Romantic Dinners for Two | Epicurious.com.
With Valentine’s Day this weekend, you might be looking for some ideas to make a nice, romantic meal at home instead of spending time at a noisy restaurant perhaps not getting as a good of a meal as you can make on your own. Epicurious has some great ideas for a romantic dinner for two followed by some nice chocolate dessert ideas as well to cover everything you need. Get yourself a nice bottle of wine and cook at home to enjoy some quiet time with your sweetie. Check it out!
I’ve tried lots of meatloaf recipes over the years, some with good success and results and others that I would not be so likely to try again. every time I come across a new meatloaf recipe I always check it out to see if it is worth giving a try. Here on my blog, the meatloaf recipes I have posted before are among the most visited on my site, so I am obviously not alone in my love for meatloaf. That is why when I cam across Pat La Frieda’s recipe for a four-meat meatloaf recipe I was more than a little intrigued. Pat LaFrieda is a well-known chef, known particularly for his work with beef and has some great food places all around and even does the hamburgers and offerings available at Citi Field where my beloved Mets play (Michelle swears by his cheesesteak sandwich and the meatball sliders offered by him at Citi Field). All of that was more than enough to get me to try the recipe out, though I did some tweaking of it on my own. his recipe puts mozzarella and Pecorino-Romano cheese in it. Personally, I don’t like cheese in my meatloaf so I left it out myself, but I will include them as optional in the recipe listed here if you want to make use of them yourself.
Pat LaFrieda’s Four-Meat Meatloaf
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onion (about 2 medium onions)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces), optional
1 cup grated Pecorino-Romano cheese (about 4 ounces)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground lamb
1 pound ground veal
1/2 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs (store-bought is fine)
4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs
2 teaspoons paprika
3/4 cup tomato sauce
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until the oil slides easily in the pan, about 2 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is tender and light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside to cool the onions to room temperature.
If you are using the mozzarella and Pecorino-Romano cheese, combine them in a medium bowl with the parsley. If you are not using the cheese separate out the parsley into 4 even piles.
Put each meat – the beef, pork, lamb and veal – in a separate bowl. To each bowl add 2 tablespoons of the breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper, a pile of the parsley and 1 egg. Divide the cooled onion mixture evenly among the bowls. Add 1 teaspoon of the paprika each to the bowl with the beef and with the lamb. Use your hands to gently combine each meat with its ingredients, working it just enough to combine everything.
Put the beef into a loaf pan and pat it down with a rubber spatula to create a flat, even surface. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese mixture, if using, over the beef. Put the pork on top of the beef. Smooth it out the same way you did with the beef layer and top it with another 1/3 of the cheese mixture, if using. Repeat the process again with the lamb, topping it off with the remaining cheese mixture, if using, and finish with a layer of the veal. Put the loaf pan on a baking sheet and bake the meat loaf for 1 hour. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and spoon the tomato sauce over the top, spreading it over the surface of the meatloaf. Return the meatloaf to the oven and bake it until a meat thermometer inserted into the center registers 145 degrees, about 25 to 30 minutes.
Take the meatloaf out of the oven. Hold the pan while wearing oven mitts and gently tilt the pan to drain off the excess fat from the pan. Let the meatloaf rest in the pan for at least 15 minutes. Slice the meatloaf in the pan and serve the meatloaf on a platter.
This recipe does take a bit of prep work and a little bit longer to cook than traditional meatloaf recipes, but it is denser because of all of the meat. The flavors from the meatloaf are fantastic and I loved adding lamb into the mix to get that extra layer of flavor. If you do use the cheese I am sure you get a really nice looking layered effect when you slice the meat, so if that is what you want and you like the cheese in there, go for it. I really enjoyed it without the cheese myself and it makes a pretty good-sized meatloaf so you can feed four or six people easily with this one.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Okay, so you have made the leg of lamb that you wanted, then you turned around and made some lamb shawarma with some of the leftovers on one night but you still seem to have a lot of lamb left and you are not sure what to do with it. You still always have shepherd’s pie as an option, but as I said yesterday, I was hoping to find something different to do with some of the land. I came across this recipe at the New You work Times Cooking website for a lamb and white bean casserole and while technically it did not use leftover lamb but uncooked lamb shanks and the meat from them, I decided to try to adapt the recipe so that I could make use of some of the leftovers. Naturally the recipe I made does not take nearly as long to cook as the one you would find from the New York Times, but I think it makes really good use of the leftover lamb and turns out a pretty simple meal in under 30 minutes. I will post the recipe that I used here, but you can always check the link for the original recipe if you want to try that one out.
