Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

This is a quick meal that brings back memories of an earlier time.  And a more simple time.  Most people equate salisbury steak with the TV dinners that were popular in the ’50’s and ’60’s.  We have come a long way since that time.  Even though that time was known for TV dinners, it was also the era of simple meals of meat and potatoes.  My Mother was known for her pork chops, meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  We never had such exotic food from other countries like pizza pie.  Technology and Julia Child changed all of that.  With the advent of cooking programs on television, many people were introduced to food from other nations.  Now with the internet, we can even cook the same food that is currently being prepared in home kitchens all over the world.  Social media has introduced us to quinoa, chia seeds and hemp hearts among other things.  I have been adding hemp hearts to my morning oatmeal.  Who would have thought?

But sometimes, an old-fashioned meal like this “updated” salisbury steak with French onion gravy is most welcomed.  Instead of potatoes it is served with  toasted slices of sourdough bread with Swiss cheese.  The gravy is a riff on French onion soup with beef broth, lots of onions, a little wine and a touch of tomato paste.  I enjoyed this combination.

Hope you enjoy this blast from the past.  To be honest, I am glad that we now have so many options, but still love the classics.

FRENCH ONION SALISBURY STEAK  (Adapted from Cuisine at Home )   

1 1/4 ground chuck
1/4 cup fresh minced parsley
2 Tablespoons scallions, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cups onions, sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
4 teaspoons minced fresh parsley for garnish
4 teaspoons Parmesan cheese, shredded
Cheese Toasts – Recipe follows

Combine chuck, parsley, scallion, salt, and pepper.  Divide evenly into 4 portions and shape each into 3/4-inch-1-inch thick oval patties.  Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge each patty in flour.  Reserve 1 teaspoon flour.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add patties and saute 3 minutes on each side, or until browned.  Remove from pan.  Add onions and sugar to pan; saute 5 minutes.  Stir in garlic and tomato paste; saute 1 minute, or until paste begins to brown.  Sprinkle onions with reserved flour; cook 1 minute.  Stir in broth and wine, then add the salt and thyme.

Return meat to pan and bring soup to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 10 minutes.  Serve steaks on Cheese Toasts with onion soup ladled over.  Garnish with parsley and Parmesan.

CHEESE TOASTS

4 slices French bread or Sourdough baguette, cut diagonally (1/2-inch thick)
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
Pinch of paprika
1/4 cup Swiss cheese, grated
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Place bread on a baking sheet.  Combine butter garlic, and paprika, and spread on one side of each slice of bread.  Combine cheeses and sprinkle evenly over butter.  Bake until bread is crisp and cheese is bubbly, 10-15

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Nothing brings back memories of home more than this sticky glazed ham loaf.  My Mother made this for many special occasions.  Forget the prime rib roast or the whole filet of beef.  To my Mother, a celebration required ham loaf.  We are not sure when she latched onto this dish.  We just always knew that it would be served when she gathered the family together for a holiday.

I don’t make it often anymore.  But at least once a year I have to make it, if for no other reason than the smell of it cooking takes me back to her kitchen.  She basted it often with the glaze and, at the end, it caramelized into the sweet coating that was one of her favorite parts of the ham loaf.  She always made two loaves so that she was assured of at least one of the end pieces for herself.

Scoring the top of the ham loaf looks lovely and also holds the glaze better.  It makes a festive presentation and tastes wonderful.

The ham loaf is a mixture of ground round and ground ham.  There was a time when you could ask the butcher to grind a ham steak together with the ground round, but not anymore.  For some reason, most supermarkets will not do this.  I either grind my own ham in my Kitchen Aid with the meat grinder attachment or buy a tube of ground ham.  I just discovered this product.  You may find that small supermarkets will be more willing to grind a piece of ham.  However you arrive at the mixture, you will not be disappointed.

On anther note, one of the things I try to do during the holidays is to support local businesses.  The big box stores are not in danger of losing customers, but by supporting small businesses we can make a big difference.

