Chinese Ground Meat and Rice Casserole

I made this one with cooked leftover leg of lamb.

This recipe was inspired by one for Lamb Crepes Oriental. Just a hunch...most people reading here are not going to make crepes. I simplified things by using rice and making this a layered casserole. This is a delicious way to use up all sorts of cooked meats: beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, pork. If you don't have 2 cups of cooked meat, you can substitute 1 pound of ground meat. See the instructions for changes if you start with raw meat.

We don't usually think of cooking lettuce, but romaine is hardy, holding up to some gentle cooking, and adds some nice crunch here.

Chinese Ground Meat and Rice Casserole
(serves 4)

non-stick cooking spray
4 cups cooked rice (brown or white)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (if using cooked meat only)
1 onion, minced
2 cups of cooked chopped meat or poultry
OR
1 pound ground meat
¼ cup beef broth
½ large head of romaine lettuce, shredded
½ teaspoon black pepper


Sauce:
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon dry sherry, sake, or rice wine
1 cup beef broth

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 9"x11" baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the rice in the dish and set aside.

If using cooked meat, heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauteacute; for 5 minutes. Add in the cooked meat and beef broth. Simmer until meat to warmed. Remove from heat, mix in lettuce and black pepper.

If using raw ground meat, heat up a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the meat until no longer pink. Drain off most of the fat, leaving about 2 Tablespoons. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook the onion for 5 minutes. Add beef broth and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, mix in lettuce and black pepper.

Pour the meat-lettuce mixture over the rice.

Make the sauce: Combine the cornstarch, soy sauce, ginger, dry sherry, and beef broth in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Spoon the sauce over the meat. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.

Adapted from a recipe for Lamb Crepes Oriental in Cooking with Cornelius: The Corning Cookbook by Cornelius O'Donnell, Random House, 1982

Chinese Curried Noodles

Need a recipe using the Fresh Chinese Noodles from a couple of days ago? Here you go! This is an easy stir fry that becomes a delicious saucy dish. Comes together in no time. If you have some fresh noodles stashed in the freezer, you can make dinner appear in about 15 minutes. It will taste better than anything you could find in a box or jar.

There are a couple of important general cooking facts in here:

1. Cook the curry in oil to release its fragrance. If you add it with a bunch of liquid, this won't happen and the flavor won't be as good.
2. Cornstarch needs to boil to activate the starches that do the thickening, so make sure you boil your sauce. Good to know for any cornstarch thickened sauce.

Chinese Curried Noodles
(serves 4 to 6)

1 pound ground meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, or turkey)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon + 1 ½ Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons curry powder

Sauce
2 cups no or low salt chicken stock
3 ½ Tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ Tablespoons cornstarch

1 8 oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 ½ cups frozen peas or shelled edamame, thawed

1 pound fresh Chinese noodles (or ¾ pound dried fettuccine or linguine pasta)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

While it's heating up, combine the ground meat with the 2 Tablespoons soy sauce. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

Heat a wok or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the meat and stir fry until it is no longer pink, stirring to break up big lumps. Remove the meat to a clean bowl using a slotted spoon. If there is a lot of fat in the pan, pour it off and discard. If you are using chicken or turkey, there will be almost none.

Return the pan to high heat. Add 1 ½ Tablespoons vegetable oil. Add the onions and stir fry for 4 minutes until soft. Add the curry powder and stir fry until you can smell the curry, about 10 seconds. Stir the sauce to dissolve the cornstarch (it settles to the bottom on standing) and add to the pan. Add the water chestnuts and peas. Stir. Bring to a boil, add the meat, and reduce to a simmer. Add more salt if needed.

Cook the fresh noodles for 1-2 minutes (7-9 if using dried) until just done. Drain and add to the sauce. To serve, put noodles in a bowl with some of the sauce spooned on top.

Reheats well in the microwave.

Adapted from Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1997.

