I had my first muffuletta when I was but a wee girl, or so the story goes according to my parents. Most recently, I had an authentic one while in New Orleans in 2001 (hardly recent!). I also had a crawfish po’boy, while wandering about. These sandwiches are regional favourites, are packed with numerous ingredients, and filling. VERY filling.

I made a muffletta this weekend. It’s kind of wrong to just make a single sandwich, and it’s a thing best done to an entire loaf of bread.

An olive salad must be prepared, and meats acquired. They are layered thickly and compressed down.

First I started by hollowing out the loaf of french bread. Round breads or flatter breads are advised for this sandwich.

Then I made the olive salad. This is extremely customizable, but mine included kalamata olives, green olives, pepperocini peppers, roasted red peppers, roasted cauliflower, green onion, celery, garlic, carrots and parsley. Add lots of olive oil and pepper and let it marinate for a bit. It will last for some time in the fridge, so you may want to make a larger portion for future sandwiches. Like ajvar, it’s great on many things.

Layer after layer of meat was added. I included ham, mortadella and genoa salami, along with provolone and mozzarella cheese.

Sliced into chunks and warmed in the oven until the cheese melts, this is a hearty meal.

However, lately it has become a favourite pasta sauce. Although my recipe is far from authentic (many believe “true” bolognese should use white wine, not red, and uses very little tomato), it it still very good, and fairly easy to cook up.

My soffritto of carrots, celery, onion and pancetta, frying in a helping of butter and olive oil.

Chubs of meat are not the most attractive packaging. Plus they have a tendency to burst open into a wormy snake of meat when you cut into them.

My recipe only requires a cup of red wine, leaving a lot left in the bottle. I freeze a cup for use later, and drink some while cooking or use it in other cooking in the days after.

At $3.49 a can, these tomatoes were not cheap, but I tried them to see if there was a discernible difference. I think it is worth it to get tomatoes low in sodium and sugar, so that I can control the end flavours a bit better. Here, I am using kitchen scissors to cut the whole tomatoes into smaller bits.

I also spent a bit more on a different brand of tomato sauce. The ingredient list is a long one, as you can see. The paste and tomatoes had the added benefit of not tasting metallic.

Mike’s bowl on left, mine on right. I did go back for seconds, though. I serve a healthy serving of sauce with a chunky, chewy pasta such as orecchiette that helps scoop up the meaty sauce, and top it with cheese and parsley.

Lamb and Veal Bolognese

This will make several cups of sauce, which is good to freeze and serve with fresh pasta later, or just eat on its own. It’s a pretty forgiving recipe, so feel free to adjust amounts if need be.

• 0.635kg (1.5 lbs) meat. I used a mix of veal and lamb, but you could use beef and veal or pork.
• 1/2 cup pancetta, cubed. I just buy a chunk from the deli and cube it at home
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup red wine you like (don’t cheap out, although it may be tempting)
• 28 oz. can tomatoes, whole and cut up or diced
• can of tomato paste
• cayenne powder, chili flakes to taste
• herbs, dried or fresh
• salt and pepper

Set large pot on medium high heat, allow to warm up. Add diced pancetta, cook while stirring until it browns. Add splash of olive oil and butter, throwing in diced carrots, celery and onion. Allow this soffritto to soften and brown, about 10 minutes.

Add your meat, let brown. I normally add my spices at this point, cayenne or chili, dried thyme, oregano or basil. Crank the heat to high, and add the wine while scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Turn heat down to medium, allow to cook down for about 10 minutes, and add the tomato paste and entire can of tomatoes and juices. Allow to come to a boil, and simmer for as long as you can stand it, at least 45 minutes, but longer if possible.

Is there anything as classic as homemade meatloaf? I guess that depends on your upbringing, but for me, meatloaf is it. My mom would always make it when she was never sure what to do for dinner, and why not? It’s astonishingly easy as long as you have the right kind of meat and a thermometer.

I’ve been experimenting with tweaking classic recipes lately, including home made macaroni and cheese (which I adore) and now meatloaf. I do not often use my oven to make many dinner items, avoiding things like casseroles and roasts. Instead I rely on the stove top. Both of these recipes use the oven, and I’ve forgotten how easy it is to throw something in there and pull out dinner an hour later.

This recipe originally came from Mike’s mom, and I only changed the kinds of meat to go in and added some spices.