We were very impressed with this young entrepreneur who showed up on our doorstep one evening.  Eldred Williams is 8 years old and with his brothers and father have started a soap company featuring soaps with all natural ingredients.  He was engaging and enthusiastic about his soaps.  The name of the company is Gone Natural; 4 kids and a Father.  Check out the link for more information.  I am very happy with the soap that I bought.  Hopefully, this young man has a bright future.  With his attitude, he is well on his way.

Here is the recipe for my Mother’s Ham Loaf.  She would have been proud to share it with all of you.  For me it represents family, fellowship and one of the things that is important about the holidays.

My Mother’s Ham Loaf

1 pound ham steak, ground
1 pound ground round or lean ground beef
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup whole milk
2 cups saltine crackers, crushed (about 1 sleeve)

2 teaspoons mustard
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2/3 cup brown sugar

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  I sometimes combine the ground meats before adding the rest.  Form into a loaf and place in a 9″x13″ baking dish.  Score the top diagonally in both directions with a knife (about 1/4-inch deep).  Mix together the mustard, vinegar and brown sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside.  Bake the ham loaf in a 325 degree oven for one hour.  Pour sauce over meat and bake an additional one hour, basting frequently, especially during the last 1/2 hour.  Place on platter, slice and serve.

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Our weather went from 90 degrees to a cool 50 degrees this week.  We lit a fire in the fireplace early one morning.  The cool weather made me hungry for comfort food again.  I have made several versions of shepherd’s pie or in this case, cottage pie since it uses ground beef instead of ground lamb.  But Katie from the What Katie Ate blog calls this recipe shepherd’s pie anyway.  I have to say it is the best version I have ever tried.  Why,… you may ask?

It starts with roasting garlic cloves in the oven to be incorporated into the mashed potato topping.  The aroma begins the anticipation of the meal to come.  It continues with the extra flavor that is added to the ground beef mixture.  Tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, barbecue sauce and freshly grated nutmeg all conspire to give the beef richness as well as a deep red color.  The topping is liberally sprinkled with fresh Parmesan cheese.  It came out of the oven bubbly and golden brown.  We loved it.

You will too.  Even if you have to wait for the next cold snap, it is worth adding to your favorites file.

We won’t be seeing this again for a while.

KATIE’S SHEPHERD’S PIE ( What Katie Ate)

1 Tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 onion finely diced
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/4 lbs. lean ground free-range beef
2 cups beef broth
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons steak sauce
3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 sprigs thyme, leaves picked, plus extra sprigs to garnish
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Roasted Garlic and Cheesy Mash Topping:
3 large cloves garlic, unpeeled
Sea salt and ground white pepper
5 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus extra for sprinkling

To make the topping, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Place the three whole garlic cloves on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes or until soft.  Remove and allow to cool, then squeeze out the soft flesh and discard the papery skin.

While the garlic is roasting, half-fill a large saucepan with cold water, season with a good pinch of salt, then add the potatoes.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-high and cook at a rolling simmer until the potatoes are cooked through and soft in the middle when pierced with a knife.  This is important if you want a really creamy mash – if they are even slightly firm in the middle you’ll never get smooth mash, as there will be tiny lumps dotted throughout.

Drain the potatoes, then tip them back into the pan and break up with a potato masher.  Pass the potato through a potato ricer until completely smooth.  Add the milk, yogurt, parmesan and cooled roasted garlic and mix together well.  Season generously with salt and pepper, then set aside (or, if you’d like a decorative topping, transfer to a large icing bag fitted with a 1/2 inch star-shaped nozzle and set aside until required).

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, deep skillet or saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and fry for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a further 5-7 minutes.  Add the ground beef and stir well, breaking up any lumps with the back of a wooden spoon.  Cook until the beef is nicely browned, (drain off fat if any accumulates) then add the broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, barbecue sauce, nutmeg and thyme leaves and stir everything together.  Season with salt and pepper and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened.  Spoon the mixture into a 6 cup capacity baking dish.

