a similar fate. Her stellar culinary roster was matched by literary clients who included John Updike, Anne Tyler and John Hersey. She has also written a number of her own cookbooks and a charming memoir, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food. She believes that recipe writing should engage the senses and enable readers to use their own judgment. Her own recipes do just that. It's entirely fitting that she claim 8th place on the Gourmet Live list of 50 Women Game-Changers in Food.

I have chosen the simplest of recipes to represent her work. She calls it a Frenchified meat loaf. Having just made and served this for our supper, I can tell you it bears no resemblance to the meat loaf of childhood memory - unless of course you're French. This is a lovely entree whose flavors carry with them the scents and tastes of Provence. It's a dense loaf with a texture that is far more like a pate than a meat loaf. It will make wonderful cold sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch. I really think you'll like it. Here's the recipe as it was written by Judith Jones.

Frenchified Meat Loaf...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Judith Jones

Ingredients:
3 slices homemade-type white bread, crusts removed
3 pounds ground beef, veal, and pork (about 1/2 beef portion and 1/2 each of veal and pork)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons salt
2 fat garlic cloves, peeled, chopped, and mashed with 1/2 teaspoon salt (see below)
Several grindings of black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (basil, tarragon, marjoram), or 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
2 bay leaves
2 strips bacon
1/2 cup red wine

Instructions:
1) Spin the bread in a blender to make crumbs; you should have 1-1/2 cups. Dump everything except the bay leaves, bacon, and wine into a big bowl, and blend well, preferably with your hands.
2) Arrange the bay leaves on the bottom of a large loaf pan, and pack the meat mixture in. Place the strips of bacon on top, then pour the wine over, punching a few holes into the meat with your fingers so it will seep down a little. Let marinate for an hour or so, then bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for 1-1/2 hours. Turn out of the pan, and remove the bay leaves. And pour any pan juices on top. Serve hot. Yield: 6 servings.

Note: If veal is too expensive or hard to get, use about 3/4 beef to 1/4 pork, ground. If you prefer, slice the peeled garlic instead and press into the top of the meatloaf, then remove the slices before you turn the meatloaf out.

The following bloggers are also paying tribute to Judith Jones this week. I hope you'll visit all of them.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Jeanette - Healthy Living
April - Abby Sweets
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Kathleen -Bake Away with Me
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen
Sue - The View from Great Island

Next week we will highlight the food and recipes of Irma Rombauer. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information. Everyone is welcome.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Grilled Lamb Chops with Pomegranate Glaze

Featured in Food News Journal, Best of the Blogs - January 10, 2011

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...For better or for worse we are a nation of meat eaters. On average, a typical American consumes 61 pounds of beef, 59 pounds of chicken and 46 pounds of pork each year. Strangely enough, that love of meat does not extend to lamb, and that typical American will eat less than a pound of it a year. Buried in the data is the fact that fully one-third of Americans have never tasted lamb. Those numbers astound me. I live in a region where sheep are raised and lamb is readily available. It is also fairly priced. Bob and I have lamb at least four times a month and enjoy it immensely. I suspect we skew the numbers that statisticians report. I know for a fact that my family consumes at least 50 pounds of lamb in the course of a year, and the Armenian family at the bottom of our hill consumes even more of it than we do. We have our own little "cluster" on this hillside and that means because we eat so much of it, 200 of you probably aren't eating any at all. More's the pity. Because we have lamb so often, I make it a point to look for new recipes and ways to cook it. Among the holdovers I had from the holiday, were four double cut lamb chops and some generic pomegranate juice and seeds. I searched for a recipe that used those three ingredients, and Google found one developed by the California Sheep Commission. It was exactly what I was looking for. While the recipe is quite easy to do, the lamb requires at least 8 hours to marinate, so, you'll have to plan accordingly. This is a lovely recipe. You will have to watch the chops closely as they brown very quickly and can burn. I hope you'll give it a try. Here's how the chops are made.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Pomegranate Glaze...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of California Sheep Commission

Ingredients:
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves + mint leaves for garnish
4 double-thick lamb loin chops
2 teaspoons olive oil
Garnish: 1 teaspoon pomegranate seeds

