I'm a week behind with my posting; last weekend was spent with Peter, writing was not a priority. We get little enough time these days. In light of that I'm going to combine two weeks of Emily's forays into the kitchen into one post.
A couple of weeks ago I came across a new meatloaf recipe. It looked easy enough, and since Emily loves meatloaf I suggested this recipe to her. Unfortunately she has decided going into the garage when I'm not home is "creepy", so she delayed on some (most) of her chores until I got home, which meant she did not start making said meatloaf until almost 5. We didn't eat until half past six and the meatloaf was not satisfactorily cooked all the way through. We carved a couple of slices off the ends and put the rest back into the oven for an extra 45 minutes. Live and learn.
Nonetheless Emily was happy to don a pair of latex gloves and knead together ground bison, crushed Ritz crackers, an egg, minced onion, garlic powder, honey, part of a can of diced tomatoes and barbecue sauce. She shaped the mixture into a loaf, patted it into a loaf pan and topped with the rest of the tomatoes mixed with more barbecue sauce.
While the loaf baked I cut some parsnips and carrots into matchsticks to saute in butter, finished with a little honey to really bring out their inherent sweetness. Emily made mashed potatoes (from a package, I let her cheat) and packaged gravy, another cheat.
As I said, the meal was good, if a little late, and by the time we were done I think every pan in my kitchen was in the sink.
Honey BBQ Meatloaf with a Kick
2 lbs extra lean ground beef 2 tablespoons honey
24 rich round crackers, crushed (about 1 cup) 1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten 1 can (540 ml) diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons minced dried onions 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon garlic powder 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Heat oven to 350F.
Combine meat, cracker crumbs, egg, onions, garlic powder, honey and pepper. Mix in half the tomatoes, half of the barbecue sauce and half the Worcestershire sauce until just blended.
Shape into a loaf in a 9x5" greased loaf pan; flatten top. Combine remaining tomatoes, barbecue sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Spoon over meat. Cover, place on a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake one hour, or until done, uncovering for the last 15 minutes.
The following Sunday evening I asked Emily if she intended to cook again come Monday. She said she was, and shortly thereafter brought me my most recent copy of the Food Network Magazine. She said she wanted to make the Popcorn-Crusted Popcorn Shrimp and Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce. Both recipes sounded good, and looked relatively simple. I was pleased too the recipes she had chosen looked like a good compliment to each other, and they were not listed together. She is beginning to learn how to pair foods....I think. Maybe it was a fluke.
I suggested she invite her aunt to join us, and she was eager to do so. I made a brief trip to the store for shrimp and spaghetti squash and settled in for a quiet Sunday evening.
When I got home from work on Monday I suggested she begin prepping her shrimp, although they would not take long to cook I knew breading them was going to be time consuming for an inexperienced chef.
I had put the spaghetti squash in the oven to steam while I was at work, putting the cut, seeded halves into a baking dish with a little water and covering it. I set the timer to cook it for about 35 minutes ate 400F. It was cooked, and cool enough to handle when I got home. While Emily made popcorn in the microwave* I scooped out the flesh of the squash for her, returning it to the oven to stay warm while she worked on the shrimp.
She measured the popcorn into my blender along with dried bread crumbs, cornstarch, salt & pepper, pulsing the mixture to make coarse crumbs. She began to coat the shrimp with this before I was able to tell her she needed to combine, in a separate dish, flour, salt & pepper, and beat an egg into a third bowl. I then showed her how to dredge the shrimp in the flour, then dip it into the beaten egg, before finally breading it with the crumb mixture. By the time she was done there were crumbs & flour everywhere.
While she deep fried the shrimp in hot oil I melted some butter with cayenne and lemon zest and combined mayonnaise with more lemon zest and some lemon juice to make a dipping sauce for the shrimp. When the shrimp were fried she drizzled them with the melted butter.
While I had been helping her with the blender, not the best tool for making crumbs, Emily made the peanut sauce for the spaghetti squash. She stirred together peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice and water. To this she added ground ginger, a garlic clove and red pepper flakes.
When the shrimp was ready she tossed the squash with this mixture and dinner was served.
Despite the apparent hurricane that had hit my poor kitchen dinner was very good. While my sister and I visited Emily cleared away the leftovers and even did all the dishes. It was a big job, probably more than the cooking. I had to smile when read the caption of the photo of dinner she sent to her dad & to Peter listing the menu with the notation "it was hard". Maybe, but it was delicious too.
Popcorn -Crusted Popcorn Shrimp
3 cups popped popcorn pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt & pepper 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
1/3 cup flour 1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 large eggs 2 tablespoons (unsalted) butter
Pulse popcorn, panko, cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt & a few grinds pepper in a food processor until coarsely ground. Transfer to a rimmed pan. Combine the flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt & a few grinds of pepper in a medium bowl; set aside. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, set aside. Melt the butter with the cayenne, half the lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Heat 2" vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet. Working in batches toss the shrimp in the flour, dip in the eggs then coat in the popcorn mixture. Fry the shrimp until golden, about 2 minutes a side. Remove with a slotted spoon & transfer to a platter.
Mix the mayonnaise with the remaining lemon zest & the lemon juice. Drizzle the shrimp with the melted butter right before serving. Serve with the mayonnaise.
Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce
Steam a spaghetti squash until tender.** Cool slightly then scrape into strands with a fork.
Puree 2 tablespoons peanut butter with 1 tablespoon each soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice & water, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 1 garlic clove & 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Toss with the squash. Season with salt. Top with peanuts, mint & cilantro.
*Microwave 1/2 cup popcorn in a brown paper lunch bag for about 2-2 1/2 minutes.
**Spaghetti squash can be steamed in the microwave, covered, with about 2 tablespoons of water for about 15 minutes. We had a larger one that would not fit in our microwave in a pan. I put it, cut side down, in a baking dish in the oven with about a 1/2 inch of water & covered it. It steamed for about 30 minutes at 400F.
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