Pastitsio - Greek Baked Pasta

This is a Greek version of lasagna. It is similar to many Italian versions except:

• It is not made with flat noodles. It's always made with elbow macaroni.
• The red meat sauce, usually lamb but could be beef,  is flavored with cinnamon.
• It isn't heavy on cheese. The richness comes from a cheaters* béchamel, a white sauce made with milk and enriched with eggs.

It is familiar, and yet not. The cinnamon is the secret flavor which makes it totally unlike any Italian lasagna.

This recipe makes a lot. It's rather a production, so that's a good thing. You can freeze it or you can share it with your friends. You can eat it for breakfast, if you like. I have!

Because there are a number of components and steps, it's important to read through the whole recipe to understand what happens when. You want to wait until you are ready to assemble the casserole to cook the pasta. Otherwise, it will be over-cooked and mushy.

Pastitisio

(serves 8-10)

Meat Sauce

½ Tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground beef or ground lamb, or a combination of the two

1 large onion, chopped

½ cup dry red wine

½ cup tomato sauce

3 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon dried oregano

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained

1 pound elbow macaroni

salt for pasta cooking water

White Sauce

2 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

½ cup cold water

3 cups whole milk

¾ teaspoon salt

4 eggs, beaten in a medium bowl

2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

ground cinnamon for garnish

non-stick cooking spray

Spray a 9"x13" lasagne pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and cook until starting to brown. Drain off the fat to leave about 1 Tablespoon. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, under softened. Add the remaining meat sauce ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the remaining components are complete. Make sure to taste it for salt. If the sauce is bland, the casserole will be bland, so season well.

While the sauce is simmering, bring a pot of salted water to boil. 

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Dissolve the cornstarch in water. Add the milk, cornstarch, water, and salt to the saucepan. Cook until the sauce starts to thicken, stirring to prevent sticking and scorching. The sauce will not thicken until the milk comes to a boil. Remove the sauce from the heat and pour about 1 cup of it into the beaten eggs, stirring to combine. Then add the rest of the sauce to the eggs, mixing well. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cook the macaroni until just under-done, about 7-8 minutes. Drain well. Place ½ the macaroni in the lasagne pan. Pour the meat sauce evenly over the macaroni. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the grated cheese. Spread on the rest of the macaroni. Pour the white sauce over the pasta, spreading it evenly. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and  ground cinnamon. Bake for 45 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before trying to cut.

Tastes even better reheated the next day.

*It's a cheaters version because a classic béchamel is thickened with a roux, a mix of butter and flour. This one uses cornstarch, which also helps to stabilize the proteins in the eggs, keeping them from scrambling in the hot sauce.

Pot Roast in a Pressure Cooker

I am a big fan of my pressure cooker. It will take a tough cut of meat and transform it into a delicious meal in no time. OK, it takes about an hour, but that's a lot better than 3-4 hours. And, it's no one-trick pony either. You can use it to speed up cooking of beans, brown rice, and take the stirring out of risotto. Not a bad deal.

For this recipe, brew some extra coffee in the morning. Or, you can use instant coffee. I wouldn't drink the stuff, but it works fine in a recipe! I added just a touch of honey to the original recipe because it balances the bitter notes in the coffee. You don't want it to be sweet - you get a little sweetness from the tomato paste too - so it needs just a smidgen. I also added the can of beans to stretch the meat.

Pot Roast Flavored with Coffee
(serves 6)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 ½ pounds chuck roast, in one piece
1 cup black coffee
1 3-ounce can of tomato paste
4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 cup of water
1 15-ounce can of white beans, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons honey
about 1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Season chuck roast well with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a pressure cooker over medium-high heat. Add chuck roast and brown on all sides. Remove from cooker and set aside. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the coffee and scrape up any browned bits sticking to the bottom of the cooker. Add the tomato paste, garlic, and water. Stir to dissolve tomato paste. Add back in chuck roast. Lock top into place, bring up to pressure, reduce heat to maintain pressure, and cook for 40 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the pressure to drop until you can take the top off. Carefully remove the top - lots of steam! Put cooker back on medium heat, add beans, honey, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Remove meat from the cooker and slice or shred, removing any gristle-y parts. Serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes, ladling on plenty of gravy.

