Eats/Reads

I used to make meatloaf often but not recently. I was surprised that I didn't have a recipe for it. Sort of winged it here but it ended up nice: tasty and moist. Really full of onions. Crispy outside. On the downside, it was cracked on the top and sort of fell apart when served hot - but not sure if that's really a problem. Might be the sacrifice to make for it to be so moist. Or maybe add some more bread crumbs/oats? I served it with some leftover tomato sauce, mash and creamed spinach and onion. Yum. 500g beef (organic, 20 per cent fat) 1 small onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, diced 1 egg, beaten 1/2 c plain yogurt 1/2 cup quick porridge oats (or bread crumbs) 1 tsp salt fresh ground black pepper 1 tsp basil 1/2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp thyme 2 Tbsp chicken stock Mix all ingredients together with hands, until just combined. Put in baking dish and shape into loaf. Bake at 375F/170C fan for 1 hour.

I'm really proud of this recipe. I created it for my husband's birthday in 2003. I was trying to recreate the goulashes we'd eaten in Prague in the early 1990's. I read through loads of recipes. There are so many types of goulash: Hungarian, Austrian, Czach, German. Some are like beef stew with chunks of carrots and potatoes, some simple and meaty. I knew I wanted a meaty one, with lots of gravy-like sauce. This is it! I've made it so many times, so many different ways. I've used lamb or venison instead of beef. I've used white wine or port instead of red wine (for port, use only half a cup and then the rest water). I've left out the lemon. This goulash is best served with knedliky (steamed bread dumplings) but also good with noodles, rice, potatoes, even bread. 3 Tbsp oil 2 lbs beef, cubed 2 large onions, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbsp paprika 1 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp marjoram 1 bay leaf 1 cup dry red wine 1 Tbsp red wine or balsamic vinegar ...

We finally broke down and made Mexican food at home. Our nice Aunt Sarah had sent us some enchilada sauce (tasty - thanks!) so all we had to do was make tortillas and the filling. Result: Very tasty! Need to work on making tortillas softer. It could also have been spicier (maybe add more chili to beef?). If we get this recipe down, we're really never returning to the States! The tortillas: If you live in the sort of glorious locale where good tortillas (i.e. no additives and very tasty) are available at the store, by all means skip this step and just buy a pack. 250g plain white flour 150ml water 5g (about 1 tsp) salt Knead ingredients together until smooth. Let sit for about 30 mins. Divide into eight. Roll each portion into a ball. Roll until 2-3mm thick. Place frying pan on medium height. Cook for about 1 minute on each side. Wrap in tea towel to steam. [Note: Mine were a little tough. Not sure if they were too thick, or needed to be kneaded more/less. Will investigate purchase ...

A friend sent us this recipe, and it was fantastic. 400g beef sirloin, lightly grilled and thinly sliced 200g cucumber, peeled and shredded 50g onion, sliced thin Fresh herbs, chopped Whole lettuce 2 tbsp fish sauce 2 tbsp lime juice 1 tsp sugar 1 hot chili, minced 1 clove garlic, minced We can't grill in our flat, so we pan fried the steak the way Best Recipe recommended: heat an iron skillet for 10 minutes, add a little oil, salt and pepper the steak, and cook it for 5 minutes on the first side, 3 minutes on the second. This was supposed to give us rare steak, but I would call the result medium or medium-well. Still tasty, but next time I'll cook it less. We used coriander (cilantro), mint and basil for the herbs, because we happened to have all three. Any nice collection of fresh herbs will likely do nicely. Mix the sauce ingredients vigourously. Mix everything else besides the lettuce. Add the sauce. Serve over the lettuce. Simple and delicious.

