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The Whole Shebang Recipe - Yahoo Recipe Search
Food NetworkI have a perfectly justifiable weakness for any recipe that comes to me passed on through someone else's family. This is not just sentimentality; I hope not even sentimentality, actually, since I have always been contemptuously convinced that sentimentality is the refuge of those without proper emotions. Yes, I do infer meaning from the food that has been passed down generations and then entrusted to me, but think about it: the recipes that last, do so for a reason. And on top of all that, there is my entrancement with culinary Americana. I just hear the word meatloaf and I feel all old world, European irony and corruption seep from me as I will myself into a Thomas Hart Benton painting. And then I eat it: the dream is dispelled and all I'm left with is a mouthful of compacted, slab-shaped sawdust and major, major disappointment. So now you understand why I am so particularly excited about this recipe. It makes meatloaf taste like I always dreamt it should. Even though this is indeed Ed's Mother's Meatloaf, the recipe as is printed below is my adaptation of it. My father-in-law always used to tell a story about asking his mother for instructions on making pickles. "How much vinegar do I need?" he asked. "Enough", she answered. Ed's mother's recipe takes a similar approach; I have added contemporary touches, such as being precise about measurements. But for all that, cooking can never be truly precise: bacon will weigh more or less, depending on how thickly or thinly it is sliced, for example. And there are many other similar examples: no cookbook could ever be long enough to contain all possible variants for any one recipe. But what follows are reliable guidelines, you can be sure of that. I do implore you, if you can, to get your meat from a butcher. I have made this recipe quite a few times, comparing mincemeat that comes from the butcher and mincemeat that comes from various supermarkets and there is no getting round the fact that freshly minced butcher's meat is what makes the meatloaf melting (that, and the onions, but the onions alone can't do it). The difficulty with supermarket mince is not just the dryness as you eat, but the correlation which is that the meatloaf has a crumblier texture, making it harder to slice. I am happy just to have the juices that drip from the meatloaf as it cooks as far as gravy goes, and not least because the whole point of this meatloaf for me is that I can count on a good half of it to eat cold in sandwiches for the rest of the week. (And you must be aware, it is my duty to make you aware, that a high-sided roasting tin makes for more juices than a shallow one.) But if you wanted to make enough gravy to cover the whole shebang hot, then either make an onion gravy and pour the meat juices in at the end or fashion a quick stovetop BBQ gravy. By that, I mean just get out a saucepan, put in it 1.76 ounces/50g dark muscovado sugar, 4.23 ounces/125ml beef stock, 4 tablespoons each of Dijon mustard, soy sauce, tomato paste or puree and redcurrant jelly and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, to taste. Warm and whisk and pour into a jug to serve. Ed instructed me to eat kasha with this, which is I imagine how his mother served it, but I really feel that if you haven't grown up on kasha - a kind of buckwheat polenta - then you will all too easily fail to see its charm. I can't see any argument against mashed potato, save the lazy one, but I don't mind going cross-cultural and making up a panful of polenta; I use the instant kind, but replace the water that the packet instructions advise with chicken stock. And as with the beef stock needed for the gravy suggested above, I am happy for this to be bought rather than homemade.Food and WineMy love of cooking for one runs so deep that I wrote a book about it, Cooking Solo: The Fun of Cooking for Yourself. Fundamentally, I believe that making a delicious meal is a powerful way to nourish and nurture yourself. It’s an exercise in creativity and self-care. You can also think of it as a rehearsal of sorts, testing a recipe out before you make it for other people. Another overlooked advantage to cooking for oneself is that you have the freedom to make whatever you please. You don’t have to compromise or worry about whether or not someone else approves of your menu. In short, you can allow yourself the pleasure of giving into your cravings.Which leads me to one of my favorite wintertime indulgences: making a solo dinner that can double as a hearty, comforting breakfast. Here, the potatoes and sausage remind me of the first meal of the day, but I often swap out pancakes and eggs for kale and onions to make it feel more like dinner (and more grown-up, since there are vegetables).The brilliant thing about this recipe is that you can cook it all in one skillet. The key is adding each ingredient at the right time so that everything cooks without burning. You start by cooking the potatoes and sausage (I recommend small red potatoes and spicy Italian sausage, but you can use your favorite) and then once those start to brown, you add the sliced onions and then the kale. The bonus to using fresh sausage is that you get some of the delicious rendered fat as it cooks, which flavors the potatoes, onions and kale. To brighten the dish, once everything is cooked, I squeeze lemon juice over the top, and sprinkle the whole shebang with chopped parsley. This is a single-serving recipe, but it can easily be doubled—just use a bigger skillet so you have plenty of room.Food52Daddy’s pasta is a variation on pasta all’arrabbiata, a low-touch, slick sauce of tomato, red pepper flakes, and cheese. Tad started out shadowing the classic, but soon broke out on his own, adding chopped bacon and a bit more tomato. Rather than a long noodle, which was difficult for our kids to twirl and swallow, he used penne rigate, then orecchiette. His pasta shape du jour is now rotelle, because the tomatoes and bacon get trapped in its spokes. He tinkered and honed, making mental notes of our dinner table reviews and translating them into the next version: 1. Cook down the sauce longer so it really clings to the noodles. 2. Let the pasta sit for a few minutes before serving, which helps the whole shebang bond. This recipe was featured on our new cook-along podcast Play Me a Recipe. Listen as Amanda cooks her way through this recipe, offering insider tips and backstory along the way.DelishA traditional Spanish dish, a Spanish tortilla is basically a gussied up omelette. In our recipe, we throw in some potato chips for texture, add some garlic for flavor, and top the whole shebang with a creamy, dreamy sauce.Food NetworkOne man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this plate is out to prove it. The Rochester classic, inspired by the Garbage Plate® at Nick Tahou Hots, is basically like having an entire cookout on your plate. Crispy potatoes and creamy macaroni salad form a base layer. Then it’s a choose-your-own adventure of two hot dogs or two cheeseburger patties, or going rogue with one of each. Next comes something known as hot sauce, which is neither spicy nor much of a sauce, but more of a thick meat chili with lots of seasoning. Finally, raw onion and yellow mustard act as a topping and the whole shebang is served with a couple slices of white bread to sandwich or sop as desired. It sounds too weird to be good, but Rochesterians know it’s actually too good to be true!TastyThese spicy chicken nachos are a crowd-pleasing dish with a kick! Blackened chicken is seasoned with a fiery blend of Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, chili powder, chile flakes, and hot sauce, then mixed with sautéed onion, tomatoes, corn, and jalapeños. The whole shebang is topped with cheese and salsa and broiled for a melty, bubbly finish. The best part? These nachos are made in just one skillet!