Curry-Spiced Meatloaf

• 0.680 kg (1.5lbs) of a mix of beef, veal and pork. I used striploin, pork shoulder and veal leg cutlets, since that is all Superstore had. And it still turned out well! Typically the cuts should be a bit fatty so the loaf remains moist.
• 2 eggs
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 1 cup grated cheese, preferably old
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon fresh garam masala (I use this in everything now, even on popcorn)
• 1/2 cup raw carrots, grated
• 3 slices fresh bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grind the meat, or combined pre-ground meat in a bowl with all other ingredients. Pack firmly into a loaf pan (I used the wonder pan, and it was fabulous) and top with a mixture of:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Bake for 60 minutes, up to 90. Cooking time will vary depending on the pan you use, so it is important to use a thermometer – it is much easier. Pull it out of the oven when the meat is well done, or at 160°F. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

When my grandmother died just over a year ago, I received two wonderful things from her: a vacuum and a meat grinder. This meat grinder is probably from the early 1970s, and it works amazingly well. I hope it would warm her heart to know I was using it.

Alternate the cubes of meat going in, so you get a good mixture. Everything becomes gloppy and messy later on.

I used Edmond Fallot dijon mustard and this Old Fashioned Ketchup on the top. The ketchup was from Strathcona Country Kitchen, purchased at the City Centre Farmer’s Market. Not too sweet and kind of tangy.

Done!

I have two new reasons you should own an immersion blender, and both are delicious.

As I often mention, Mike and I live in an average sized apartment with (what feels like) an incredibly small kitchen. We do not have a lot of space for appliances, so the ones we do have must do double or triple duty. Except for the tea machine, that is. We’re even contemplating getting rid of the toaster and microwave to get a toaster-oven.

While I long for a KitchenAid stand mixer (I use my mom and dad’s instead), standalone food processor and blender, I often just use the immersion blender in the place of all three of these. Shockingly, you can do a lot with this single, slim tool and its various attachments.

I got mine for about $80 at Costco a few years ago. It’s the Cuisinart Smart Stick and it came with a few attachments. It only has one speed, so it’s not as awesome as it could be, but it is used to make everything from hummus and baba ganoush to whipped cream and mayonnaise.

As the weather turns cooler, I often find the blender very useful for making soups, especially these two:

Raw Tomato “Soup” with shaved fennel and jalapeno

Good tomatoes obviously make the difference here. I was skeptical about this recipe as it sounded overly snooty (it is a Charlie Trotter recipe, afterall) and cold soups are obviously more of a summer deal, but this was incredibly smooth, rich and flavourful with a bit of crunch from the fennel. The immersion blender and a sieve played a role.

Soup

• 2 large, red heirloom tomatoes, peeled and seeded
• 1/2 jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped, peeled, seeded cucumber
• 2 teaspoons sherry wine vinegar
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Garnish

• fennel, thinly shaved
• 1/4 cup peeled, seeded, and diced red tomato
• 2 teaspoons brine from olives
• 2 teaspoons sherry wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 12 micro fennel sprouts or fennel fronds

Using the immersion blender, I combined the tomatoes, chile, cucumber, and sherry. This purée is pushed through a fine-mesh sieve and seasoned. The real magic is in the garnish: spoon the soup into bowls. Top with shaved fennel, fronds, tomato and jalapeno. Drizzle olive brine, vinegar and olive oil on top.

Raw tomato soup with poached eggs over mushrooms two ways and toast points. This sounds like a complex meal, but it took less than 30 minutes to make.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

This has to be my single favourite recipe this month. What do you need? A bag of precut squash from Costco, four cups of stock, an onion and spices. Plus the immersion stick!

• 2 lbs of diced squash of your liking. I buy the precut bags because I am very poor at cutting squash down and getting the maximum flesh out.
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 cups of stock, vegetable or chicken
• If you like, you can add carrots, celery or apple
• Spices to your liking: I use garam masala (1 tsp), cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp), cinnamon (1/2 tsp) and nutmeg (1/4 tsp).

I roast the squash in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 450 degree Fahrenheit until it begins to brown. This step is completely optional; I just prefer the way it adds depth and flavour to the soup.

In a pot, I heat up some olive oil and sautee and brown the onion. When soft and caramel colour, I toss in garlic and any additional add ins, like carrot or apple. (If you skipped the roasting step, add the squash now, and sautee a bit longer, until the squash is soft.) In goes the roasted squash, with a liberal dusting of spices. I’ve included measurements, but I never use them. It’s my failure as a cook.

