Garden Grass Fed Meatloaf

Who doesn't love meatloaf?! Well you might not if the only time you eat it, it is served on a Swanson's dinner tray. Personally I am a traditional meatloaf lover, I don't need bacon or cheese or whatever I just want lots of veggies and good meat covered in a tangy sauce...too much to ask for? I think not! From what I was told  "this is the best meatloaf I have ever had" lets see what you think.

what you need:

2 lbs. top quality Grass-fed Beef

1 1/2 C. Organic Oats

3 eggs

Mushrooms

Leek

Spinach

1/2 Onion Diced

2 Cloves Garlic chopped

Pepper

Tomato

Mustard

Tamari or Braggs Liquid Amino

1 tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp. Chili Powder

S&P

Fresh Herbs of choice

1 T EVOO

Glaze

1/2 C. Organic sugar free ketchup or tom. sauce

1/4 C. Molasses

2 T. Apple Cider Vinegar 

1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

The measurements for the veggies should all be about 1/4-1/2 C. when Chopped. I am a huge fan of the more the merrier when it comes to sautéing things and usually scarff what ever I don't use while I am waiting for the actual thing I am making to be complete.

Step 1: Pre-heat oven to 375˚, Dice Onions and saute till soft in EVOO.

 Step 2: Chop the peppers, mushrooms, leeks and garlic in small uniform pieces and add to the pan, saute for a few min., add a pinch of S&P, chili powder and Cumin.

cook till soft

Step 3: Add Chopped Tomatoes and thinly sliced Spinach to saute pan, cook till most the moisture is out. Set aside and let cool.

beautiful toms

Step 4: In a big bowl whisk eggs, add meat, oats and chopped herbs (parsley, sage, thyme and basil), 1 T Ground Mustard and 1 T Braggs Liquid Amino or Tamari and a pinch of S&P. Mix completely using hands. Stop Complaining there is no other way!

Step 5: Put in a loaf pan. Put loaf pan in oven. Cook for 40 min. or until the internal temp is 160˚. You will notice there won't be much liquid coming out of the loaf unlike when you use grain fed meat. Grass fed is very lean, no need to drain it!

Step 6: Make the glaze by combining all of the "glaze" ingredients and covering the top, cook for another 10min. Once done let cool.

Plate and eat!

Kitchen Tip: If you are only cooking for 1-2 you can easily portion half of it and freeze the other half. This was enough for dinner and lunch the next day. Just cover the pan in plastic wrap and put what looks like half of the meat into it and wrap it up, put in freezer. Now you have meatloaf for another time. Just place it in the fridge before work and cook for about 1-1.5 hours till its internal temp is at 160˚

Braised Lamb Shanks over Garlic Herb Polenta

So with company and travels I haven't been cooking as much...or shall I say blogking as much....anyways I did slow down to make sure I got this amazing recipe up. So I kinda "borrowed" this from the foodnetwork, but added and subtracted some of the elements....It's probably one of the easiest and most tasty dishes I have made in awhile- the reason this recipe stuck out to me so much is because the base vegetables in the dish are blended and not just chopped and thrown in- this technique is new to me and really opened my eyes into the world of extracting all flavors from what you have. I hope you enjoy!

what you need:

Lamb Shanks (I used 2 here but up to 4 is great)

8oz. can of tom. paste (I know, I know use organic w/o sugar)

1-2 C. Stock (chicken here) or water

1.5 C. Red Wine

1 whole tomato
S&P

EVOO

Herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary. the gang)

Bay Leaves

rough chop these guys:

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

3-4 cloves garlic

1 onion

fennel spring/bulb

Topping

finely chopped basil

1 T lemon/zest

orange zest

1 T horseradish 

2 cloves grated garlic

Step 0: Heat a dutch up, add EVOO about 1 min. before you start throwing things in.

Step 1: Wash and Season Shanks with S&P don't worry about over doing it.

Step 2: Place the Shanks in hot dutch oven and brown completely should take anywhere between 10-15min. Once browned remove from pan and set aside.

Step 2.5: (which you can work on during step 2) place all of the rough chopped veg. into a food processor and pulverize till it can't go no longer.

