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Swedish meatballs with an American accent

 

We ate our Swedish meatballs with plum jam and a side of Greener Greens.

 

Meatballs to Swedes are like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are to Americans—a kid’s lunch-time staple. We lived there for two years when Max and Molly were toddlers. They attended a morning preschool, and as we would leave each day the mothers would ask each other what they were fixing for lunch. More often than not, the answer would be kötbullar (shutte boo’-lar), literally, meat balls. They were sold precooked and frozen in plastic bags. Traditionally the meatballs are served with lingonsylt, or lingonberry jam.

Tonight I took some American liberties with the recipe: substituting ground turkey for beef; low-fat milk for cream; olive oil for some of the butter; and plum jam for lingonberry. The tart plum jam tasted remarkably like lingonberry!

Swedish Meatballs (makes about 4 dozen)

  • 1 small onion, very finely chopped
  • 2-3 Tbs. olive oil
  • 1-1/2 lbs. ground meat (beef, turkey, pork, or a combination)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 c. milk
  • 1-1/2 c. bread crumbs
  • 1/4 c. finely chopped parsley
  • 1-1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp. ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. white pepper
  • 2 Tbs. butter
  • 2 Tbs. flour
  • 1 bouillon cube
  • 1/2 tsp. instant coffee
  • 1-1/2 c. milk

Saute onion in 1 Tbs. of the olive oil until soft. In a large bowl combine meat, egg, milk, bread crumbs, parsley, spices and sauteed onion. Mix well with your hands and form into small meatballs (about 3/4″). Brown the meatballs in a little more olive oil, turning them to brown 3-4 sides. Either do these in two batches or use two large frying pans and do them all at once.

Remove the meatballs from the pan, and make the gravy. Dissolve the bouillon cube in a little hot water. Melt the butter, stir in the bouillon, coffee and flour. Slowly add the 1-1/2 c. milk to make a gravy. Add all of the meatballs to the gravy, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, basting occasionally. Serve with rice or noodles.

For the description of Greener Greens click here.

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Sunset Squash: Roasted Butternut Squash with Beets

 

 

Cube up your favorite root vegetables—be sure to get a good blend of colors—toss with a little olive oil, season with coarse salt, pepper and rosemary, and roast.

Roasted Root Vegetables

  • approx. 4 cups vegetables such as butternut or acorn or other hard squash, beets, carrots, turnips, rutabaga, sweet potato or …
  • 2-3 Tbs. olive oil
  • a light sprinkle of coarse salt
  • a few good grinds of coarse pepper
  • 1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed/crumbled with your fingers

Pour about a tablespoon of the oil into a shallow roasting pan or cookie sheet. Peel and cube the vegetables (raw squash is not easy to peel) and spread evenly into one layer in the pan. Drizzle on the remaining oil, toss, and spread the vegies out again. Sprinkle on the salt, pepper and rosemary.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until just tender. Check after 25 minutes, and use a metal spatula to scrape them off the bottom and stir them around.

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Sunrise Rye with Provolone and Tart Jam

I started eating rye toast this week, which is a sure sign that I am becoming an old person. My sister disagrees, since she has always enjoyed rye toast. Nevertheless, after surprising myself by ordering it at the local diner at breakfast on Monday, I actually purchased an entire loaf at the supermarket. Necessity being the mother of invention, I made today’s breakfast. Startlingly tasty, it’s a very youthful way to enjoy rye.

Sunrise Rye

Toast the rye bread and lightly butter one side. Cut a piece of provolone in half, lay it over the buttered side and place the toast under the broiler until the cheese melts. Top with a tart preserves (I used cherry-blueberry), or marmalade.

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Cafe Meat Pie

 

With its bottom crust, this is a cross between cottage pie and pot pie.

 

 

The finished Cafe Meat Pie, with nicely browned potato peaks.

