mmmmmmmMeatloaf…..

 

Micah Madison’s Meatloaf! mmmmmmmmmmmmmm……I heart meatloaf; although for the most part I prefer my mother’s. Meatloaf in restaurants tend to not be so tasty to me. I like a fairly plain version- with a bit of sweet and tang. Many moons ago I worked in Iowa and a co-worker brought in her meatloaf. It was so tasty I asked for the recipe. The first time I went to make it I thought it was a bit sweeter than I remembered and maybe even tastier. The next time I went to make it I realized my mistake. I had inadvertently switched out the evaporated milk with condensed milk. Sweetened condensed milk. Yes folks, I had made meat candy.  I couldn’t knowingly go back to the condensed milk, but I really did like the sweetness- so I revised the recipe and added in some brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Problem solved- sweet and respectable!

MIX:

1.5 lb hamburger

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 sleeves Ritz crackers- crushed

2 eggs beaten

1 can evaporated milk

1 med onion diced

salt & pepper to taste

Bake 45 minutes @ 350 degrees. Add Topping:

Mix 1 Tbsp white vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup diced onion, 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Bake 15 minutes more

 

Companionable Eggs

Corner view’s topic for the week is “favorite dish”. I have many, sooooo very many. I reserved my food journal title months ago & have been thinking through how to organize it and where to begin. I”m tempted to start at the beginning. Doing that would take me a good long while to get the recipes we frequent the most these days though.  Instead I’ll start with the first dish that came to mind to share.

Soon I’ll add a page to clarify the purpose and musings behind our food journal. As life goes though, the baby has been ill, just a  touch of the H1N1 and a smidge of pneumonia following for good measure.  For today- for Corner view, I present what I am calling Companionable eggs.

In 2002 we discovered one of the most heavenly, buttery delights one can hope to experience early in  the morning alongside a freshly brewed, steaming coffee. This eggbake is so creamy and smooth we would buy fresh Epi’s; take our eggs and schmear them across the steaming bread like fresh cream cheese.  The kudos go to Companion Bakehouses in the Greater St. Louis area. They often would vary the extraneous ingredients but the key- the cooking style, more of a french method of slow and low was consistent along with the base ingredients.

When the decision to move further South for philosophic opportunities came about I spent the next few Sunday mornings in line for a slice and working up the nerve to ask how to make it. I never did. Our dear Celina tried to get the local newspaper to get it from them and put it in their column where they print local restaurant’s recipes, but that didn’t work out either. Sadly we moved away in 2003 eggless. We have since returned to visit our dear friends and on the last trip in November of 2007, I put on a pleading face, asked to speak to the chef and explained how we had moved to the South and as expected;  very much missed the comfort of these eggs. Much to my delight he pulled up a chair, grabbed the above piece of notepaper and began describing more of a process than recipe  to slowly meld the eggs, cream and cheese together with a roux over a low heat; then baking them describing an end process of 2-4 hours. I was giddy as a kid on Christmas to have my hands on what I consder to this day the Holy Grail of Eggs.

It was only after I got home and Lovey and I examined the process more closely that we realized we did not quite have the oven space for 10 aluminium baking pans even with the addition of our working 1941 Magic Chef gas beauty that we had purchased the night before we left St. Louis in the summer of 2003.

If you have a mathematician in the family, the process of portioning down the brief recipe to a family size rather then a bakehouse size will be much simpler for you. After all, with a philosopher doing the math in our family we managed just fine!