Meatloaf Just To Warm You Up

            On rainy, kind of crappy days I find that I am drawn to making food that warms you up from the inside out. The kind of food that is simple and strait forward but delicious and satisfying all at once. Nourishing to both the body and the soul is what we are aiming for. There are few things that hit that sweet spot for me and one of them is meatloaf. It is something that I ate as a kid that I was just mad for. It also helped my cause that it was always made by either my Grand or my Mom, two pretty bad ass cooks. So this is a bit of a riff on their meatloaf. It makes me happy just talking about it. It also will fill your kitchen with one of the best smells ever, so that is a plus. My family would serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans. That being said, in my opinion, it is best served as a sandwich. I know you are all shocked to hear me say this. Be warned however, meatloaf sandwiches can lead to the best kind of food coma. My kid sister Tiff can testify to this fact. So here is some comfort food for you all to try. You will not be disappointed.

Meatloaf to the tune of Something to Talk About by Badly Drawn Boy

1lb lean ground beef

½ lb lean ground pork

1 onion finely diced

1 egg

¼ cup bread crumbs

1 cup grated cheese

6 strips of double smoked bacon

A good splash of Worcestershire sauce

A good splash of hot sauce

Salt and pepper

A good drizzle of catsup (optional)

-Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a loaf pan with the strips of bacon.

-Mix the beef, pork, onion, egg, crumbs, ½ the cheese, sauces and salt and pepper all together in a big mixing bowl. And divide it in half.

-Press half of the mixture into the loaf pan. Spread the remaining cheese over that. Press in the other half of the meat sealing in the cheese. Drizzle with the catsup if you like. Bake for 45-55 minutes.

-Let rest for at least 10 minutes then slice and serve. Magic, Baby.

Bar Food For My Fight Fan Brethren

            There are few things that I enjoy more than getting together with a bunch of buddies and watching the fights. A bunch of grown men beating the crap out of one another and drinking some beer seems like the perfect excuse to put together some kick ass bar food. Yep we are dealing with fried stuff that every once and a while you need to indulge in. Here are a couple of favorites that always seem to please the dudes when they hit the coffee table. They are also really easy to put together and all your buddies will be begging for you to do it again for the next big card of fights. So here are two faves, Chicken wings and perhaps the biggest order of nachos you are likely to see until you decide to try and one up me. So in the immortal words of Bruce Buffer... “It’s Time.”

A Mountain of Nachos to the tune of Black Out Tonight by The Dropkick Murphies

1 bag of tortilla chips

1 onion diced

2 bell peppers diced

Chopped tomatoes

1 small can of sliced black olives

3 jalapenos sliced

1 lb of flank steak diced

4 thick cut slices of bacon diced

2 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

A ton of grated cheese

¼ cup vinegar

Salt

½ a can of beer

-Here is the only real work that you will need to do and you do the day before so you are pretty much set the day of. Toss your jalapenos in a small sealable container with a good pinch of salt and the vinegar. Shake it around until the salt dissolves and toss it into the fridge over night. This pickles the chilli peppers and takes some of the up-front heat out of them.

-Heat up a pan over medium high heat then add a little oil and then your meats sear the meat off. Add your spices and fry until your kitchen smells like Mexican food. Add your beer and let it reduce until your meat has a good coating of saucy goodness let cool and stick it in the fridge until you are ready to assemble like the avengers.

-All you have left to do is put it all together and bake them at 350 degrees until all that cheese is melty and good. I will take it on faith that you all have had nachos and can figure out how to put it together. Rock and Roll, you know have killer nachos. Enjoy.

Sweet Chilli wings to the tune of Hell’s Bells by ACDC

Sauce:

¼ cup honey

¼ cup catsup

A good squeeze of Saracha, more if you like hotter foods

1 tbsp sugar

¼ cup vinegar

4 cloves of minced garlic

-In a small sauce pan, over medium high heat, fry your garlic and then add all of the other ingredients. Stir and let it reduce until it thickens up. This is the toughest part of the entire recipe. Remove from the heat and let cool and refrigerate it if you are making it a head of time.

The wings:

2 lbs of chicken wings

1 cup of flour

1 tbsp of salt

Pepper

1 cup of oil, I use vegetable oil but whatever you like.

-Mix all of the salt pepper and flour together in a large mixing bowl. Dredge your wings in the mixture until they are fully coated in the flour.

-Add you oil to a large frying pan, over medium high heat, add your wings and fry them until the skin gets golden, crispy and awesome looking. Pull them out of the oil and fire them onto some paper towel to drain off some of the excess oil.

-Dump your sauce into a large mixing bowl and then add your wings. Toss to coat the wings with the sauce and put them on a plate. Done baby.

-If you are not a fan of the spicy Sweet chili thing you can always substitute BBQ sauce for the chili one. There is a killer one of my own devising in the cooking for Yukon Blonde post.

With BBQ Sauce

Whether it is for the fights, a Hockey game or a Sex and the City marathon this bar food should bring a smile to your face. At least I hope it does. Cheers.