Nov. 4th, 2012 09:36 pm
Holding it together
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muckefuckTonight's dinner: my most successful meatloaf ever. It was a grand synthesis. I got ideas on ingredients and proportions from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu and Bittman, then I added some twists of my own. For instance, instead of raw carrot and parsley root, I drained the pot vegetables from last week and pureed them instead. I think Bittman's advice to up the bread crumbs (which the GWO tends not to use) in order to compensate for the liquid from the green vegetables was crucial, but instead of tearing up the multigrain loaf I crumbled some sesame flatbread instead.
I wasn't entirely happy with the seasoning (our sage seems to be falling victim to powdery mildew, so there were few usable leaves, and I forgot the rosemary entirely, although I did make good use of our neighbour's lovage) but the consistency could not have been better. I went with a 60/40 mix of pork and chicken barded with bacon, but I think parcooking the spinach in the microwave and squeezing out as much water as I could was crucial when it came to giving the dish looseness without making it soggy. And (in a rare burst of competence which was compensated for by forgetting out the side salad until the last second) it was done right on time.
As a side, I roasted parsnips and parsley root, but there wasn't much room alongside the loaf, so the chunks I tossed in a separate casserole came out much better. As a special treat,monshu brought home the Koval walnut liqueur. Disappointing: the vanillin in it pushes the nuttiness well into the background. We're thinking it would mix well (particularly as a substitute for the Vana Tallinn in the Baltec) but it's not worth drinking on its own. For comparison, I gave the Old Man some Haus Alpenz Nux Alpina, and its complex taste really brought home the shortcomings of the Koval. To quote Billy Bob Thorton in Bad Santa, "They can't all be winners."
monshu and Bittman, then I added some twists of my own. For instance, instead of raw carrot and parsley root, I drained the pot vegetables from last week and pureed them instead. I think Bittman's advice to up the bread crumbs (which the GWO tends not to use) in order to compensate for the liquid from the green vegetables was crucial, but instead of tearing up the multigrain loaf I crumbled some sesame flatbread instead.I wasn't entirely happy with the seasoning (our sage seems to be falling victim to powdery mildew, so there were few usable leaves, and I forgot the rosemary entirely, although I did make good use of our neighbour's lovage) but the consistency could not have been better. I went with a 60/40 mix of pork and chicken barded with bacon, but I think parcooking the spinach in the microwave and squeezing out as much water as I could was crucial when it came to giving the dish looseness without making it soggy. And (in a rare burst of competence which was compensated for by forgetting out the side salad until the last second) it was done right on time.
As a side, I roasted parsnips and parsley root, but there wasn't much room alongside the loaf, so the chunks I tossed in a separate casserole came out much better. As a special treat,
monshu brought home the Koval walnut liqueur. Disappointing: the vanillin in it pushes the nuttiness well into the background. We're thinking it would mix well (particularly as a substitute for the Vana Tallinn in the Baltec) but it's not worth drinking on its own. For comparison, I gave the Old Man some Haus Alpenz Nux Alpina, and its complex taste really brought home the shortcomings of the Koval. To quote Billy Bob Thorton in Bad Santa, "They can't all be winners."