Lamb and White Bean Casserole
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound leftover lamb, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups beef stock
1 cup peeled chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons dried herbs de Provence
6 cups cooked cannellini beans, rinsed and drained if using canned
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a heavy, ovenproof 5 to 6 quart casserole. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic, and sauté the vegetables over medium heat, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Increase the heat slightly, and when the vegetables begin to brown, remove them from the pot and take the pot off the heat. Preheat the oven to 350°.
Season the all-purpose flour with salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss the lamb pieces in the flour to coat them well. Heat the remaining olive oil in the casserole pan. Add the lamb pieces, and sear them over medium-high heat, stirring until the meat is browned, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the meat from the pot, and add the wine. Cook, stirring, to deglaze the pot and reduce the wine, about 2 minutes. Stir in the beef stock, chopped tomatoes and herbs de Provence. Taste the sauce, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Return all of the vegetables to the casserole pan, then add the lamb and the cannellini beans. Place the sprigs of time on top of the dish. Place the casserole in the oven and bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, until everything is heated through and the beans on the top begin to brown. Serve at once, or set aside in reheat before serving.
You do need to be a little bit careful when you making this because you do not want to overcook the lamb that is already cooked in the first place. I found that cooking the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes heated everything through without making the lamb too tough to eat. You got great flavor from all of the vegetables and the beans were a really nice touch to give some added protein to the dish and it really helps to fill you up. This particular casserole was really nice to have on a cold night and the broth that remains underneath the beans has excellent flavor because of the herbs that you use, and from the lamb and the vegetables themselves. Again, this is a nice use for some leftover lamb if you are looking for something different to try or it can be a great dish to serve starting from scratch, but of course you need to follow the original recipe where the lamb would have to be cooked for a longer period of time to make sure that it is cooked all the way through.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Okay, now that you have made this delightfully tasty but quite large leg of lamb from yesterday’s recipe, what the heck do you do with any leftovers? Sure you can make shepherd’s pie, which I have done in the past, and it is quite a tasty dish in its own right and makes good use of leftovers, but I wanted to try something different. There really aren’t a ton of uses for leftover lamb and it can get kind of tough and chewy if it is overcooked as it is, so I wanted to find something a little out of the ordinary that would not require a great deal of cook time for the lamb pieces. I received a cookbook, The Make-Ahead Cook, by America’s Test Kitchen, that came to my rescue right away. They had the solution of what to try with leftover lamb that I had never considered before – lamb shawarma. You have likely had or seen lamb shawarma at a Turkish or Mediterranean restaurant at some point in the past as you see this mass of meat rotating on a vertical rotisserie and the meat is gently sliced off from there to produce your dish.This recipe attempts to recreate the taste of that dish with the use of leftovers and a trusty skillet to get you through, and makes a really great yogurt-tahini sauce to go with it.
Lamb Shawarma
For the Yogurt-Tahini Sauce
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Shawarma:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 pound cooked lamb, sliced thin (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
4 (6-inch) pita breads, warmed
2 cups chopped iceberg or romaine lettuce
2 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped
2 shallots, sliced thin
For the yogurt-tahini sauce. combine the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, parsley, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste, cover the bowl and refrigerate it until you are serving the meal.
For the lamb shawarma, Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet set over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the cumin, coriander, and cardamom and cook, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant and just beginning to brown, about 1 minute (be careful not to burn the spices!). Add the sliced lamb, breaking up any clumps, and cook until the lamb is just beginning to crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of the minced parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spread 1/4 cup of the yogurt-tahini sauce in the center of each warmed pita, then divide the lamb mixture evenly among the pitas. Top each pita with some of the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, lettuce, tomatoes and shallots. Wrap the pitas around the filling and serve.