Sautee a few more minutes, add the stock and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for atleast five minutes, but for as long as 20. Immerse blender, blend until smooth. Finish with a splash of cream, croutons or a grilled cheese sandwich.

Curried butternut squash soup with grilled cheese. This soup can take as little as 15 minutes to make, but the version I prefer runs about 25 minutes. It depends on your taste buds and patience/hunger level.

I should note much of the pottery in these photos was made by Mike, including the bowls and a vase.

Although I have been stockpiling ingredients (masa harina, corn husks, dried peppers) from trips to the U.S. to make tamales for some time, it was actually the purchase of pasilla peppers from Sobeys Urban Fresh that prompted the tamales finally get made. I’ll admit it, I was intimidated. I have learned how to roll cabbage rolls and make perogies from my Gran before she died, but she’s Ukranian, not Mexican. So I did not know how to roll tamales, and it seemed complicated.

Oh, I had books. Rick Bayless has a multi-page section dedicated to the filling and making of tamales. There are diagrams, tips and descriptive paragraphs, but it just wasn’t the same. Luckily, Youtube came to the rescue with a visual guide on what to do.

Zarela runs a restaurant, and has a series of videos up on Youtube on Mexican cooking. She also had an easy going attitude, and was knowledgeable. In four minutes with her help, I was rolling tamales.

I made the masa dough for a filling and stuffed the tamales full of roasted pasilla peppers, adobe tomato salsa and Monterey Jack cheese. I made a few vegan tamales by making the masa dough with vegetable shortening instead of pork and omitting the cheese.

And you know what? Just like perogies and cabbage rolls, tamales aren’t that hard to do.

First you must acquire corn husks, and soak them so they are pliable. I used the hole filled ones to tear into strips to tie the tamales with. This isn’t a necessary step, but it’s a pretty one.

Bob’s Red Mill masa harina from a Whole Foods in Minneapolis. I would have bought a bigger package, but my luggage was already grossly obese.

I cannot find masa harina in Edmonton. I’m hoping the latin markets will have it, I just haven’t had time to look yet. It’s easier to do my grocery shopping while on holiday, apparently. Safeway, Save-On and Planet Organic all carry a wide assortment of Bob’s Red Mill products, just not this.

What gives?

Masa harina is a corn flour, mixed with lime. It’s used to make a variety of things, including tamales and tortillas.

The masa dough being stirred. You need strong arms and a wooden spoon if you don’t have a mixer. Luckily I’ve been making cookie dough for years, so I can handle my spoons.

Peeling the roasted pasilla peppers. I broiled them in the oven on all four sides, tossed them in a bag for a bit and then peeled, cored and seeded them.

After making an adobo tomato salsa, and cubing the cheese, I rolled. It’s really easy.

Tied with strips of corn husk. Not as easy. I had to redo a few, and some popped on me.

The tamales were steamed for about an hour. The dough gets fluffy, and the smell of corn is wonderful.

A bit moist, still, but I think I had a good dough to filling ratio.

If it seems like I’m proud, it is because I am. The key thing is to have the ingredients. The rest is easy.

Vegan Masa filling for tamales

• 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening
• 2 cups masa harina
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable stock, plus 1/4 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Beat the shortening in a bowl with a whisk until fluffy. In another bowl, mix the masa harina and salt. Combine stock and water. Mix the masa and liquid into the shortening, alternating, until the dough stiffens. Mix in the baking powder. This makes enough for about 15 mid sized tamales.

I made mine sort of chile rellenos tamales, with peppers and cheese. You can use any variety of ingredients however, and make them any size.

While my parents have considerably trimmed back their raspberries bushes and apple trees and we do not have as much to pick, I know not everyone is in the same boat. With no time or simply too much fruit to get to, some home owners have buckets of fruit left to waste on their plants, once the animals have had their fill.

However, a new group of people in Edmonton have gathered to rescue your fruit: Operation Fruit Rescue! The team of volunteers representing OFRE comes to pick your fruit, and the bounty is divided into thirds. 1/3 to the pickers, 1/3 to the home owner and 1/3 to the Food Bank or other food centre. How great is that?

Beets, raspberry vinaigrette, pecan and goat cheese salad. As a co-main dish, (pre-made) garlic mushroom ravioli in a brown butter sauce with sage, chanterelle & brown mushrooms, and a sprinkling of pine nuts for crunch. My boyfriend roasted the beets and made the dressing as well as sauteed the mushrooms. I boiled the ravioli and made the brown butter sage sauce.