Adapted from Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes by Vickie Smith, John Wiley & Sons, 2008.

BBQ Beef and Beans in the Slow Cooker

Here's a recipe for your Super Bowl celebration. You can get it going long before the game starts so you don't need to fuss over it at all. Involves a little chopping, then you layer everything in the slow cooker and let 'er rip. Though slow cooker don't really rip. The idea is to go long and slow, transforming even tough cuts to tender goodness.

BBQ Beef and Beans in the Slow Cooker
(serves 8)

1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz. can navy beans, rinsed and drained
2 green peppers, cored, seeded and chopped into ½" pieces
2 large onions, chopped into ½" pieces
2 ½ pounds chuck roast cut into bite-size pieces
1 ½ cups BBQ sauce (here's one or bottled)
salt to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper

Pour all the beans in a slow cooker. Cover with green peppers and onions. Then put on the pieces of beef. Do not stir. Pour on ¾ cup of the BBQ sauce. Cover and cook on high for 1 ½ hours. Reduce the heat to low and cook for another 6 hours, covered. Pour on the remaining BBQ sauce, remove the cover, and cook for another hour. Season with additional salt, if needed, and black pepper. Serve over mashed potatoes or rice. You could also serve it over crunchy bread, but it's too soupy to put in a sandwich you can hold.

Adapted from 365 One-Dish Meals by Natalie Haughton, Harper & Row, 1990.

Beef and Onion Stir Fry

Here's a stir fry that proves that you don't have to use Asian flavors to make a stir fry. Stir fry is a technique. Though usually associated with Chinese cuisine, who says it always has to include garlic-ginger-soy sauce in the ingredient list?

I didn't feel like Asian but I had thinly sliced beef and leeks. Huh, that sounds kind of French. OK, let's see how this turns out. Not bad!

I used eye of round that was sliced in the supermarket. Eye of round is It's not really expensive nor really cheap. The recipe only uses half a pound, so the total price stays moderate. But, you get some good beefy flavor. I added shelled soybeans (now available in the frozen food case in many supermarkets) to make up for the small portion of beef. You can use frozen green peas, which are definitely more French than soybeans. Also not French is the thickener. I use a cornstarch slurry.

Leeks can hide a lot of sand in their layers. The best way to clean them is to cut off the root end, cut off the long dark green leaves, then slice them lengthwise, and put them in a bowl of cold water. After a few minutes of soaking, swish them around a bit and rub out any dirt hiding between the layers. Then you are ready to slice them.

Beef and Onion Stir Fry
(serves 4, costs $5.50)

2 medium leeks, white and light green parts, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ cups shelled soybeans, thawed if frozen
½ pound eye of round, sliced thinly and cut into 1" wide strips
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons cornstarch for sprinkling on beef
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tablespoon cold water
½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
1 cup low sodium beef broth
minced chives or minced parsley, for garnish

Heat up 1 Tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add leeks and onions. Stir-fry until onions are soft and brown on the edges. Stir often to keep them from burning. Add soybeans and cook for another minute. Season with salt and pepper and remove to a bowl. Sprinkle beef with salt, pepper, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Wipe out the wok, and add remaining oil. Heat until smoking hot. Add beef and stir fry until browned, only takes a couple of minutes. Remove beef, leaving behind the oil, to bowl with onions. Pour off most of the oil from the wok. Return the wok to medium-high heat. Add beef broth and crushed thyme. Stir to loosen any bits sticking to the bottom of the wok. Add back onions, soybeans, and beef. Stir in cornstarch/water slurry and cook until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper - if using regular beef broth, taste it first. You may not need any salt. Serve with rice or noodles and garnish with fresh chives or parsley, if desired.

