Muhammara

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Come on, fess up, how many of you have eaten dip as a meal? There is no point in denying it, I’ve seen you do it. Not to worry, you’re in good company, I’ve done it as well. Let’s face it, dips and spreads are irresistible! Plus, the versatility allows you to dip cubes of sausage, bread, fruits, vegetables, chips, crackers, almost anything that you can grasp with two fingers can be dunked, dipped, slathered, and enjoyed. We all do it, so we should probably do it with a dip that is not only tasty, but good for us. Here is that dip. Tasty and exotic, Muhammara is a Middle Eastern dip/spread that will satisfy your strongest craving while allowing you to ingest good-for-you things like vitamin C, E, and A from the sweet bell peppers, and vitamin B6 and magnesium from the walnuts. So, why deny yourself this pleasure? Dip yourself crazy and enjoy!

Muhammara 

(Middle Eastern Red Pepper and Walnut Spread)

Adapted from The New York Times

1 15.5-oz. jar Melissa’s Sweet Red Bell Peppers

5 scallions, chopped
1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 t. ground cumin
½-1 t. kosher salt
3 t. pomegranate molasses, divided

1 t. red pepper flakes, divided
5 T. olive oil, divided
¾ cup Melissa’s red walnuts, lightly toasted

4 to 6 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs

Combine pepper, scallions, lemon juice, cumin, salt, 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, 4 tablespoons olive oil and all but 2 of the walnuts in a food processor and purée until mostly smooth.

Add 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs and pulse to combine. If mixture is still too loose to hold its shape, add remaining breadcrumbs and pulse again. Season to taste with salt and red pepper flakes.

Scrape spread into a bowl and make a well in the center with the back of a spoon. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses and ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes in the well. Crush the reserved walnuts between your fingers and sprinkle over the top.

Seoul Food (Korean Meatloaf)

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As a child of the ‘60s and ‘70s, I grew up with comfort food. I feel very fortunate to have done, because that’s not so much the way anymore with today’s families serving more convenience foods than they probably should. Part of my comfort came from eating meatloaf. While I wasn’t keen initially, I grew to love it, because my mother allowed me to treat it like a hamburger, topping it with pickles, onions, and sometimes a slice of cheese. As I got older, and my tastes became more refined, I started making my own meatloaf, experimenting with various toppings, sauces, and methods. As a consequence, I ended up with a repertoire of more than two-dozen different meatloaf recipes, all of them tasty in their own special way.

When I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day, I spotted one of the store’s flyers. I grabbed a copy on my way out, and thumbed through it when I got home. A few pages in, there was a section on meatloaf, with a recipe entitled Seoul Food, that really caught my eye. Never before had I made a meatloaf with a Korean bent, so I had to try it. I did that this afternoon, and enjoyed it for dinner.

It was absolutely delicious! Wonderfully juicy on the inside, it slices like a dream, and is very flavorful. Comparing mine to that of the one pictured in the flyer, I suppose I could have used more carrots. I was grating baby carrots, so assumed that four would make up one whole one. Perhaps not. When I make this again, and I definitely will, I will add more carrots, and perhaps more scallions. At any rate, this is very good, not overtly ethnic, so those in your family who don’t care for ethnic foods will not turn up their noses.

Seoul Food (Korean Meatloaf)
Adapted from Schnuck’s grocery stores

1 t. sesame seeds
1 ½ lb. ground chuck
¾ c. Panko breadcrumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 large carrot, grated
½ green apple, grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. sweet chili sauce
¼ t. ground ginger
1/3 cup barbecue sauce
1 T. honey
2 t. rice vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Add sesame seeds to a dry skillet and toast over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, mix together sesame seeds, ground chuck, breadcrumbs, eggs, green onion, carrot, apple, garlic, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, and ginger, and press into a 9” x 5” loaf pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together barbecue sauce, honey, and rice vinegar. Pour half of the sauce over the meatloaf; reserve remaining.

Bake meatloaf for one hour. Pour remaining sauce over meatloaf and return to oven to bake until internal temperature reaches 165°, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand five minutes before serving.