 

I like the notion of a cottage pie, or shepherds pie, but what I really had a taste for was some flaky crust with my pie. By adding a bottom crust, and keeping the mashed potato top, we enjoyed the best of both. This crust is unusual in that there is no added liquid; it is simply flour and butter, with a dash of salt, and some grated cheese for fun.

1. Start the mashed potatoes.

Slice 3 potatoes into chunks; boil in salted water.

2. While the potatoes are cooking, make the filling:

Filling

  • 1/2 pound good quality ground meat (I used ground sirloin), or omit the meat and make it vegetarian by adding an additional cup or so of vegies
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 carrots, chopped small
  • 2 c. chopped or grated vegetables, such as celery, green beans, peas, cabbage, zucchini, kale, green peppers (I used napa cabbage, grated zucchini, frozen peas, chopped parsley and some left over green beans)
  • salt and lots of pepper
  • Worcestershire sauce

Saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Add and brown the ground meat. Stir in the carrots and let them cook for a few minutes, then add the remaining vegetables. Season with salt, pepper and a dash or two of Worcestershire. Taste, and season some more. Keep over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

 

Our pie had meat, napa cabbage, left over green beans, frozen peas, chopped carrots and grated zucchini.

 

3. While the filling is heating, prepare the crust:

Pastry bottom crust

Combine all of the ingredients using a pastry cutter or food processor. Press into the bottom of a deep pie-size dish.

  • 2 c. flour (I used 1/2 of whole wheat flour)
  • 2/3 c. butter
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4. c. grated cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

 

There is no liquid added to this pie crust. Just firmly press it into the pan.

 

4. Mash the potatoes

Make these as usual, and then stir in a 1/2 cup grated cheddar.

5. Layer the pie

Spoon the filling over the crust; then spread on the potatoes, leaving little peaks so that they’ll brown nicely.

 

Make little peaks with the top layer of potatoes.

 

6. Bake

450 degrees for 10 minutes, then 325 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

Since this wasn't the quickest dinner recipe, I made two at once. One to eat; one to freeze.

 

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5 o’clock Chili

With the added broccoli and carrots this chili is a complete meal in a bowl.

It’ 5:30 and I have a big pot of chili on the stove that I started at 5:00. I couldn’t be more pleased with my decision NOT to drive to the grocery store in search of something interesting for dinner. Instead, I lay on the living room couch, calling out dinner suggestions to Max, and we voted on chili. Granted, this is not the soak-the-beans-the-night-before, simmer-all-day, perfect-for-a-Sunday-supper chili, but the taste I just had of it is delicious. I used canned beans, and feeling in need of some extra protein (this could absolutely be made without any meat), I defrosted and chopped up three burgers. Vegetables are plentiful in this recipe, so it’s really a meal in a bowl. My pot of chili will be good to eat at 6:00; perfectly delicious by 6:30.

5 O’clock Chili

1. Saute the following, in a little olive oil, for about 5 minutes:

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1-1/2 c. chopped broccoli, using both stems and florets
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, chopped

2. Stir in the ground meat, let brown for another 5 minutes

3. While the meat is browning, get out your coffee grinder and grind up some cumin seeds, if you have them.

4. Add the following to the pot:

  • 1 28-oz + 1 15-oz can tomatoes, chopped
  • 3 15-oz cans kidney and/or black beans (I used 2 cans kidney; 1 can black)
  • 2 Tbs. ground cumin
  • 1-2 Tbs. chili powder
  • 1 Tbs salt (to taste)

5. Cover and simmer 30-60 minutes.

Serve with shredded cheese, chopped onion, sour cream and spoil the kids with some oyster crackers.

I learned this trick from Rae Spooner, while making gallons of chili in the temple kitchen for the annual mitzvah day donation to the mens shelter. For intense cumin flavor, grind cumin seeds in your coffee grinder. (You'll want to wipe the grinder out quite thoroughly before making the next day's coffee.)