Faux Pho

This season of classes is driven more by my students. This week's class is a quicker version of pho. I will be the last person to claim this is actually pho. Pho is a light, clear broth with lots of goodies in it (like beef tendon, something many folks probably don't consider a "goodie"). You can recreate the goodies but the broth is another thing. This recipe uses commercial beef stock which is nothing like pho broth. Beef stock is made in the French way, with roasted bones and mirepoix (carrots, onions, and celery). Nothing like pho. So, don't make this and tell me it isn't pho. I know that. I ate my version side-by-side with my favorite pho in Boulder. Similarities, but I'd be a fool to call it pho. Hence the "Faux" in the name. It's still tasty, however!

I tried a number of commercial cooking beef broths in testing this recipe. I liked the King Soopers (part of Kroger's) brand the best. Kitchen Basics has a similar product, but its flavor is more vegetal and tart and I did not like it. Better Than Broth, my favorite for chicken broth, is much saltier than Kroger's brand but its flavor is good.

It's difficult to slice steak as thinly as most pho shops. If you decide to slice the beef yourself, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm it up. I found stir fry beef, if sliced thinly enough, works well. Or, see if the meat counter will slice some up for you. Asian markets with butchers are the best place to find beef sliced to the thinness of your local pho joint.

Pho noodles come in a variety of sizes. Try to find the small to medium size which will cook in a minute. Thicker ones will take a bit longer. You'll find the best selection in Asian markets. Thai basil is not something in most supermarkets either, but try to find it. It was a unique spicy aroma that really says "pho."

Faux Pho
(serves 8 generously)

Broth
1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 4 thick slices
1 4" piece of ginger, cut in half lengthwise
4 quarts low-sodium beef stock (under 500 mg per cup)
2-3 star anise (see Notes)
3 3" cinnamon sticks
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
2-3 Tablespoons brown sugar
salt to taste (see Notes)

Garnish & Condiments
8 ounces pho noodles
8 ounces thinly sliced beef, such as sirloin, loin, or eye of round
2 large sprigs Thai basil (or regular basil though it's not as good)
8 sprigs cilantro
4 cups mung bean sprouts
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1-2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced (optional)
2 limes, cut into quarters
hoisin sauce
Siracha sauce

Broil onion slices and ginger for 15 minutes, until they start to blacken. Put in a large soup pot. Add beef stock, star anise, cinnamon sticks, fish sauce, and 2 Tablespoons brown sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 30-60 minutes. Strain and keep hot. Adjust salt and add more brown sugar - the broth should be very slightly sweet and how much you need will depend on the flavors in the broth you use.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Soak pho noodles in warm water for about 20 minutes. Get all your condiments and garnish ready to go before cooking beef and noodles. First, cook the beef in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove and set aside. Cook noodles for 1 minute until slightly underdone. They will continue to cook in the broth. Drain noodles and divide among 8 large bowls. Place beef slices on top of noodles. Add bean sprouts, sliced scallions, and chile. Pour over 2 cups of broth. Serve with basil, cilantro and lime as garish. The hoisin sauce and Siracha is for dipping the meat. You can use just Hoisin or combine it with Siracha as desired. Serve while piping hot.

Let's say, it's just you. You can't eat 8 servings of soup. No problem. Cook up only the amount of noodles and beef you need. Heat up 2 cups of broth for one bowl of soup. The rest of the broth can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen for longer term storage.

Notes

• The star anise is a powerful spice. If you are not a big fan of anise (licorice), use 2 whole ones. 
• Pho broth is quite salty. This is not so salty. Season it to your liking. We go pretty light on the salt at School of Eating Good (see this post).

Baked Meaty Pasta

Don't you love recipes where you dump the pasta in with everything else, and it magically cooks just right? I do! I used ground bison, you could use any ground meat: beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, even vegetarian "meat." This is extremely simple and extremely satisfying, with a layer of gooey cheese on top. Gets even better on reheating.

This recipe uses homemade creamed spinach, which is easy to make. You make a Bechamel sauce (a milk sauce thickened with butter and flour, one of the classic French sauces) and mix in chopped spinach. You could use a package of frozen creamed spinach, but it's so easy to make your own, why not make it from scratch? Tastes a lot fresher too.