Directions:
1) Combine pomegranate juice, garlic, peppercorns and chopped mint in non-reactive bowl; mix well. Add chops and turn several times to coat all sides. Refrigerate 8 to 12 hours, turning occasionally.
2) Remove chops from marinade; drain and set aside. Pour marinade into small saucepan. Heat to boiling and simmer 20 minutes or until reduced to 1/3 cup.
3) Brush chops with reduced marinade and oil. Salt.
4) Broil or grill chops about 3 inches from heat, brushing once or twice with marinade. Cook about 5 to 6 minutes per side for medium rare, 7 to 8 minutes for medium and 9 to 10 minutes for well done. Yield: 4 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Lamb Mini-Meatball Pita - Girlichef
Braised Lamb Shank - The Average Foodie
Rack of Lamb and Swedish New Year's Traditions - Delishhh
Grilled Lamb Chops - What's Cookin' Chicago?
Homemade Grilled Lamb Sausage - Hand's On Gourmet
Lamb and Carrot Tagine - Dinners and Dreams
Caprese Lamb Stacks - Simply Delicious
Turkish Lamb Burgers - Home Recipes

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Salisbury Steak with Caramelized Onion Gravy

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Salisbury Steak is one of the retro foods that has made a comeback in American kitchens. It was named for James Salisbury, a 19th-century physician, who prescribed it for battlefield patients who, in addition to their wounds, were suffering from digestive problems. His diet recommended serving chopped beef patties three times a day, and the oval-shaped patties, informally dubbed the poor man's steak, came to bear his name. In its purest form, the steak consists only of seasoned beef. However, frugal depression housewives and those cooking in the meat-rationed kitchens of WWII began to add extenders to the chopped beef in order to feed more people. I am no stranger to Salisbury Steak. It was a regular feature on my Mother's table and I made it in the early days of our marriage when then was more love than money. Versions of the steak that are currently popular use wine and mushrooms in the sauce that is served with the steak. The original versions of the recipes did not, for obvious reasons. A budget meal does not lend itself to auxiliary ingredients that cost more than its main components. The newer versions are delicious and I can heartily recommend them. I want, however, to share with you a really old-fashioned version of the steak. Here's the recipe.

Salisbury Steak with Caramelized Onion Gravy...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Onion Gravy
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups low-sodium beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine (optional)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
Salt and pepper
Meat Patties
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup cooked white rice
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove minced garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:
1) To make gravy: Heat butter in a large sauté pan. Add onions and cook over medium-high heat, until onions start to brown, stirring occasionally. When onions are slightly softened and turning a deep honey brown, add 1/4 cup broth. Reduce heat, cover and continue cooking, adding more broth as needed to prevent caramelized bits at the bottom of the pan from burning. It should take at least 25 to 30 minutes to properly caramelize onions. Stir in flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Add wine and reduce by half. Stir in remaining beef broth and tomato paste. Stir in cider vinegar. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and keep warm.
2) To make patties: Mix ground beef, rice, egg yolk, salt, pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, parsley and thyme in a bowl. Shape into 4 oval patties about 3/4-inch thick. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Sear patties about 3 minutes per side, or until a brown crust forms. Pour gravy over patties and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Serve warm with mashed potatoes or noodles. Yield: 4 Servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Ground Beef Stroganoff - Real Mom Kitchen
Easy Ground Beef Dinners: Holiday Time Savers - Are You Hungry?
Red Bean Chili - The Red Spoon
Stuffed Cabbage - Living the Gourmet
Meatballs with Gravy - Seasalt with Food
Shepherd's Pie - Annie Bakes

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Tibetan Momo - Served in a Home Away from Home

