Thursday, April 23, 2009

TFI Friday's Crisp Green Bean Fries


Had these at dinner last night and can't wait to try a copycat recipe out at home.
YUMMO

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Blue Plate Meatloaf with Bacon Gravy

From the Blue Plate Diner in San Francisco

The meat loaf:
2 tsp. bacon fat or butter
1 medium onion diced small
5 cloves garlic minced
2/3 cups breadcrumbs
pinch of dried thyme
2 tsp. minced fresh sage
3 tbsp. chopped fresh italian parsley
1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
3/4 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 cup whole milk
2 eggs
pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. ketchup
2 tsp. worcestshire sauce
3/4 tsp. red wine vinegar
3/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. salt
a few drops tabasco sauce
1 lb. ground beef
5 ounces ground pork

The gravy:
4 strips thick-cut smoked bacon
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 tsp. fresh thyme chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 1/2 cups chicken stock

For the meat loaf:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 5 by 9 inch pan with nonstick spray. In a saute pan, add bacon fat or butter, onion and garlic, and cook over medium heat, until onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Take care not to carmelize the onions. Remove from pan and reserve. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients except the meat. Let sit for 5 minutes, which allows the crumbs to absorb the wet mix and soften, preventing the loaf from cracking.
Add the meat and onion mixture to the bowl and mix by hand until well combined. Transfer the mixture to the greased loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes, rotating the pan half way through the cooking time. Let cool before unmolding.

For the gravy:
In a large shallow saute pan over medium low heat, cook bacon with 1 tbsp. butter, the olive oil, shallot, garlic, and thyme. Add white wine, bring to a simmer and reduce for about 4 to 5 minutes to cook off the alcohol. Add the chicken stock and reduce by half. Stir in the remaining tbsp. butter and serve over the meatloaf.
Serves: 6-8
Total time: 1 1/2 hours


Susan's Notes:

We made this last night.

The meatloaf was good, nothing extraordinary, but the GRAVY is what made this recipe a winner! We used a “real” smoked applewood bacon (as opposed to a “sprayed on” hickory flavoring).

We doubled the recipe, and kind of eyeballed some of the ingredients (i.e. 2 eggs instead of 4, a little less milk than called for, cut the garlic in half, used poultry seasoning instead of some of the herbs called for).

One mistake we made was doing a single recipe of the gravy, because we had no idea how good it would be!

Even though we simmered it down, it was still a little thin for our taste, so we made a slurry out of cornstarch and water and thickened it up a bit.

This gravy will make it’s appearance again and again in our house!