Rye Bread Artisan Style

Hello loyal follower(s),

      I would like to talk about the kitchen wars here at our peaceful domicile.  Yesterday I started a loaf of Rye Bread  Artisan Style which meant that I would need the use of the oven this morning.  Also, as we soaked in the Hot  Tub last night around midnight my lovely wife (Cyndy) and I decided we would work together to make Pepper  and Tomato soup TOGETHER.  When it was close to the time to bake the Rye bread, Cyndy said she needed to roast the red peppers, and “ it will take only a FEW minutes”. About twenty minutes later I was able to heat the oven for the bread. End of battle number one.  I admit that Cyndy did the hard stuff with the soup recipe; blanching and peeling the tomatoes and preparing the peppers as mentioned above.  But she said, “the rest is up to you”, and she left me with a recipe written by a woman for women in a font too small for me  to read without the aid of (“cheaters”) reading glasses.  End of battle number two.  I survived with the knowledge gained from Cyndy.

        About ten years ago, while we were entertaining a family from Grenoble France where the father was a architect, we examined several houses under construction.  One house had two kitchens, one for the man of the house and another for the ruler of the house.  At the time it seems a bit much, but now, it seems like a good idea.

     Back to the Rye bread and the battle over the oven.

I had only enough Rye flour for one loaf, but that was all I needed for the recipe for next week.

It is called Reuben Casserole and it came from a dear friend Ruth Sarrica.

The dough was just right, very workable.

You will notice that I reuse the parchment paper.

The dough was removed from the 18 hour fermentation bowl and just inverted onto the parchment  paper. No deflating of  the dough.

After thirty minutes of baking in the Dutch oven, the loaf was placed upon the aluminum foil to bake about another 30 minutes.

The texture of the crumb was good, nice and heavy which was what I expected.

Now for  the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup; abandoned and left to fend for myself with a recipe written in a very small font, I struggled on.

Yes, Cyndy did what I considered the hard part with the blanching and peeling of the tomatoes and the roasting and peeling of the peppers.

Having been thrown into this activity without the benefit of reading the almost unreadable recipe, I got out a ten inch skillet to sauté the onions and garlic. Then I put on my "cheaters" and sort of read the recipe.  A ten inch skillet was not appropriate, so I got out the high sided twelve inch skillet.

The peppers and tomatoes were run through the food processor and then dumped in with the onions etc.

Here I became a little more confident as to what was  suppose to happen.   The cooked mess was to be separated into liquid and solids.  I was in the process of doing the separating.  I knew I could not just pour the mixture into the strainer without getting most of it on the floor, so as you can see, I scooped it into the strainer.

The finished products:  Cyndy thought the soup was too "hot" , I thought it was great. 

The Rye bread was very good with a proper amount of chewiness. 

Recipes follows:   I will add the soup recipe tomorrow as a separate blog, after I translate it so anyone can follow it.

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Rye (33%) Bread; Artesian Style

October 13, 2012

European style: (Crisp-crust; large air spaces

Inspired by Jim Lahey’s book; My Bread 

Using a Cuisinart stand mixer, with speeds from 1 to 12

Yield two seven inch round loaves

     This recipe provides the ultimate freedom of choice with timing and techniques. It is possible to start this bread anytime of the day and modify the fermentation time to meet your schedule.

   Rye flour doesn’t contain the proteins needed for making gluten. Vital Wheat Gluten was added to help compensate for the lack of gluten producing proteins.

    The following (optional) natural healthful ingredients are added to improve bread volume or taste.

           Salt: Sea Salt, which contains additional minerals for better gluten development.

           Dough Enhancer: See April 5, 2011 blog for ingredients and an explanation of    

           their function. 

     Long fermentation at room temperature eliminates kneading and allows for the yeast to work its magic.

Ingredients:

 5 1/2 cups (28 oz; 770 g) bread flour. 

2 cups ( 289  g) Rye flour                              

1 teaspoon instant dry yeast.

1 cup ( 5 oz 140g) Vital Wheat Gluten.                       

1/4 cup Dough Enhancer.  

1 teaspoon of each;  fennel, caraway seeds and dill seeds; OR 1 tablespoon caraway seeds.                                               

About 2 1/2 cups  water.