Voila!

By the way, the Pasta Time frozen ravioli from the Italian Center was shockingly good. Tender, flavourful and easy to prepare. I normally shy away from frozen foods, but this is an exception. The filling was creamy, and not dried out or freezer burnt.

Brown Butter Sage sauce

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped sage leaves (fresh)

Melt the butter at medium heat until the milk fats separate and float on the top, about five minutes. Add the sage leaves until they just being to crisp, then remove. The butter should be darkening. When it is a darker brown, remove from heat immediately.

Great on pasta, mushrooms, chicken.

For dessert, I used some bits of chocolate from left over bars and melted it in a double boiler with butter and cream. Drizzled (more like clumped) it over vanilla ice cream and sprinkled super ripe raspberries on top. I lack the words to even describe to you how insanely simple and delicious this was.

ham + cheese baguette

It’s no secret that I enjoy the bread Cobs makes. For a chain, they make damned fine bread products. Their pane di casa italian rolls are crispy, light and airy with a hint of chew, and I’m a fan of the new Turkish rolls, with the same consistency of the pane di casa, but a generous smothering of olive oil and seasonings on top.

When I visited the other morning, one of the bakers came barreling out of the back. “Behind!” he shouted to the front clerk, before loading a wire rack laden with French baguettes into the display. He then rang a cowbell hanging above, and yelled “FRENCH BAGGGGUUUETTES!” while the other bakers cheered in the back. Turns out the French baguette is a brand new item at Cobs. It was amazing and it immediately brought me back to the first time my Mom brought my brother and I to continental Europe in the early 1990s.

We were living in England at the time, and caught the ferry over to Bruges, in Belgium for a day trip. The food had a huge influence on me, and I still remember every meal we ate that day. There was a serving of spaghetti bolognese that could have sunk a ship (and indeed sunk me, I was ill after overeating it) and the crispiest most delicious pizza ever eaten at an outdoor cafe on the main square of the town. But the best was a last minute picnic of fresh baguettes and some cheese and meats we found at a small market. God, was it ever delicious.

After I finished day dreaming, I naturally had to get a baguette and desired to fill it with ham and cheese. I swung by the Italian Center and loaded up on meats and cheeses. I wasn’t home two minutes when I was tearing into the meats, cutting cheddar and assembling a delicious rosemary ham and cheese baguette. So simple, so delicious.

]]> http://supperwithfriends.com/2009/08/afternoon-snack-ham-cheese-baguette/feed/ 1 http://supperwithfriends.com/2009/08/simple-dinner-blt-salad-grilled-cheese/ http://supperwithfriends.com/2009/08/simple-dinner-blt-salad-grilled-cheese/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:24:46 +0000 Kelly http://supperwithfriends.com/?p=196 I have always found it a challenge to cook using what is hanging around the house already. Odds and ends that never seem to go together, things you’re not sure are still good. It’s so much easier to just start new.

However, I have decided it is an important skill to start using up leftovers and have made a concerted effort to cook with them. I made a simple dinner of a BLT salad and grilled cheese last night.

The meal used up many things: some salad greens, half a container of grape tomatoes, a loaf of bread and some bacon. Why do they make the packs so big?! I often  have to wrap up some pieces and preserve them cryogenically in the freezer.

The secret to having a great grilled cheese versus a good grilled cheese? Grated cheese. It’s an extra step, but it makes all the difference. Here, I use the six-year-old Balderson from Costco. My mom says it’s not a grilled cheese unless the cheese is orange, but I beg to differ.

I crumbled the bacon and threw in these great little grape tomatoes. I actually bought them because I was swayed by the packaging. They came in this little UFO container, and the tomatoes were extra crisp and delicious. I’m unsure if the container played a part, but I did notice the shape helped keep the tomatoes from weighing on each other.

And the end product. A perfect melty and crispy grilled cheese (with bacon thrown in) and a BLT salad with a balsamic dressing and sprinkle of cheese. And, most importantly, several ingredients now freed of their impending refrigerator doom.

The recipe started off as roasted veggies: a simple mix of zucchini, eggplant and onions in oil. Add to that some fresh herbs, chick peas, super ripe grape tomatoes and some feta cheese, stuff it all in a pita, and it’s delicious.

Even better? Grilling it so the cheese melts and the pita gets crispy. We don’t have a sandwich press in our little apartment, so I improvised, and got two pans hot, pressing the pita between them.

It looks kind of sad and flat in this photo, but trust me: delicious.