Step 3: Degrease dutch oven and add fresh evoo into it, heat up and add blended veggies. Cook them till brown, this takes a bit, but if you drink a glass of wine while do it, you would be surprised how little you actually care.

should have a nice dark appearance to it

Step 4: Once Brown add the can of tom paste and let that brown, at this point I added a whole chopped tomato (seeds and all), the recipe that I 'borrowed' called for twice the amount of paste, but in all actuality I really couldn't bare the thought. Mix it all up and let the paste get kind of a dark color, your jedi nature will tell you when to move on.

Step 5: Once the mush is dry and brown add the wine in small amounts and let it cook down. Essentially you don't want to flood the mush, you just want to have it absorb the wine. Let it boil a bit and reduce till its a nice red color. Add the fresh chopped thyme, sage and rosemary...please use as much as you want!

Step 6: Heat up your stock and add to the pot, you don't want to dilute it too much, but enough to stretch it so that it will cover shanks.

Step 7: Add the Shanks, cover with sauce. Lid it and put it in a 375˚ oven for about 2 hours, rotate them about every 30min, you will see the flesh start to scrunch up from the bone, and when the meat starts to fall off the bone, you know you are ready. If you start to see a lot of fat coming off skim it from the sauce...the ones used were pretty lean so I didn't come across that problem.

Step 8: In a small dish take all of the ingredients for the 'topping' and put into a bowl and stir.

Garlic Herb Polenta

2 Cloves Garlic (grated)

1 tsp EVOO

2 T Fresh Herbs (thyme, sage rosemary)

Bay leaves

1 C Polenta

2 C Stock

freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

S&P

Step 1: Pour EVOO into a pot and add garlic, heat on low for a few min. you don't want to brown it just get the flavors out. Add stock and bring to a rapid boil, add bay leaves, Herbs and S&P at this time. The Polenta absorbs all flavors so don't be too frugal with the spices and herbs, usually I add red pepper flakes too, but I was out (sad face).

Step 2: Once at a rapid boil slowly add polenta, whisking till it is lump free, then get rid of the whisk and grab a wooden spoon. 

Step 3: This is where people get overwhelmed- stir the polenta for the first few min. and then put a lid on it and let it cook. about every 2 min. or so check on it, give it a stir and if it seems too thick gradually add a bit of hot broth or water. The color should change from a bright yellow to a soft yellow. Keep this up for a bit tasting along the way, it usually takes 20-30 min. depending on your polenta. I like mine to be pretty stiff so I am usually done when the spoon can stand straight up.

Step 4: remove from heat and drizzle a little EVOO and put in Parm. stir in. 

{for left overs put in a shallow pie pan and cover with plastic wrap, the next day or so cut into a funny shape and saute in olive oil, whatever you do the polenta will harden quickly so deal with it before you sit down to eat. don't say I didn't warn you}

TIME TO EAT!!!!!! Put the Polenta on a plate, followed by the shank, followed by loads of the best sauce ever, followed by a bit of the topping. All of the zests and garlic will start emitting a flavor and smell only grandma kitchens in the old country are able to get. trust me, this meal ruled!

Greek Lamburgers

I love burgers, and I love greek food...so why not smash those two together????? Need I say more.These are stuffed with feta and completed with homemade Tzatziki and a hot pepper fig pepper spread...

what you need:

makes 4 Burgers:

1lb Lamb

garlic 

fresh herbs (mint, rosemary, thyme, oregano)

4-6oz greek yogurt (0% works well)

cucumber

lemon

figs

arugula

hot peppers

olive oil

S&P

sprouted grain buns

Tzatziki

Step 1: open yogurt container and throw in the bowl (I bought a single cup, so about 4-6oz is good).

Step 2: De-seed and dice cucumber, chop herbs, and add about 2 T. of lemon, 1/2 T. EVOO and 1 finely chopped clove of garlic to the mix.

Step 3. Stir and taste...season with S&P to whatever feels greek enough to you.

Step 4: Put in fridge and chill.

Fig and Pepper Spread

Step 1: lightly chop 1 fig and 1-2 hot peppers (leave seeds if you like a bite)

Step 2: Put in food processor, add 1/2 T. EVOO while it is running.

Lamburger

Step 1: Put Lamb in bowl.

Step 2: Chop Herbs (all listed) and 1 clove garlic, add to lamb and season with S&P.