Pipe or spoon the mashed potato over the filling and sprinkle with extra parmesan and pepper.  Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the potato is golden brown.  Sprinkle over a little more parmesan, if liked, scatter over extra thyme sprigs and serve hot.

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Because it has been so cold in Florida and because I have been reading so many blogs from the more frigid regions of our country, I just had to pull out the slow cooker to cook something long and slow all day; something that would perfume the house and build an anticipation for the satisfying meal to come. I had a chuck roast freshly defrosted from the freezer and several different recipes for crock pot beef to choose from. I ended up combining several.   What I was looking for was intense flavor to offset the richness of the beef.  The balsamic vinegar went a long way in achieving that goal.  There are some recipes for slow cooker beef that include dried onion soup mix and cream of “whatever” soup.  I try to stay away from those recipes.  The additive ladened products just seem to intensify over long cooking, in my humble opinion. And not in a good way.

The ingredients I used were simple; beef broth, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and a bit of ketchup.  The resulting beef was succulent and delicious.  The sauce was especially good.  It was so good in fact that for lunch the next day I made a “Dip Sandwich”.  The tender beef and juices made for a marvelous sandwich.

The sandwiches would be great for a super bowl party.

CROCK POT BALSAMIC SHREDDED BEEF

1 4 to 5 pound chuck roast
1 tablespoon of canola oil
1 large onion, halved and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
Red pepper flakes to taste, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon

Place 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy bottomed skillet.  When hot, add chuck roast and cook until browned on one side.  Turn, add onions and garlic to pan along with the meat.  Cook on second side until it is browned and onions are softened.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Place browned meat. onions and garlic in a slow cooker.  Mix together the remainder of the ingredients and pour over beef.  Cook the beef, covered in the slow cooker on a low setting for 7 to 8 hours.  Remove beef to a plate.  Shred it with two forks and return to slow cooker to combine with the juices.   Serve.

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Ginger, garlic, allspice and Mexican tomatoes with green chiles all combine to make this flavorful easy slow-cooker  Caribbean stew.  The winter weather seems to have griped much of our country.  Soups and stews are always welcomed in out household, even though we have not experienced the cold that many of you are facing.  This is my homage to the colder climes.  I remember how effectively a warm fire and a bowl of stew could chase away the bitter cold.  I can still picture us in our northern abode, huddled in front of our hearth clutching warm bowls of stew, spooning their warmth into our mouths, while sipping glasses of  Burgundy wine.  It was a comforting feeling knowing we were snug and warm while the winds blew and the snow swirled outside of our windows.  We are far from that weather now, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it and miss it.  So forgive me for romanticizing winter.  I also know the down side.

Because I have been so busy, I wanted to enlist my slow-cooker to be my kitchen ally for the day.  This recipe was in last years’ Food Network Magazine.  Once the prep work is done, there is nothing more to do for dinner, unless you want to heat some rolls or make a salad.   Stay warm.

SLOW-COOKER CARIBBEAN BEEF STEW

3 sprigs thyme
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/4-inch cubes
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, quartered
4 medium carrots, cut crosswise into thirds
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 10-ounce can Rotel (Mexican-style diced tomatoes with green chiles)
4 scallions
Hot sauce, for serving

Strip the leaves from 1 sprig thyme and chop; combine with the flour, allspice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon white pepper in a large bowl.  Add the beef and toss to coat.  Put the potatoes, carrots, the remaining 2 thyme sprigs, the ginger and garlic in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker.  Add the beef, reserving any excess seasoned flour in the bowl.  Whisk 1/2 cup water and the Worcestershire sauce into the reserved seasoned flour, then add to the slow cooker.  Pour the tomatoes on top.  Cover and cook on low 7 hours or on high 4 hours.

Add the scallions to the stew and season with salt.  Divide among bowls and serve with hot sauce.

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