1. Dry Mix:

In the mixer bowl using the Chef Whisk on speed 1, mix the Blue ingredients, minimize the mixing time. 

2. Switch to the Paddle Blade at speed 2, and slowly add the water. Add only the amount of water needed (about 2 1/2 cups) to yield a workable dough

3.  Divide the dough into two loaves and allow the loaves to rest for about five to ten minutes, then move the dough to two  oiled bowls. ( so the stand mixer bowl can be cleaned). Spray the top of the dough with oil, and cover the bowls. 

4.  First fermentation;  Set the dough out at room temperature 72-75℉ (use a heating pad if room is cool) for 12 to 18 hours. If convenient, vigorously stir the dough about halfway through the rise. 

5.  Second Fermentation: Move the loaves onto on 15-inch squares of baking parchment paper dusted with flour.  Dust the loaves with flour.  Cover each loaf with a large pan and let them ferment for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

6.   Prepare Oven: 20 minutes before baking time, put a rack in the middle of the oven with the Dutch ovens; preheat to 450°F. If you have a baking stone place it near the bottom of the oven it will act as a heat sink. 

7.  Final Dough preparation: Sprinkle or spray the dough top generously with water.  Using the parchment paper as a sling, carefully lift the dough into the pots; take care not to touch the hot pot. Immediately top the pots with their  lids.

8.  Baking: Reduce the heat to 425°F. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid. Using the parchment paper, lift the loaves from the pots and remove the parchment paper from the loaves. and place the loaves on a piece of aluminum foil on the oven rack in the middle position.  (If the top is well browned, cover it with foil.) Bake for about 35 minutes longer until the center registers 203° to 205°F on an instant-read thermometer). Then bake for 5 minutes longer to ensure the center is baked through. Note: the appearance of the loaf is more important in determining the doneness of the loaf than the internal temperature (from Cook's illustrated magazine, May-June 2011 page 31).  Cool  thoroughly on a wire rack.

Toll House Chocolate Cookies

Hello loyal follower(s)

Before I get to the cookies let me share with you my experience yesterday with the drivers licenses department (DMV) in Utah.  My eyes with their new lens are now 20/20 instead of 20/500 therefore I can remove the restriction requiring that I wear glasses whole driving.  No big deal right?  Guess again!  It takes one gallon of gas just to drive to the DMV office. I arrived filled out the required form and got my ticket to wait my turn.  "You need some more information before we can make the Change." said the bureaucrat.  He mentioned valid Passport,  Social Security card, certified birth certificate,  1099 form or Pay stub or Social Security 1099 with name and social security number.  So back home I went (another gallon of gas) certainly I have one of the above.  I grabbed my passport and just for the fun of it I brought my birth certificate. Another gallon of gas and I was back to the DMV office only to be told it was AND not OR of what I needed.  So another gallon of gas just to get home, I was livid.  So here it is Friday night and I am sitting at Mc Donald's writing this blog, still with glasses restriction on my drivers license.   WHY DID I BRING THIS UP YOU MIGHT ASK??? Think of all the poor and/old people  trying to fight the bureaucrats to just get a card to VOTE.  Can you imagine how easy it will be to keep them running back and forth until they give up??

Now back to the  cookies,  I started with the recipe on the chocolate chip package, and of course made several changes:  I am proud with how well then came out.

Here I am with part of the ingredients and of course my heavy duty mixer.

It was time to mix the dry mix into the wet mix, and with the heavy duty mixer, it was possible to mix in the nuts and the chocolate chips.

Cookies at about five minutes of baking

Using a tablespoon i just dropped globs of dough onto the parchment paper.

Here are  the finish cookies in various stages of cooling.  It took a little over an hour to make this recipe (about same time it takes Cyndy to do it)




Recipe follows, and I will get my license changed next monday.

À bientôt
Mr Nut

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Based on Original Toll House Cookies

2 1/4 cups (315 g) All Purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter (two sticks) softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cups (6 ounces) Toll House semi-sweet Morsels

1 cup chopped nuts

Gather all the ingredients and preheat oven 375℉

1.  In mixer bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon soda, and 1 teaspoon salt and mix with the Chef's Whisk at speed 1.

