Meatloaf With Sundried Pesto Rice

The immortalized classic meatloaf  dish, hands down, has proven to be one of the most popular dishes over the centuries that it has been served in a great number of dining banquets all over the world since the 5th century. It is a traditional German, Belgian and Dutch dish, and is a cousin to the Italian meatball.

Usually made of ground beef with a classic combination of lamb or pork, I personally think that this dish is best when it’s baked or smoked as opposed to steamed. I just adore the juicy, tasty and engaging taste of this dish. The play of flavors just work in perfect coherence. You wanna  bite on it like there’s no tomorrow.

Anyway, here’s how you do it. You will need:

1/2  kilo ground beef

1 small bottle pickle relish, drained

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1 pack cream of mushroom soup (powdered)

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 large onion, roughly minced

1 red bell pepper, minced

2 sliced white bread (tasty), cut into small pcs

1/4 cup raisins

1 cup chopped sweet ham

3/4 cup black olives, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1.. Preheat oven to 350c. Mix all ingredients.

2. Place the mixture in a 9×4 rectangular baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

3. Serve with VELOUTE sauce.

It’s…

             1 1/2 cups beef or chicken stock

            2 tablespoons unsalted butter

            3 tbsp flour

            Salt & Pepper, to taste

In a saucepan, raise heat to medium. Melt butter then add flour to it to form a roux. Stir in stock until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

For the sundried pesto rice, you will need:

4 cups overnight rice

4 tbsps sundried pesto sauce

1. Heat pan. Pour sauce. Mix in rice. Serve hot.

Sirloin Strips With Baby Corn

Love your own.

Yes, that seemed to have been our family’s battlecry everytime Christmas happened and we had this dish as potluck for the usual clan get-together and my immediate family would dig in ahead of everybody onto this dish and dig in some more for a  second, third and even fourth serving! Haha, talk about extreme fanaticism!

Sirloin is a personal favorite cut. Top sirloin, is the ultimate. It’s tender, very savory and excretes all the beefy goodness one can ever imagine. Kinda pricey, though. Quality’s got a price tag, so..

Now, the baby or young corn. I learned from our past helpers that these baby corns, in the provinces, are nothing but waste, dirt or trash. To them, they are freaks born out from a supposedly, “normal” corn. While me here in Manila is crazy about my beef sirloin with baby corn. Yee.

Okay, how to do this dish now. You will need:

1/2 kilo top sirloin, cut into thin strips

1/2 kilo ripe tomatoes, diced

3/4 cup tomato sauce

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium sized red onion, sliced

1 cup baby corn

1/4 cup soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

laurel leaf

1/4 cup butter oil

oil

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1. Saute beef  in onion, garlic and tomatoes in butter and oil. Season with salt, pepper and soy sauce. Add water to cover meat.

2. Bring to a medium simmer. Continue adding water until beef is tender and tomatoes totally wilted and half of the water evaporated. Add about 1/2 cup of oil.

3. Add baby corn, tomato sauce and laurel leaf. Cook until done. Serve hot.

Beef Cannelloni

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find a pack of cannelloni pasta at S&R last I did the grocery there. Cannelloni pasta should be a welcome change/addition to my pasta family. Why, my spaghetti begged for a day-off  today. So, newbie cannelloni took the centerstage in my kitchen for some rich, beefy and cheesy pasta.

This is excellent with some clear soup and a glass of white wine (naks!). I love, love, love capping my day with a relaxing chat with my hubby, Jake, over some good serving of pasta and a glass of wine, on certain nights. It just winds me down in the best possible way.

Anyway, here goes the recipe:

1/2 kilo ground beef

10 cannelloni shells

1 can diced tomatoes

1 large tomato, chopped

1 onion, minced

1 large bell pepper

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup grated jack monterey cheese (or your favorite cheese)

1/2 cup chopped ham (optional)

3/4 cup fresh milk

1/4 cup butter

1 egg, slightly beaten

4 tbsps flour

salt and pepper to taste

oil

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped

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1. Saute beef in garlic, tomato and onion in oil and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add ham. Cook until meat is tender. Set aside. Let cool for ten minutes.

2. Once cool, mix in egg and flour. Stuff uncooked cannelloni with beef mixture. Set aside.

3. Using the pan used for the beef mixture, pour in tomato sauce and milk. Simmer for five minutes.

4. In a greased pyrex dish, pour about 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce mixture. Lay down cannellonis giving a 1/4 inch-space in between each piece. Pour over the rest of the tomato sauce mixture. Top with cheese.

5. Bake in a preheated oven (160 c) for an hour. Garnish with fresh herbs. Serve with your favorite toast.