Momo in Fresh Tomato Curry

Pokhara Valley

Tashi Palkhiel Refugee Settlement

Housing Area of Settlement

Community Hall

Settlement Monastery

Young Monks Following Induction Ceremony

A Break in the School Day

Kindergarten

Settlement Home for the Elderly

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it is expected that the second son of each family will enter the monastery and study to become a monk. I mention that because Bob and I had a tour guide who was the first son of one of the families who fled Tibet and formed the Tashi Palkhiel Refugee Camp in Pokhara, Nepal. That relationship led to one of the most beautiful and moving experiences of our trip. Good fortune put us in the refugee camp on a day when a new monk was entering the community and, thanks to the intervention of the second son, we were invited attend the ceremony. It was quite beautiful, replete with chanting that included the use of drums and the dungchen, or longhorn trumpet. Following the service we toured the camp to see how these folks had adjusted to their new environment. As might be expected, the young had no problems but their elders still clung to the hope of returning to a free Tibet. The community is remarkably cohesive and remains distinctly Tibetan despite living in the heart of Nepal.

I was curious to see how their diet differed from that of the Nepalese or Indian people. In truth, if the foods I sampled were typical, they are very similar. Tibetan food used Szechwan pepper to provide heat rather than the cayenne or red pepper that's used in India or Nepal and, while it is no where near as refined as the best of Indian cooking, the ingredients used are basically the same and similar dishes are produced. I sampled a soupy stew, dumplings, a bread and two desserts. I can't claim to be an expert based on that, but from that list I picked the dish I think you'll most enjoy. The recipe is for dumplings. Dumplings are a lot of work and it would help to have someone working with you should you decide to make them. The recipe is straight forward and if you are a dumpling lover you might want to give it a try. Here's the recipe.

Tibetan Momo...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Dough for wrappers:
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water or as required
Pinch of salt
Filling:
1 lb. ground lamb
1 lb. ground pork
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup Napa cabbage, finely chopped
1 cup mushroom, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1/2 teaspoon Szechwan pepper
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons cooking oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
1) For stuffing mixture, combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well, adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow all ingredients to meld.
2) In a large bowl combine flour, oil, salt and water. Mix well, knead until dough becomes homogeneous in texture, about 10 minutes. Cover and let stand for at least 15 min. Knead well again before making wrappers. Prepare 1-in. diameter dough balls. It is recommended to work with a dozen or so balls at a time to prevent drying. Take a dough ball, roll between your palms to spherical shape. Dust working board with dry flour. On board gently flatten ball with your palm. Then roll out into 3-in diameter wrapper. Repeat with remaining dough balls. Cover with bowl to prevent from drying.
3) For packing hold wrapper on one palm, put one tablespoon of filling mixture and with other hand bring all edges together to center, while making pleats. Pinch and twist pleats to ensure absolute closure of stuffed dumpling.
4) Oil a steamer rack. Bring water in steamer to a boil. Place uncooked dumplings in steamer, leaving some space between them. Cover steamer and cook until dumplings are cooked through, about 10 to 15 minutes.Remove dumplings from steamer and serve warm with a sauce of your choosing. In Tibet momos are served with a sour pickle called achar.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Indian Dumpling Basics - Asian Dumpling Tips
Chinese Dumpling Recipes - Asian Dumpling Tips
Nepalese Dumplings - World Recipes
Tibetan Food - Yowangdu
The Dali Lama's Momos - Palachinka
Nepaese Vegetable and Cheese Dumplings - The Global Gourmet

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Albondigas - Spanish Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I love Spanish food and don't think it gets nearly the attention it deserves. I became interested in it while searching for recipes scaled to feed two people. My research led me into the world of tapa and a new way of eating. A tapas is not a specific type of food, and it is not, as I once believed, a starter course. Tapas is a style of eating that revolves around small dishes of something edible. Anything can be a tapa as long as the portion is small and it is served with a drink. The word "tapa" means lid or cover. Originally a slice of cheese or ham was served with a drink to cover it and keep away the flies. The more fanciful believe the custom can be traced to a kindly king, who couldn't drink on an empty stomach. It's said he issued a royal decree that demanded all his subjects have food with their drinks. While there was a time in Spain when tapa were free, that is no longer true. At any rate, I started to use tapa recipes for some of our meals and was really pleased at how well they worked. These tasty meatballs, served in a lovely tomato sauce, are from a recipe I've adapted for use at our dinner table. It's a really simple recipe. Chances are you have all the ingredients you need to prepare it in your pantry and refrigerator. The original recipe called for meaty tomatoes. I use that method when heirloom tomatoes are readily available. The rest of the time I rely on a large can of plum tomatoes. A 28-ounce can of plum tomatoes is equivalent to 4 large tomatoes and its a great substitute. Use whole plum tomatoes. For reasons I don't understand, diced tomatoes retain their shape and don't cook down. This recipe is best with a pulpy tomato fondue. You can use any type of ground meat, but I think ground turkey produces dense meatballs that aren't as pleasant as those made from beef and pork. This recipe is scaled to feed 2 people. It can be doubled. Here's the recipe.