2.  Move the dry mix to another bowl.

3. In mixer bowl using the Paddle Blade at speed 2, beat butter, 3/4 cups sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar,and 1 teaspoon vanilla until creamy.

4. Add 2 eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

5. Gradually mix in the flour mixture.

6. Add in 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup nuts.

7. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet 

8.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for two minutes. 

Move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 4 1/2  dozen cookies

Modern Shepard's Pie

Shepard's Pie

Hello loyal follower(s)

       Yesterday, I had my second (and last) eye lens replaced.  There was no instant miracle, after an hour nap, I was back In the kitchen to make some Italian Vegetable soup (see blog of 11-27-2012 for recipe).  However, I could not see very well and had to use a magnifying glass which just helped a little.  Today one day post operative  I was able to see for reading by using Cyndy’s reading glasses.  So what better way to celebrate than make a new recipe, called Shepherd’s Pie.  I have made a similar dish called Hachis Parmentier ( a french recipe) that I got from the National Public Radio website ( see blog for April 24, 2011).   Hachis Parmentier is one of our favorite recipes.

     Shepard’s Pie is not a new recipe.  Andrea Geary wrote the article in the Cook’s Illustrated magazine Nov-Dec 2012 issue explaining how she made this rather heavy dish better suited to current tastes.  It took me a little less than two hours to make the dish.  Next time it will take about one and one/half hour, I learned a lot.  Andrea’s article allowed me to go right to the result without all the trial and errors.  Of course, I made some changes in her great recipe otherwise this blog would not be called the misadventures of Mr Nut.  

For starters, I used a ten inch non-stick skillet instead of an oven proof skillet and finished the dish in a casserole dish which would store easier in the refrigerator.  That eliminated the Fond on the skillet bottom.  Then thinking that most of the vitamins of a potato are in the  skin I left the skins on the potato pieces.  Being lazy, I chose to shred the carrots in the food processor rather than peel them (same arguments as with vitamins and potatoes). The tops of green onions seemed to be more for looks than taste, so I would consider them optional.  Also regular Sherry rather than the expensive Madeira to deglaze the pan; but their appeared to be no Fond, so maybe the Sherry could be eliminated.  It would have been wise if I had prepared all the ingredients before starting the assembly of the ingredients.

Cyndy can always tell when I have been working in the kitchen, she would just look at the floor to see if it still was clean.  Here I was working on the  meat base, and no I did not take a picture of the floor, just use your imagination.

The meat has been added to the vegetables and was ready for simmering.  The shredded carrots  seemed to work well in this dish.  Notice the skillet handle is facing out towards the room; not a safe practice if there are children around.

It was time to Pipe the potatoes on top of the meat mixture.  So I did it.  I cut off the corner of a baggie filled with the potatoes and squeezed in  on top of the meat mixture.  The Piping method was used because in the original recipe the potatoes were put on top of a relatively full skillet and did not lend itself to just spooning it on.  

I will just spoon  it on next time because of the  use of the casserole 9x9x2.

About an hour before  dinner the dish was removed from the refrigerator to start to warm up.

About 45 minutes before dinner time the dish was ready for the oven (350℉)

The dish as a hit.  Both Cyndy and myself considered it a winner.  But next time I would use a smaller and deeper casserole, maybe 7x7x2.5.

As you can see this dish will be enough for three meals for us.  We also had steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Recipe followers:

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Shepherd’s Pie

Based on article in Cook's Illustrated magazine; 

Nov/Dec 2012 issue  November 1, 

Serves 4 to 6.

 Use ground beef that’ is 91% lean or leaner. 

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2  pounds 91 percent lean ground beef

2  tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons water

1 teaspoon  Salt

1/4 teaspoon   pepper

1/2 teaspoon baking soda (To keep the meat tender,)

2  pounds russet potatoes , cut into 1-inch chunks with skins on

4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg yolk

5 green onion tops only, sliced thin (optional for looks)

2 teaspoons canola oil

1/2 cup onion , chopped

4 ounces white mushrooms , trimmed and chopped

1  tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons Sherry 

2 tablespoons all purpose flour 

1 1/4 cups beef broth

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 bay leaf

2 carrots , shredded in food processor

2 teaspoons cornstarch

INSTRUCTIONS

1. prepare all the ingredients

2. Toss beef with 2 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda in bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, place potatoes in medium saucepan; add water to just cover and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are soft and tip of paring knife inserted into potato meets no resistance, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to saucepan. Return saucepan to low heat and cook, shaking pot occasionally, until any surface moisture on potatoes has evaporated, about 1 minute.