Baked Meaty Pasta
(serves 6-8, costs $9.50, though the cost will vary depending on meat used)

non-stick cooking spray
1 pound ground meat
about 1 teaspoon salt
about ½ teaspoon black pepper
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups water
8 ounces dry penne, regular or whole-wheat
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon flour
1 cup milk (skim, low-fat or whole)
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (see Note)
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese, about 1 cup

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 3 quart baking casserole dish with non-stick baking spray and set aside.

Spray non-stick cooking spray on a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and brown. Break up the big chunks into small pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the tomatoes, garlic powder, dried onion, oregano, basil, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper and water. Stir to combine and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Spoon enough sauce into the baking dish to cover the bottom. Add the penne. Spoon the rest of the sauce over the penne.

In the same skillet that you cooked the sauce in (no need to clean it out), melt the butter. Add the flour and stir to combine. Add the milk, stirring to smooth out the lumps. Cook until the milk thickens. Add the spinach, stirring to combine. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour spinach over sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes until the casserole is hot and bubbly. Sprinkle on the cheese and return to the oven, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.

Note: Instead of frozen spinach, you can use a 10 ounce package of fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped, or 2 cups cooked broccoli. You can even use a combination, which is what I used.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Penne, spaghetti - fuhgeddeaboudit! They both work. But, you'll need spaghetti to recreate the scene in The Lady and the Tramp.

What's more romantic than a big plate of Spaghetti and Meatballs? "You have a funny sense of romance, lady." Go watch The Lady and the Tramp, that Disney classic, and then tell us Spaghetti and Meatballs isn't romantic. We used a couple of different recipes (including my mom's that I've been eating most of my life) and took the best parts, streamlined them a bit so it's do-able on a weeknight, and voila! You have a romantic meal that's easy to pull off in about an hour, where half the time is enjoying the smell of the sauce simmering away on the stovetop.

Put some Frank Sinatra on, open a bottle of red, and you have yourself one heck of a romantic dinner. And the leftovers are every bit as good.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Spaghetti and Meatballs
(6 servings, costs $11.50)

Meatballs

1 pound Lean Ground Meat (beef, chicken, turkey, veal or some combination of them)
1 clove Garlic, minced

½ cup Dry Breads Crumbs

2 large Eggs

¾ teaspoon Salt

¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

¼ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, chopped (about 4 large sprigs)

½ teaspoon Dried Oregano, crushed in your palm

¼ teaspoon Dried Basil, crushed in your palm

¼ cup Milk


¼ cup Flour

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Sauce

28 ounces canned Diced Tomatoes, undrained

16 ounces Tomato Sauce

1 teaspoon Salt

¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Dried Basil

¼ teaspoon Dried Thyme

½ teaspoon Dried Oregano

1 Tablespoon Dried Minced Onion (see Note)
2 teaspoons Sugar

1 pound Dried Spaghetti

2 teaspoon Salt for salting the pasta water


Grated Parmesan Cheese, for garnish

Combine all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Mix to combine but don't squeeze too much or the meatballs will be dense and tough. Form into meatballs (small or large, whatever size you like). Put the flour on a plate and roll each meatball in the flour.

Heat the olive oil in a large covered skillet over medium-high heat. Place the meatballs in the hot oil and brown on top and bottom. Turn with care to keep them from breaking apart. Remove the meatballs to a plate. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add all the sauce ingredients and stir to combine. Add back the meatballs and any juice that collected on the plate. Cover the skillet and simmer for 30 minutes, reducing the heat further to keep it from boiling too vigorously.

While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the spaghetti and salt. Cook spaghetti until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain. To serve, place a portion of spaghetti in a bowl, ladle on some sauce and meatballs (how many depends on how big you made them) and garnish with grated Parmesan cheese.

Like many sauce-y things, the sauce tastes even better if chilled then reheated.