This was really tasty and only took a few minutes to put together completely. The lamb gets barely any re-heating at all, just enough to get it hot and crisp, and it tastes great with all of those great Mediterranean spices that you use in the mix. Place it on a warm pita with the yogurt sauce and it was fantastic. I have to admit I was a little worried that Michelle and Sean would not go for it but we all loved it and gobbled it down pretty easily. This will certainly be my go to dish for leftover lamb from now on. I did add some diced cucumber to the toppings of the pita to mix it all in for a bit of coolness and freshness to go along with the dish, and you could serve this simply with a side of rice or a side salad and have a great meal for lunch or dinner.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
As it got towards the end of 2014 there were a number of great sales on different cuts of meat and roasts at the local markets here as there likely were in many places around the country. People tend to buy more roasts with thoughts of elegant meals around Christmas and New year’s so it was great to find good deals on things I do not buy too often and it gave me the chance to get some stuff together to make some great meals. One of those that I snatched up was a leg of lamb that was on sale. Lamb can be pretty pricey unless you can get a good deal on it and leg of lamb is big, so unless you are planning a lot with the leftovers you need to make sure you have a crowd that likes lamb over for dinner that day. I know everyone is not a big fan of lamb but it is a family favorite around here so we relish when we get the chance to have it and the recipe I tried out this time is a very basic one that I got from Superior Farms, a commercial supplier of lamb in the United States. it makes use of a few simple spices and some soy sauce and produces a really flavorful lamb.
Celebration Leg of Lamb
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 whole bay leaf, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
6 to 9 pounds leg of lamb, bone-in, trimmed
In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce, olive oil, crushed garlic, pepper, ground ginger, crushed bay leaf, thyme, sage and marjoram until it is all well blended. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large roasting pan, place the leg of lamb on a rack in the roasting pan. With a sharp knife, make frequent slits in the surface of the lamb. Move the knife from side to side to enlarge the pockets. Rub the herb mixture into each slit. Rub any of the remaining mixture all over the leg of lamb.
Roast the lamb in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes per pound or until the meat registers 145 degrees for medium-rare on an instant-read thermometer placed in the thickest part of the leg of lamb. For medium, roast the lamb until it reaches 160 degrees or 170 degrees for well done. Remove the roast from the oven and cover it with aluminum foil to allow it to rest for 10 minutes. The internal temperature of the lamb will continue to rise while it is resting about another 10 degrees, so you should figure this into your timing. Use the pan drippings to make a gravy if you like or simply skim the fat off the drippings and serve the sauce as an au jus.
The results of the roast are wonderful and you get the great spice flavor from the herbs mixed in with the lamb and it is just fantastic. For my money, lamb needs to medium-rare so I always try to cook it that way, though I know some people prefer not to see any pink in the meat, but lamb can get pretty tough if it is overcooked and well done, so you want to be really careful in the timing and watch it so that it is cooked just the way you like it. I always tend to make roasted potatoes with lamb and you can have all kinds of great roasted vegetables to go along with it if you like. This is definitely a good weekend, entertaining meal unless you have the time during the week to make this one. Naturally, there were leftovers from a 7 pound leg of lamb so I was able to make a couple of other meals with the lamb and I’ll be sharing those recipes with you over the next couple of days.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day (more freezing rain and snow here in our part of New York today), and enjoy your meal!
Best Christmas Main Dish Recipes : Cooking Channel.
If you are thinking about making something stunning for your Christmas meal, Cooking Channel has put together these fantastic main dish recipes that are sure to draw applause for your magnificent efforts. Check it out!
Christmas Dinner Recipes | SAVEUR.
When we think of Christmas dinners, many of us immediately think of having a nice roast for the family and guests. There are all kinds of great roasts you can make (I’ll be making a prime rib roast this year) and Saveur has put together 28 Christmas dinner recipes using various roasts of pork, lamb, beef, turkey and chicken. You can find something to fit every type of meal you are looking to make. Check it out!
31 Great Labor Day Grilling Recipes | Kitchen Daily.
Planning on doing some grilling on Labor Day but what to go beyond the usual hamburgers and hot dogs? Kitchen Daily has put together 31 great grilling recipes for you that cover everything from your appetizers and main courses to side dishes and dessert so you can grill every part of your meal and make the most of that last unofficial day of summer. Check out the recipes and find one to try this weekend!
Fun, unusual and forgotten designations on our calendar.
Happily Ever After Lives Here
a little bit naughty a little bit nice
Letting Life Lead
Simple and delicious dinner inspiration
onedadskitchen 