 4.  Remove pan from heat and mash potatoes well. Stir in 4 tablespoons melted butter. Whisk together 1/2 cup milk and 1 large egg yolk in small bowl, then stir into potatoes. Stir in  green onion tops from five onions and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and set aside.

5.   Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add 1/2 cup onion, 4 ounces mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are just starting to soften, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in one tablespoon tomato paste and 1 teaspoon minced garlic; cook about 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of Sherry and cook,  until evaporated, about 1 minute. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour and cook for 1 minute. Add 1  1/4 cup broth, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, 1/2 teaspoon  thyme, 1 bay leaf, and shredded  carrots; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add 1 1/2 pounds beef in 2-inch chunks to broth, and bring to gentle simmer. Cover and cook until beef is cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes, stirring and breaking up meat chunks halfway through. Stir 2 teaspoons cornstarch and remaining 2 teaspoons water together in small bowl. Stir cornstarch mixture into filling and continue to simmer for 30 seconds. Remove thyme and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6.  Move the vegetable mixture  to a 7x7x2.5 or 9X9x2 casserole. Spread potatoes over filling, making sure to cover entire surface. Smooth potatoes with back of spoon, then use tines of fork to make ridges over surface (just for looks). 

7. Place casserole and broil until potatoes are golden brown and crusty and filling is bubbly, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. OR refrigerate until needed, then bake for about 45 minutes in a 350℉ oven, then do step 7.

Quaker Oats Honey Bread In Dutch Ovens

Hello loyal follower(s)

    I have tried several ways of making this bread, in Dutch Ovens, just on a baking stone, cooked  and uncooked oatmeal.  Today I present my choice of ways to make this bread.  Also, having reread the book My Bread by Jim Lahey I also eliminated the deflating of the dough.  It also appears to be necessary to divide the dough into two loaves before the fermentation process.  Thus I will provide a final recipe for this bread at the end of this blog.

Because of time constraints the fermentation period was only ten hours instead of eighteen hours.

These look OK in the picture, but the dough was fermented as one big blob. After the fermentation process I divided the blob into two loaves.   When I did that  it was impossible to form a nice shaped loaf without deflating it first.  Deflating the loaves is exactly what I did not want to do.

Therefore, it is important to divide the  dough before fermentation.

The crumb looked good and the bread was tasty.

I would of liked to see more variety in the sizes of the air holes, but I had partially deflated the dough while forming decent looking loaves.



Recipe follows:

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Quaker Oats Honey Bread

October 6, 2012

European style: (Crisp-crust; large air spaces

Inspired by Jim Lahey’s book; My Bread 

Using a Cuisinart stand mixer, with speeds from 1 to 12

Yield two seven inch loaves

     This recipe provides the ultimate freedom of choice with timing and techniques. It is possible to start this bread anytime of the day and modify the fermentation time to meet your schedule.

    Oat meal doesn’t contain the proteins needed for making gluten. Vital Wheat Gluten was added to help compensate for the lack of gluten producing proteins.

    The following (optional) natural healthful ingredients are added to improve bread volume or taste.

           Salt: Sea Salt, which contains additional minerals for better gluten development.

           Dough Enhancer: See April 5, 2011 blog for ingredients and an explanation of    

           their function. 

     Long fermentation at room temperature eliminates kneading and allows for the yeast to work its magic.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups water

1 1/2 cups (10.5 oz; 150g) Quaker oats (quick one minute).  

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/4 cup Canola oil.                                                                 

1/4 cup Clover honey.                                                         

5 1/2 cups (28 oz; 770 g) bread flour.                               

1 teaspoon instant dry yeast.

1 cup ( 5 oz 140g) Vital Wheat Gluten.                       

1/4 cup Dough Enhancer.                                                

About 1 cup  water.