Note: Dried Minced Onion is a great pantry item. Inexpensive and lasts forever. You can add it directly to sauces and over long cooking, it will dissolve into the sauce, imparting a bit of onion flavor without any crunchy bits of onion. It's my go-to onion in slow cooker recipes where you don't want to bother with sautéing the onions before putting them in the slow cooker.

What's in Season now?

Winter is setting in but that doesn't mean all the good produce deals are gone. A number of fruits and vegetables are not only at their prime right now, but fairly inexpensive.

Citrus: There was a reason people were excited to find oranges in their Christmas stocking once upon a time. Winter is citrus season in the warmer parts of the Northern Hemisphere and they were still hard to get in cold places until well into the 20th century. Nowadays, there is a bumper crop of any number of delicious and nutritious citrus in US supermarkets. There are navel oranges, grapefruits, satsumas and clementines. Great for eating out of hand or using in recipes.

Kabocha squash from my garden. A delicious Japanese variety.

Winter Squash: We wrote about winter squash back in October. It's still out there. Winter squash is a great keeper but when this year's crop is gone, the price will jump.

Spinach: Spinach thrives in cooler temperatures. As any gardener can tell you, it bolts (goes to seed) with the slightest hint of hot weather. Frozen spinach is cheap throughout the year, but the flavor of fresh spinach is far better. Baby spinach is available year-round too but it is usually three to four times as expensive as fresh bunch spinach. Like other fresh greens, spinach needs thorough cleaning. A lot of sand can hide in those leaves. For tips on cleaning it, see our post on kale. This recipe from a recent class calls for baby spinach, but fresh spinach works just as well if you coarsely chop it.

Onions: Aren't onions in season all the time? Yes, you can get onions year-round and they are usually inexpensive. But, they are harvested in the summer, then stored. They are quite sensitive to raising temperatures (not a problem in commercial storage) so as we move out of winter into spring, they start to sprout and get soft soon after showing up in the supermarkets. This time of year, that's not a problem as temperatures remain low.

Here's a recipe that uses lots of onions: a slow cooker pot roast. Many recipes call for dumping everything in the slow cooker and letting is cook for a long, long time. If you do this, the onions will never get meltingly tender. They will stay crunchy even after hours of cooking. You are certainly welcome to cook it that way but it's much better if you take the time to saute the onions in a bit of oil before dumping it in the slow cooker. Yes, yes, another step, but well worth it.

As with most stews and braises, this recipe is even better chilled overnight and reheated. The sauce also freezes well, though don't freeze it with the pasta. Pasta doesn't freeze well.

Italian Pot Roast with Onion Sauce
(serves 8, cost $14.30*)

1 2-pound piece of beef top round, arm roast, or chuck roast
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
4 large onions, thinly sliced
1 carrot, finely chopped
½ stalk celery, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley, about 5 large sprigs
1 teaspoon dried sage, crumbled in your palm
10 whole white or black peppercorns
1 cup white wine (alcohol-free is fine)
1 teaspoon salt + a bit more for seasoning meat and onions
1 cup of water
ground black pepper for seasoning meat
2 Tablespoons tomato paste (see Note)
1 pound penne or rigatoni pasta
grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Season meat with salt and black pepper. Place in a 3 to 5 quart slow cooker.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, sprinkle with about ⅛ teaspoon salt (a healthy pinch), and cook, stirring often, until onions are golden and translucent. Pour all the onions on top of the meat. Add carrot, celery, parsley, sage, peppercorns, white wine, 1 teaspoon salt, and water to slow cooker. Set slow cooker to cook on low for 7 hours.

After 7 hours, remove the meat. It should be quite tender. Shred it and add back to onions. Stir in 2 Tablespoons tomato paste. Keep covered while cooking pasta.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Serve meat sauce over pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Note: Look for tomato paste in a tube. It will keep a long time in the refrigerator, unlike an open can of tomato paste.