Albondigas Con Salsa De Tomate...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Peptita Aris

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt + salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper + pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large tomatoes, chopped or 1 (28-oz.) can plum tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons red or white wine
2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
Pinch of sugar
Thyme or parsley for garnish

Directions:
1) Place ground beef, green onions, garlic, Parmesan cheese, egg yolk, thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix gently to combine. Shape into 12 equal sized meatballs.
2) Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Saute meatballs, turning several times, until brown, about 5 minutes.
3) Add tomatoes, wine, sugar and rosemary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, covered, over low heat for 15 minutes until tomatoes are pulpy and meatballs cooked through. Sprinkle with thyme or parsley. Serve hot. Yellow rice is a lovely accompaniment. Yield: 2 servings.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Of Victory Gardens and Slumgullion

We have garden plots in town that are leased to green thumbs who have no property on which to garden. They were busy folks today, hustling like ants on a hill, anticipating a freeze that will surely take their gardens down. Watching their efforts triggered memories of the community gardens I knew as a child. Victory gardens - war gardens - were planted wherever there was vacant land, even on rooftops, to help reduce pressure on a heavily rationed food supply. The gardens actually produced 40 % of the vegetables and legumes consumed during WWII and one of the first signs I was able to read as a child was the slogan "Grow More in 44." Digging was done with a pitch fork and water was hauled by the bucket; it was hard, hard work and most of it was done by women. If you had a car chances were you had no gasoline, so my Mom would load her gear into a red wagon and drag it, and us, to the drained swamp where our garden was grown. She carried my brother on her hip and her right side was always damp. Soakers - heavy crocheted diaper covers - didn't quite do the trick and rubber and synthetic substitutes were strictly rationed - there were no rubber pants. We would spend an hour or two in the garden and start home when Mama, whose hip was by this time wet and dirty, would smile and say, "Sufficient to the day." Indeed it was. We were never hungry - we never felt unsafe. She was our taproot.

Meals during the war years were plain affairs. You made do with what you had and Slumgullion - a ground or cubed meat casserole extended with anything that was available - made a weekly appearance on most dinner tables. The name pretty much says it all. The funny part of all this is that Slumgullion is the precursor to the ground meat casseroles that are popular today. I can't look at Hamburger Helper without smiling. Today's recipe came from the back of an Uncle Ben's rice box back in the sixties. They called it California Rice Skillet and, as you've probably guessed, it's Slumgullion putting on airs. I can't tell you how many teens or church groups this recipe has fed and while I know this is going to take a leap of faith - this recipe is worth trying. I'm going to call it Slumgullion for nostalgia's sake; you might prefer California Rice Skillet. Whatever you call it, it's a 45 minute wonder that's nice to have in the recipe file. This is also a great filling for stuffed peppers - a truc (trick) passed on to me by my first born.

Slumgullion - California Rice Skillet

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 cup rice
3 beef or chicken bouillon cubes, crushed
1 teaspoon ground dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 (14.5-oz.) can stewed tomatoes, drained
2 cups water
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions:
1) Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic and green pepper; saute until wilted. Add meat meat and brown. Stir in rice, bouillon cubes, dry mustard and black pepper; toss to coat rice. Stir in stewed tomatoes. Add water. Bring to a simmer: cover pan and cook for 25 minutes, or until rice is tender and water absorbed.
2) Sprinkle cheese over top. Cover; let stand until cheese melts, about 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 4 to 5 servings.