Olive Parmesan Tart

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Those of you who read last week’s post on the Brandied Mushroom Steak Tarts know that I had a bit of trouble getting a jar of olives open. Finally, after carting that jar all around town, I stopped by the house of a friend who’s currently employing the use of a builder that I used to create my deck. If anyone could get that jar of olives open, I knew that Joe could. As with every man I encountered on this journey, he tried to unscrew the lid right off the bat assuming, no doubt, that I was too weak to do so. Now, I’m not saying that I’m not too weak, but having tried everything and everyone, that was not the place to start.

What did work was using a paint can opener to break the seal where the lid met the jar, and then it unscrewed with no problem. Had this not worked, my plan was to get out my concrete drill bit, and drill straight down through the top. I wanted those olives!

The recipe below is the reason why. I spotted this in a current issue of Sweet Paul magazine. I love everything that he makes, and this recipe was no different. It is so easy to put together, and so delectable, you’ll feel as if you are dining in some high end, wood-fired pizza place. It works equally well as appetizers, you just need to cut it into smaller squares. It’s a great party dish because it tastes good hot from the oven, or at room temperature.

Olive Parmesan Tart

Sweet Paul

All-purpose flour
1 sheet of puff pastry
1 c. cured olives, coarsely chopped
½ c. grated Parmesan
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
½ t. dried thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Sprinkle work surface with a little flour, and roll out the puff pastry to double its size. Transfer to a baking tray covered with parchment paper.

Top with olives, Parmesan, red onion, thyme, and pepper.

Finish off with a drizzle of olive oil.

Bake until golden, about 18–20 minutes. Serve with another little drizzle of oil.

Twin Peaks Pie, anyone?

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 You have often heard me speak about the belly of the beast where chaos reigns. But when my number two son, his wife, and their two cats lived with me for six weeks awaiting the completion of their new home, it positively ran amok! Boxes were everywhere, as well as various pieces of furniture and decorative items they’d moved out of the guest room, and its associated closet, in order to give themselves more space. Additionally, it was the Christmas shopping season, so more boxes were arriving daily — many of them for my house guests — and they got added to the already obscenely big pile. They had boxes, I had boxes, and there were still boxes from my late mother, father, and husband, all in this area.

The other day, I was rummaging around, like I do, and ran across two unopened boxes with my son’s name on them. He couldn’t imagine what they might be, so when he came for his Friday visit with his old mom, he opened them. It was like Christmas! In fact, it was Christmas; there was a gift in there for me that he had completely forgotten he’d ordered. Here it is, my new Twin Peaks ceramic pie dish. Now to decide upon an appropriate pie!

Italian Glop, I mean Goulash

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Isn’t it funny how if you put the word “Italian” in front of almost anything that makes it seem so much better? Italian food, Italian wine, Italian cheese, Italian men…you get the picture. The reason I mention this is because earlier today a friend called me to ask me what I was having for dinner. It was one of those “clean out the fridge” days wherein I was trying to get rid of little bits of all kinds of things that were taking up space. So my answer, though honest, was not what she’d expected to hear.

“Some kind of glop,” I told her.

She thought for a while and then asked, “Is it Italian glop?”

I thought about this for a while, and said, “Yes, I think it is.”

“Oooh,” she said, enthusiastically. “Sounds good!”

As it turned out, it really was. It was a perfect chilly evening comfort food to enjoy straight from a pasta bowl with a crusty slice of bread. The kids will like this, particularly if, like me, you use mini wheel pasta. I love the various shapes of pastas, so I’m constantly mixing things up where noodles are concerned. 

Italian Glop, I mean Goulash

8 oz. pasta of your choice

1 lb. ground chuck

1 Melissa’s shallot, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ T. Worcestershire sauce

1 (15-oz.) can tomato sauce

1 (14.5 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes

½ c. diced black olives

¼ c. chopped fresh parsley

1 T. Italian seasoning

1 t. salt

½ t. freshly ground black pepper

One large handful fresh baby spinach*

1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta for 3 minutes less than the box directions.  Drain, reserving ¼ c. pasta water.

Heat a large skillet over high heat.  Brown ground chuck, crumbling meat as you do, 6-7 minutes.  Add shallots to pan and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant; drain on paper-towel lined plate, and then return mixture to the pan.

Stir in Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, olives, and parsley; mix until combined.

Stir in Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste. Add spinach and let it wilt down into the sauce. Stir in reserved pasta water.

Fold in cooked pasta and cheddar cheese. Transfer to a casserole dish sprayed with PAM, and bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Enjoy! Freezes beautifully, or keeps easily in the fridge for three days if, like me, you don’t want to cook for a while and are gleeful at seeing leftovers.

