Back to Basics

When I arrived back to the office after court, I got online to msn.com and a headline screamed out at me: "Food Network star fired for spicing up resume." Of course I immediately had to click on the link, all the while trying to guess which one it was and hoping it was no one I actually liked. Much to my devastation, it was Robert Irvine, the star of Dinner: Impossible and one of my favorite FN chefs. Turns out, he was never employed by the Royal Family, nor did he ever cook for any Presidents of the United States among a number of other things. The thing is, I never gave a crap about whether or not he helped make Charles and Di's wedding cake. He was entertaining and a great chef--he didn't need to lie. But he's been canned from the show, although the FN allows for the possibility of him coming back. I've only tried a couple of his recipes, but they've both been great, and his book, however fictitious, was quite interesting. That definitely put a kink in my day, especially since I had just found his upcoming book on Amazon that's due out in October.

It was definitely a day to cook. Not only was there the practical matter of Jim having no food to bring to work tonight, I wanted to cook away my sorrows. So in an attempt to change it up from chicken, I went with beef tonight, specifically meat loaf. I started off by looking at Cooking Light recipes, but ultimately selected Bobby Flay's Roasted Vegetable Meat Loaf with Balsamic Glaze. Contrary to its name, the vegetables weren't roasted at all. I spent a good 20 minutes dicing red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, onion, and zucchini. I had a large bowl full of finely diced veggies by the time I was done. Jim's knives pretty much suck, so it took even longer than my sub-par chopping skills would have made it in the first place. The veggies were sauteed in EVOO for five minutes before I added 5 cloves of minced garlic and crushed red pepper.

I thought the bulk of the work was done after the chopping, but I wasn't exactly right. There was a lot of measuring of other ingredients, which took some juggling and assistance from Jim. First, I whisked a couple of eggs with parsley and thyme in a bowl, then added Panko bread crumbs, ketchup (organic!), balsamic vinegar, Romano cheese (with some Parmesan, cuz I was too lazy and pressed for time to shred a whole half cup of the stuff), and mixed it all together. Finally in went all of the beef. I didn't use the beef/pork/veal mixture that Bobby asked for, because I try to avoid pork and Jim doesn't eat veal. Instead, I used a pound of 90/10 and a pound of 80/20. I know I'm not supposed to overmix the stuff, but it's hard for me to tell one way or another since I don't eat it.

Jim helped me out by prepping the baking sheet, which I forgot to do, and with my gloves, was essentially impossible for me to get to. He lined it with parchment paper and I then plopped the whole mixture onto the tray and shaped it into a loaf. I was nervous because the lump was huge! I guess I should have realized that two pounds of meat would make a ginormous meat loaf, but I wasn't really thinking today, as evidenced by an additional screw up I made in the next step.

I whisked together 1/2 a cup of ketchup and 1 cup of balsamic vinegar. It was very liquidy, but instead of thinking that I didn't have enough ketchup in there, I just dumped it all over the top of the meat loaf. Naturally, the glaze drizzled all over the bottom of the baking sheet. After the fact, I re-read the recipe and realized I should have used an additional 1/2 cup of ketchup. So I scooped out as much of the vinegar from the bottom of the pan as I could and re-whisked the stuff. It thickened up nicely and this time when I poured it on top of the meat loaf, it stuck a lot better.



Into the 425 degree oven the meat loaf went and off we went to Rubio's for Taco Tuesday. Tonight we met up with M and his little brothers J & K. Jim got 3 fish tacos without white sauce and nachos. We had a $2 off coupon and scored big time when we got another one tonight. Best deal ever. Tonight, Rubio's was absurdly packed. There wasn't a line to order, but it was an absolutely insane wait to get the food. It never takes that long to get the food, but we waited for probably 15 minutes. Plus, I got the last of the iced tea and had to refill with Diet Coke mixed in with a bit of Vanilla Coke.





It's actually been several weeks since Jim's had fish tacos, so he was a happy camper. We were a little rushed over dinner, but it was good times. We've known J & K since they were practically ankle biters and now J is a junior in high school and K a freshman in college. Little J had on a letterman's jacket and K was sporting his tat. Where does time go? They are still funny little guys, and dinner was more than enjoyable. And since I am an habitual creature, it was very nice to go back to our Tuesday night routine.

When we got back, the meat loaf was all done. I was happy to see that the loaf had significantly shrunk and indeed was about the six servings the recipe claimed it made. It didn't have adequate time to cool before Jim had to leave or work, but it should be just fine. Jim had a bite and wasn't crazy about it, but I'm hoping that when he has it tonight, he'll be more pleased with it. The bite I gave him was admittedly very saucy, and apparently it's a very strong tasting glaze. But it's only on the top, so hopefully it's okay with the whole thing. Jim said it is Bobby's style for strong flavors, which is true. The meat loaf looked very moist and juicy, so I think it'll be okay. He can always scrape off the sauce. It's not as though the meat loaf itself had a ton of ketchup (only 1/2 a cup) or balsamic vinegar (2 Tbsp) in it. As long as the loaf itself is good, I can always make less glaze next time. And I don't see how the loaf won't be good with all of those veggies in it. We shall see . . .