*Usually, I use local prices to estimate recipe cost. This time I used the USDA's price average for a boneless choice-grade chuck roast, which is $4.57. That's a national average. In my local supermarket, that cut is selling for $5.49/pound, considerably more. The total cost using local prices is $16.10. Which only points out the difficulty of estimating recipe costs. Still, I think it is a useful gauge of costliness of our recipes and will continue to post it.

Adapted from 12 Best Foods Cookbook by Dana Jacobi (Rodale, 2005)

Cajun Meatloaf

Meatloaf - comfort food of the first order. It's easy to make and delicious as a leftover. This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit's Fast, Easy, Fresh. What makes it Cajun? The Holy Trinity, the Pope and a good dose of heat. "What are you talking about? What does religion have to do with Cajun meatloaf?" The hallmarks of Cajun cooking are 4 ingredients: onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic. The onion, celery, and green pepper make up the Holy Trinity. Garlic, highly revered in Cajun cooking, is the Pope. With a bit of cayenne and Tabasco sauce, there's plenty of heat, if you want it. The meatloaf is still full-flavored without it.

Cajun Meatloaf
(served 6, cost is $6.15)

 2 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ - ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, depending on how spicy you want your meatloaf
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 pound ground beef
1 egg
½ cup fine dry breadcrumbs (see Note)
½ cup ketchup
1 Tablespoon Tabasco or other hot sauce

Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat butter or oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, green pepper, and celery. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add thyme, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and cumin and cook for another minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Mix together ketchup and Tabasco in a small bowl.

Combine ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, and about ½ of the ketchup mixture in a large bowl. Add vegetables and mix with your hands. Form into a loaf in a 8"x8" baking dish (it fits best if you form it on a diagonal) or a 11"x7"x2" dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Spread top of meatloaf with remaining ketchup mixture and bake until cooked through, another 40 minutes.

Note: To make your own breadcrumbs, allow bread to dry out until hard then grate it on the smallest holes of a grater. Great way to use up odds and ends of bread.

Chinese-style Minced Meat Lettuce Wraps

This is a popular appetizer at a nation-wide Chinese restaurant chain. It's not traditional but it sure is tasty. You can use whatever ground meat you like: beef, pork, chicken, turkey, or lamb. I'm sure vegetarian ground "meat" would work too. The flavors are big, making up for any blandness in the meat (or meat substitute). Our recipe makes 3-4 entree portions, so this is a cheap way to get your lettuce wrap fix.

The water chestnuts and the lettuce add a wonderful crunch. It's usually served with iceberg lettuce which gives maximum crunch but any large lettuce leaves will work. Those are green leaf lettuce in the photo.

Nothing terribly exotic here. Hoisin sauce, water chestnuts, and Asian sesame oil are all available at your average large supermarket.

Chinese-style Minced Meat Lettuce Wraps
(serves 3-4 as an entree; total cost $6.75)

16 large Lettuce Leaves Such As Romaine Or Iceberg, washed and patted dry
1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1 pound Lean Ground Beef
½ medium Onion, minced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
¼ cup Hoisin Sauce
2 teaspoons Minced Fresh Ginger
1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar
1-2 teaspoons Chinese Chile Paste Or Chile Oil, optional
1 8 ounce (5 oz. drained weight) can Water Chestnuts, drained and cut into ¼" dice
3 Green Onions, chopped
2 teaspoons Asian Sesame Oil

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef in oil, stirring often and breaking chunks into small bits. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile paste or oil to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions,  and cooked beef; continue cooking another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add sesame oil.

Spoon beef mixture into center of each lettuce leaf and serve.

Notes: Ground pork, turkey, chicken, lamb, or a vegetarian ground meat substitute all work as well as ground beef.