1. Oatmeal:

In a large pan with a cover bring 2 1/4 cups of water to a boil; add 1 teaspoon sea salt.  Gradually add 1 1/2 cups of Quaker oats to the water.  Then reduce heat (1/3 towards low medium) and cook until it begins to thicken: (about one minute), cover it and set it aside until  

cools a little  ( about 20-30℉).

2. Wet Mix:

As the Oatmeal cools, mix into the oatmeal, by hand  the red ingredients  ( 1/4 cup oil first,

then 1/4 cup honey, using the same 1/4 cup measure,) .

3. Dry Mix:

In the mixer bowl using the Chef Whisk on speed 1, mix the Blue ingredients, minimize the 

mixing time. 

4. Combine Ingredients:

Switch to the Paddle Blade at speed 2, and slowly combine the Oatmeal and the blue

 ingredients, EXCEPT THE WATER. Don't add water just yet: the flour will absorb water from the oatmeal very slowly. Let the dough rest, maybe 15 minutes. Then add only the amount of water needed (about 1 cup) to yield a workable dough

5.  Divide the dough into two loaves and allow the loaves to rest for about five to ten minutes, then move the dough to tow other oiled bowls. ( so the stand mixer bowl can be cleaned). Spray the top of the dough with oil, and cover the bowls. 

6.  First fermentation;  Set the dough out at room temperature 72-75℉ (use a heating pad if room is cool) for 12 to 18 hours. If convenient, vigorously stir the dough about halfway through the rise. 

7.  Second Fermentation: Move the loaves onto on 15-inch squares (dusted with flour) of baking parchment paper.  Dust the loaves with flour.  Cover each loaf with a large pan and let them ferment for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the dough doubles from the deflated size.

8.   Prepare Oven: 20 minutes before baking time, put a rack in the middle of the oven with the dutch ovens; preheat to 450°F. If you have a baking stone place it near the bottom of the oven it will act as a heat sink. 

9.  Final Dough preparation: Sprinkle or spray the dough top generously with water.  Using the parchment paper as a sling, carefully lift the dough into the pots; take care not to touch the hot pot. Immediately top the pots with their  lids.

11.  Baking: Reduce the heat to 425°F. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid. Using the parchment paper, lift the loaves from the pots and place them on a piece of aluminum foil on the oven rack in the middle position. Remove the parchment paper from the loaves. (If the top is well browned, cover it with foil.) Bake for 25 to 35 minutes longer until the center registers 203° to 205°F on an instant-read thermometer). Then bake for 5 minutes longer to ensure the center is baked through. Note: the appearance of the loaf is more important in determining the doneness of the loaf than the internal temperature (from Cook's illustrated magazine, May-June 2011 page 31).  Cool  thoroughly on a wire rack.

Meatier Meatloaf + Caramelized Broccoli

Hello loyal follower(s).

    Today I am two days post-operative and have a new lens in my right eye.  I have worn glasses since I was about eleven years old when my eyes were at 20/500, 20/475. For me being able to see without the aid of glasses will feel strange.  At this point   have removed  the right lens from my glasses but I don't wear  them for  regular vision or watching TV.  However to write this blog I still use my computer glasses minus the right lens.
    This morning I started making Quaker Oats honey bread and will finish it tomorrow along with the accompanying blog. Then, it was time to do something different: Meatier Meatloaf based on Cook's Illustrated magazine Sept-Oct 2012 issue.  And of course I made some changes which generally lead to misadventures.  I learned a new word; panade; ( a paste of flour or bread crumbs and water or  stock: Webster Collegiate dictionary).  I probably will not remember it tomorrow.  This recipe had very little filler (excuse me I meant panade).

   Anyway I was a busy boy in the kitchen today.

This a photo of the kitchen after I sort of cleaned it up.  Way in the background next to  the stove top was the bread fermenting covered with a towel and being heated by a heating pad. 

The directions called for a 9 by 5 inch piece of aluminum foil, but next time i will use 10 by 6 inch piece.  I also lined the rimmed baking sheet-- less to clean up.

The meatloaf was now ready for the oven.  It was placed in the refrigerator covered in plastic until it was time to bake it for dinner.
Cyndy found what she thought was a neat recipe for Glazed Broccoli in a magazine and she will  make to to go along with the meatloaf and baked potatoes.