*Chop it up if you want to hide it from the kids

Organizing Cloth Napkins

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Ever since the first of the year I have been on a real disorganized organization tear. What I mean by this is that I am determined to get as many areas of the house as organized as possible, but instead of focusing on one at a time, I flit from one, to the next, to the next, to the next, because I am easily distracted (like a lovable puppy). The late Mr. O-P used to refer to me as “The Bee” because I would fly from one thing to the other. That is probably the most apt description with which I have ever been labeled.

Today I am popping in to tell you about one of my favorites. In the same way in which I organized my fabric, I have also organized my cloth napkins. Previously I had them in drawers, boxes, baskets, you name it, all over the house. Using this method, I could not be happier. Having them all lined up in a file drawer is a great way to store them all so that I can see what I have, and easily match them to whatever dinnerware I have chosen to use. I have a lot of cloth napkins, so I will be starting on my second drawer this afternoon.

If you’d like to do the same, clear out a file drawer, and grab yourself a handful of those hanging file folders. Line the file folders up in the drawer, and drape collections of napkins over them. Now get cracking!

Brandied Mushroom Steak Tarts

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My plan for dinner this evening was to make an olive tart. Over the Christmas holidays I purchased the most beautiful jar of mixed olives that I was saving for a special recipe. The olive tart, spotted in a recent issue of Sweet Paul magazine, seemed to be it. There was only one problem; I couldn’t get the jar of olives open. Generally, I’m pretty good at getting jars open, but not this one.

So, I took it outside (it was a lovely day for taking a jar of olives for a walk), and started going around the neighborhood seeing if any of the big, strong men could help me. Nope. Not a one. I had to go to CVS and the library, so I put the jar of olives in my car and took them with me. A slight, but wiry-looking pharmacist greeted me at the drive-up, so I handed the jar of olives to him. He couldn’t get it open either. Then I went to the drive-up window at the library, fully expecting a woman, but no, a big, burly guy greeted me. So, I handed him the olives. I thought he was going to pop a vein, but he couldn’t get the jar open either.

  An olive tart without olives wouldn’t quite be the same, so I went in an entirely different direction, cooked a steak, made a delicious mushroom sauce, and ended up with these easy and elegant steak tarts. Super delicious, easy to prepare despite what appear to be lengthy and complicated instructions, and certainly company worthy.

Brandied Mushroom Steak Tarts

Serves 2

2 (8 oz.) filet mignon steaks (1-1½" thick)

Freshly ground black pepper

1 T. unsalted butter

1 T. olive oil

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1 slice lean bacon

1 medium clove garlic, finely minced

1 T. unsalted butter

6-8 large button mushrooms, sliced

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 T. Brandy*

2 T. water

2 t. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 t. Worcestershire sauce

½ t. Better Than Bouillon Beef Base

½ c. heavy cream

1 T. fresh parsley, finely minced

Preheat oven to 400° F. Cut one sheet of puff pastry in 2 6” x 5” pieces. Score ½” from the edge around the perimeter; do not cut through the pastry. Slide pastry onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. With the back of a spoon, depress center of puff pastry, inside the score lines, to make a well for the steak.

While pastry is baking, press ground pepper into both sides of each of the fillets. Place butter and olive oil into an oven safe 9-inch sauté pan, melt over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Carefully place fillets into hot pan and sear for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and place immediately into the oven to bake for 8 minutes.

Remove steak from oven and place on a plate. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing into thin slices. This will yield a medium steak. Bake a couple minutes longer for a steak more well done.

In the same pan in which you cooked the steaks, cook bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon, crumble, and set aside.

Add butter and garlic to skillet with drippings.  Sauté for one minute, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from burning.

Add mushrooms and pepper, and simmer until mushroom liquid begins to evaporate.  Add brandy to deglaze pan, and continue simmering until almost evaporated.  Stir in water, lemon juice, Worcestershire, and soup base, and boil until thickened slightly.  Pour in cream and stir to blend.  Add reserved bacon and parsley.

Place slices of steak on top of prepared puff pastry and spoon mushroom sauce overall. Garnish with additional chopped parsley, if desired.

*If you don’t have brandy, use red wine. If you don't have wine, use strong, black coffee.