Chicken & Broccoli Stir-fry

A successful stir-fry requires a number of things:

• You need to have everything ready before you start cooking. Things happen fast with a stir-fry because it is a high-heat cooking method. If you don't have every ingredient measured and ready to go, things will go south quickly. Garlic burns, meat overcooks. Not pretty. Having everything ready to go is called "mise en place." It's French for putting in place. Mise en place is how restaurants can turn out hundreds of from-scratch meals in very little time. And, it's not just for restaurants. It will make you a better home cook.
• You need to cut your raw ingredients in similar bite-sized pieces. Food needs to cook quickly and if there are big hunks of meat or broccoli in your stir-fry, or if everything is cut in very different sizes, it will not cook quickly nor will it cook evenly. You want the meat and veggies in equivalent bite-sized pieces.
• You need to use really high heat. A stir-fry cooks in 10 minutes or less. For that to happen, you need to get your skillet or wok as hot as you can. Of course, because you are working with very high heat, you have to be on top of what's going on. No answering the phone. No digging through the fridge for ingredients (see first bullet again). It also means that you need to keep stirring the ingredients to keep things from burning. There's a reason it's called stir-fry. The high heat is also what makes it taste so good, so don't be afraid. 

This is about as simple as you can get in a stir-fry. It's not sophisticated but it's quick and filling. Future posts will feature other stir-fries with more complex flavors.

Chicken & Broccoli Stir-fry
(serves 2-3)

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dry sherry or Chinese rice wine (see Note)
¾ pound skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into slices about ¼" thick, 2 x 1" long and wide (see Variations)
½ pound broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets, stems peeled and sliced 1/4" thick (see Variations)
1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil
½ - 1 teaspoon minced ginger, depending on your love of ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
additional soy sauce, if desired

Combine soy sauce, cornstarch and dry sherry in a medium bowl. Mix enough to dissolve cornstarch. Add chicken breast and toss to coat meat with marinade. Marinate in the fridge for 10-30 minutes. Drain chicken pieces, reserving 1 tablespoon of marinade.

Heat oil in skillet or wok until very hot. The oil will shimmer and ripple (but not smoke) when it's hot enough. Don't walk away while the oil is heating up because it can go from hot enough to bursting into flames quickly. [If this ever happens to you, don't panic! Cover the pan with a lid and remove from the heat. Do not remove lid until pan has cooled.]

Add chicken to skillet and immediately start stirring it around. Stir fry for a few minutes until chicken begins to brown. Add ginger, garlic and broccoli. Stir fry for another 5-6 minutes until broccoli is done to your liking.

Add broth and 1 tablespoon of reserved marinade. Cook for 30 seconds. The sauce should boil and thicken somewhat.

Serve with rice, passing soy sauce if additional salt is needed.

Note: Though we don't generally recommend cooking sherry, if you aren't old enough to buy actual sherry, it will do if it's all you can get. Just remember that it has a lot of added salt so you probably won't need additional soy sauce. You can also find Chinese cooking rice wine in most Asian markets, but it also has salt added.

Variations: Beef, pork, shrimp, scallops, or tofu can be substituted for the chicken. They will all cook in about the same time if they are cut into a similar size. Jumbo shrimp should be cut in half lengthwise. Tofu should be cut into 1x1" cubes. Other vegetables can be used, such as bok choy, Napa cabbage, mushrooms, or green beans. Bok choy, Napa cabbage, and mushrooms will cook in less time, about 3 minutes. Green beans will take as long as broccoli to cook.

Beef and Bean Burrito Filling

This is an all-purpose inexpensive filling/dip/topping. It's quick and easy too.

Beef and Bean Filling/Dip
(makes 6-8 servings)

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped OR 1 4 oz can chopped green chiles
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 16 oz can refried beans with green chiles
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or use Monterey jack or Colby cheese)

In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium-high heat until beef is starting to brown. Add onion and green pepper and cook another few minutes until onions soften.

Stir in chili powder, salt, black pepper, tomato sauce, and refried beans. Mix well and heat through. Remove from the heat and mix in cheese.

Some suggestions for this filling:

Fill a tortilla - add some shredded lettuce, salsa, and more cheese and guacamole.

Top a baked potato and add a little more cheese and sour cream.

Make nachos by topping tortilla chips along with additional cheese, sliced jalapenos, chopped tomatoes.

Hollow out a Kaiser roll and fill. Top with additional cheese.