Dinner is in the oven.  Baked for 75 minutes at 350℉.

The final results looked good.

OK I know I should have had a few sprigs of parsley to make it look professional, but all I have is green grass.
THE BOTTOM LINE CYNDY AND I BOTH THOUGHT THE MEATLOAF WAS GREAT.




Cyndy made a new vegetable dish called Caramelized Broccoli.  It was so good I have included the recipe in this blog. 

Recipes follows:

À bientôt,
Mr Nut

Meatier Meatloaf

Based on recipe from Cook's Illustrated. Sept-Oct 2012 issue  

The original recipe was developed by Celeste Rogers

SERVES 6 TO 8

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

A milk and bread panade  ( a paste of flour or bread crumbs and water or  stock: webster Collegiate dictionary)  gives meatloaf a tender and moist texture, but too much panade can dull meaty flavor. Much of the panade was replaced with gelatin and mushrooms without sacrificing texture. Browning the mushrooms with tomato paste, chicken stock and soy sauce added additional savory notes. The meatloaf was cooked free-form and on a rack maximizes browning.

INGREDIENTS; Meatloaf 

2  tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup  onion, chopped fine

6  ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin

1  tablespoon tomato paste

3/4 cup  low-sodium chicken broth 

1 teaspoon   minced garlic

2  large eggs

2  tablespoons  soy sauce 

1  tablespoon unflavored gelatin

1/2  slice artisan type bread torn into 1-inch pieces or 1/8 cup dried bread crumbs

1/8  cup parsley flakes

2  teaspoons Dijon mustard

3/4  teaspoon pepper

1/2  teaspoon dried thyme

1 pound ground pork

1 pound 85 percent or higher  lean ground beef

INGREDIENTS; Glaze  

1/2  cup ketchup

1/4  cup cider vinegar 

3  tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon Tabasco  

1/2  teaspoon ground coriander

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  FOR THE MEATLOAF: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Fold heavy-duty aluminum foil to form 9 by 5-inch rectangle. Center foil on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet. Poke holes in foil with skewer (about 1/2 inch apart). Spray foil with vegetable oil spray.

2.   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup chopped onion and 6 ounces mushrooms; cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until browned, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low; add 1/4 cup chicken broth and 1 teaspoon minced garlic; cook, scraping bottom of pan to loosen any browned bits, until thickened, about 1 minute. Transfer mushroom mixture to large bowl to cool.

3.   Whisk eggs, remaining ½ cup broth, and 2 tablespoons soy sauce together in bowl. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon gelatin over egg mixture and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes.

4.   Pulse bread in food processor until finely ground, 5 to 10 pulses or just place 1/8 cup dried bread crumbs in food processor. Add gelatin mixture, cooled mushroom mixture,  1/8 cup parsley flakes, 2 teaspoons mustard, 3/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon thyme to bread crumbs and pulse until mushrooms are finely ground, about 10 pulses, scraping down bowl as needed. Transfer bread-crumb mixture to large bowl. Add 1 bound pork and 1 pound beef and mix with hands to thoroughly combine.

5.   Transfer meat mixture to foil rectangle and shape into 9 by 5-inch loaf using wet hands. Bake meatloaf until it registers 155 to 160 degrees, 75 to 90 minutes. Remove from oven and turn on broiler.

6.   FOR THE GLAZE: While meatloaf cooks, bring all ingredients to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes.

7.  Spread half of glaze evenly over cooked meatloaf; place under broiler and cook until glaze bubbles and begins to brown at edges, about 2 minutes. Remove meatloaf from oven and spread evenly with remaining glaze; return to broiler and cook until glaze is again bubbling and beginning to brown, about 2 minutes longer. Let meatloaf cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Caramelized Broccoli

From Family Circle Magazine Nov. 2012

One half recipe works for four people

MAKES 6 servings PREP 15 minutes COOK 9 minutes

2   tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil 

8   cups small broccoli florets

1 cup diced sweet onion 

1/2  cup walnuts, roughly chopped

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup raisins

 1/2 tsp salt 

1/8 tsp pepper

•Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add broccoli florets and onion; cook 5 minutes. Stir in walnuts; cook 2 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and raisins; cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in salt, pepper and remaining 1 tsp olive oil.