Step 3: Mix (hands work best if not taking photos)

Step 4: Break into 4 equal sized balls and flatten into concave patties. Stuff with Feta (time to eye ball)

Step 5: Ever so gingerly roll the burger into a ball and then re-form to look like something familiar. (I learned this technique watching women make papusa's at 3am)

Step 5: Slap on a grill or hot skillet. Cook for about 4min. on each side.

Construction: This is the most important step to any type of sandwich making, poor, un-ordered construction can change a flavor or texture of your food. Don't think it doesn't matter. BECAUSE IT DOES!!!!

Step 1: Toast Buns, when buns are brown smear the pepper fig spread on the bottom bun and cook for a few more sec.

cover with arugula

Step 2: Place Burger on top of arugula and Tzatziki on top Bun

Step 3: Step Flip the lid and enjoy!

Bison in a Chard Blanket

Q: what does a mama buffalo say to her son when he goes to school?
A: Bison!!!!!!!!

Bison in a Chard Blanket

aka this ain't your mom's cabbage rolls!

Two reasons spawned this recipe, one I received a bunch of chard from my CSA and wanted to do something new with it, make it more the star and less the side dish. Secondly I went to get ground lamb at the store and all they had was Bison...make change where change need be. I feel that ingredients should be variable so please omit, and submit things you like.

...makes 8-12 rolls depending on how much you stuff...

1 lb Ground Bison (grass fed beef or lamb is great, goat if you got it, turkey if you're into it)

A Bunch of Chard, 8 large stems (swiss, rainbow anything that looks good)

1/2 T olive oil
1/2 C. Brown Rice cooked 

1/2 C. Tomato Sauce Organic sugar free (don't forget to check)

1/2 onion diced

1 leek soaked and diced

1/2 bell pepper diced (your choice)

5 mushrooms sliced

half tomato chopped for the inside, half sliced thin for the outside

1-2 Cloves chopped garlic

1 tsp cumin
1/2 C stock (whatever you have laying around, or water)
any fresh herbs you have laying around (thyme, parsley, basil ect all is good)

salt (i prefer sea salt) pepper to taste

red peppers if you like a bite

a nice jack or cheddar for the top (I used a local California garlic jack)

Step 0: Before you begin start cooking your brown rice, make extra it's good for left overs. Also start a pot of boiling water and turn on your oven to 375˚

Step 1: use the EVOO (thanks Rachel Ray) to saute the onions, leeks and garlic. Once soft add bell peppers, mushrooms, and finally tomatoes, red peppers, S & P and herbs. Cook till they are tender but not to mush...remove from pan and set aside.

Step 2: In Same pan enters the Bison (what a noble creature) let it cook till med rare and drain the little fat in the pan.

Step 3: Add cooked brown rice, and sauteed veggies to the meat mix in well, then put enough tomato sauce in the mixture to dampen it (great culinary term, I know). You should be able to do this with your spoon, if not maybe add more rice, you don't want it too wet.

Step 5: Prepare your Chard by cutting off the thick stems, and dunking them into the boiling water for 45 sec. this will help them be more flexible when you are rolling them, remove them and place them on plate veiled with a paper towel and gently stretch the leaves straight. when task is completed top with a paper towel and place in freezer (a quick way to shock them back to green and stop the cooking). <>

Step 6: CONSTRUCTION!!! think dolmas, joints, burritos whatever lets do it! Get out a Casserole dish and put stock on the bottom (about 1/4-1/2"), I used chicken here  (aides in keeping the rolls moist). Place the chard on a flat surface add about 1/4 C. or more of the mixture (depending on how crazy you may be) and roll the up, folding the edges as you go. Place in the dish, seam side down.

I had some extra stuffing so I gutted some extra mushrooms and stuffed them.

 Step 7: Let's dress 'em up!!! Put a small amount the tomato sauce on the top of each roll to make sure they don't dry out while baking, then stick a slice of tomato on top of that. Cover with foil and bake for about 25-30 min. Once they are pretty much done, (the tomato on top will let you know, if it still has juice and skin it can go a few more, if its shriveled and dead looking it, you have gone to far. Go somewhere between there.) put some cheese on top and crank the oven to 450˚ for a few min. just to brown.

before

after

Step 8: The Sides, tonight it was Patty Pan squash from the CSA box, I sauteed them in EVOO with garlic, a bit of lemon and fresh thyme, S&P and a dash of butter to finish them off, oh yeah red pepper flakes too!

Step whatever: Plate and eat!!!!

tastes better than it looks.

hope you enjoy...