This was an attempt to cook all of the parsnips and carrots we've been hoarding from our veg box - we had nearly three weeks' worth on hand! On that count, it succeeded. On the tasty count, it was pretty good. The gravy/broth was nice but there wasn't enough of it. And it was a little too sweet for my tastebuds. So... next time add more water as it cooks. And use fewer parsnips and carrots, and instead add some potatoes, and some frozen peas at the end for greenness. Might try substituting beer for wine to make it less sweet. As for all those parsnips and carrots, next time they stack up, try to make a dedicated soup for them which can handle their sweetness (I'm imagining ginger and curry spices will be needed). Also: The meat was good but I'm not convinced we need to dust it with flour before cooking - doing away with that step might make this recipe even easier. All our parsnips All our carrots 4 small onions, quartered 650g stew beef Olive oil Butter Thyme Orega...

In a quest to add Even More Meat to an already delightful spread on Christmas Eve, I made a triple portion of these meatballs using a mix of the Cook's Illustrated recipe and the Marcella Hazan recipe. The real key to these is to get your 13-year-old niece to do all the work. Don't use veal, as it's too bland. 2 slices decent white bread (we used Pepperidge Farms potato bread) 1/2 cup buttermilk 3/4 lb ground beef 1/4 lb ground pork 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (we used Asiago because it was purchased by accident, worked fine) 2 Tbsp minced parsley 1 Tbsp minced onion 1 Tbsp minced garlic 1 egg 1/2 tsp salt ground nutmeg ground black pepper Tear up the bread and combine it with the buttermilk in a large bowl. Mash it with a fork until it's a fairly even paste. Add all of the other ingredients to the bowl and mix with a fork at first, and then with your hands, until evenly combined. Use a light touch, as too much pressure will create hockey pucks instead of meatballs. Shape t...

We had ground beef and cabbage that needed to be eaten. So we thought: Thai meat balls! We had all the sauces but didn't have the fresh mint and basil, which really would have been better and more Thai than parsley in the meatballs. Still this was tasty for a quick meal that used up an odd assortment of ingredients in the fridge. Next time: Get those fresh herbs. Try other veg besides cabbage, which was fine but something else might be better. Not sure what yet. Our Thai friend recommends the following brands for sauces: Squid brand fish sauce, Healthy Boy brand soy sauce and Healthy Boy brand sweet chili sauce (called 'chicken sauce' by Thais, though it's used on a number of dishes). We found them at a local Chinese market. These are the sauces we use, and they are great. When we can't find Healthy Boy soy sauce, we use Pearl River, which is also nice. Also: we always use light soy sauce - dark soy sauce should only be used for colour, not flavour. Meatballs: 62...

This recipe is nothing fancy but it's tasty and flexible, depending on what you have on hand. It is inspired by an Annabel Karmel recipe for kids but altered a bit. It can be fed to toddlers (my daughter loves it) or to adults. It served as the basis for our first 'family meal' - where all three of us ate the same dish. Imagine! If you don't have courgette (zucchini to you Americans) or celery, you can substitute another type of squash, or potato, or just use more carrot and onion. You could add a clove or two of garlic if your toddler is willing. If you don't have tuna, you can use ground beef, or make it veggie, or add some grated cheese before serving for extra protein and fat. You could probably also use flaked salmon or trout, or perhaps even chicken, but I haven't tried those yet. Let me know how it goes if you do! 6 Tbsp olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 1 small or medium carrot, chopped 1 stick celery, chopped 1 small courgette, chopped 2 400g/14 oz tins...

Tonight is a leftovers night, so I am featuring a brilliant recipe from my friend Patrick. He came up with this recipe for hachis parmentier - a fancy French version of cottage or shepherd's pie - with the hopes of recreating a wonderful version of the dish he, my husband and I have all eaten at a little cafe in the Marais district of Paris called Le Barometre (which we've loved and recommended to all our friends but which Patrick now tells us has changed chefs and gone downhill a bit - so if you try it and it's not so great, well, sorry). My husband and I have made the dish at home a few times and it's been wooonderful. Last time we made it in our huge Le Creuset dutch oven and picked at it all week, so all we had to cook was a vegetable dish - great for when you can't/don't want to cook every night. So over to Patrick: "this is actually perfect timing, since i just made this for the first time in a while 2 nights ago, and i settled on the main balance pr...