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Potted Lamb with Red Wine, Garlic and Mushrooms

This is the last of the box of lamb I bought several months ago. The shoulder blade chops wouldn’t be tender if merely grilled, so I did what my grandmother would do, throwing them in a pan, adding some liquid for flavor and let them cook in the juice.

Potted Lamb with Red Wine, Garlic and Mushrooms

  • 3 Tbs. olive oil
  • 2 lamb shoulder blade chops
  • 8 large cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1/4 lemon
  • 1/2 cup dry red wine
  • 1/4 lb. mushrooms, halved
  • seasoned salt

Liberally season the lamb with seasoned salt. In a large, deep pan that has a lid, heat the olive oil until very hot and then add the chops and garlic. After you have browned both sides of the lamb—about 6 minutes per side—squeeze on the lemon juice, pour on the wine, and immediately cover the pan. Reduce to medium and let cook for 10-15 more minutes.

We had enough left over that I will trim it up and make a lamb stew on Friday.

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Zucchini Part 3: Zephyr Zucchini

Buy the tiniest zucchini you can find. Serve them whole, on a bed of onions and mushrooms.

I had to look up the name of this type of zucchini. It is my favorite because of its delicate flavor and bicolor cuteness. I couldn’t bear the thought of cutting into these tiny squash, so tonight I cooked them whole, steaming them in the pan over a pan of vidalia onions and mushroom halves.

Saute mushroom halves, a clove of pressed garlic, and onion slices in a little olive oil and butter. When the onions just begin to soften, and the mushrooms have released some juice, place the zephyrs on top, season with salt and pepper, cover and let cook over a low heat for 10-15 minutes. Check them along the way by poking with a knife to see if the squash are cooked. You don’t want to over-cook these. They are best when just tender.

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Maralee’s Cold Sesame Noodles

My sister Maralee came to visit the other day. She brought me some new earrings from Israel, a bag of chocolate bars and a full container of Cold Sesame Noodles. I’ve been eating the noodles for lunch all week. That’s what I call a nice sister.

Here is Maralee’s recipe, a new idea for a cold, summer pasta dish:

Sesame Noodles

Cook and let cool 1 to 1-1/2 pounds rotini or other pasta.

Mix together the following, and let sit for a few hours (if you have time):

  • 1/4 c. grated ginger root
  • 1 Tbs. sugar
  • 2 Tbs. toasted sesame oil

Mix together the following until smooth:

  • 5 Tbs. toasted sesame oil
  • 5 rounded Tbs. smooth, unsalted peanut butter (if you use salted peanut butter then reduce amount of soy sauce, below)

Add the following to the first two mixtures:

  • 1/4 c. soy sauce
  • 2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbs. suagr
  • 1 large clove garlic, pressed
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped

Add a little water to thin, if needed. Toss the sauce with the cooled noodles.

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Candace’s Oven-Crisp, Sugary, Peppered Bacon (from her Grandmother)

There's no stove-top clean up when the bacon is baked.

It’s a lovely moment when you’re cooking something ordinary and are reminded of the wonderful friend who first taught you the recipe. This secret bacon recipe, so beautifully simple, was shared with me by Candace McMahan, nearly 20 years ago, at her home in northern Colorado. I haven’t seen Candace in years, but I think about her even more often than I cook bacon.

Baked Bacon

Place the slices of bacon on a cookie sheet that is lined with foil. Sprinkle with coarse pepper and some sugar. Bake at 450 degrees. After about 15 minutes take the pan out of the oven, turn over the slices and sprinkle again with pepper and sugar. Return the pan to the oven, checking it every 5 minutes or so. It will take about another 15 minutes of cooking time, or about 30 minutes from start to finish.

To clean up, after the grease has solidified, gather up the foil and throw away the mess.

It's the pepper and sugar that make this bacon taste so delicious.

A BLT with a garden-fresh tomato makes an easy supper. We ate ours tonight along with some watermelon, potato salad and carrot sticks.