Help a cooking novice!

Cafe Society
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I am the daughter of a Fantastic Cook. I never felt home in the kitchen and I am not a big proponent of Fancy Schmancy Take All Day Kinda Cooking.

Comfort Food.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 pounds of ground beef ( or half beef/half turkey or pork)

1 egg

5 peices of bread (ripped up)

Some kind of taco seasoning that comes in a packet ( or you can use the packets of ranch ( or whatever) kind of dressing that you like.)

.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Throw in a meatloaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

( If you don’t have a meatloaf pan, which is essentially like this mine are stoneware from Pamper Chef. ( I found them at a garage sale for half price and I lurves them.) you can throw it on a cookie sheet and bake it. This is is a freeballin’ kinda form, but it works just the same.

**A variation on this that is a guaranteed crowd pleaser is: ** use tatertots instead of bread and mix in a cream of mushroom soup instead of an egg.

Ketchup on Top is optional.

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I don’t know if it is available in the UK, check out Cook’s Illustrated magazine.

It doesn’t overwhelm with 250 bajillion recipies per issue. They take about 5 or 6 favorite recipes and figure out what the best method is for, say, cooking a holiday turkey. Or the science behind mashing a potato.

I like to know WHY if I make a biscuit ( which I never do, I just do the store bought ones from the dairy case.) turns out flat because of too much water. The writing never panders or condescends. There is also no advertising either, which is always a plus.

Another bonus is they usually do a comparitive taste test of something and rate it.

This month’s feature was BACON. bacon, bacon, bacon. an who doesn’t want to read a full page of bacony goodness with reviews, prices and whatnot? Bacon is a migraine trigger for me and I cannot eat it, but it doesn’t mean I cannot obsess over WHAT IS THE BEST BACON EVUR!!!111!!!

For the inquisitive and anal retentives, this magazine is right up their alley.

63

I made these for a big party at work. Note: there’s nothing sacred about these amounts…if you like more cheese, add more cheese etc. I’ll let you reduce the recipe—the finished product weighed about 20 lbs.

12 lbs hash browns, frozen. Cubed or shredded are fine, but not patties. Or you can substitute frozen potatoes O’Brien.
2 lbs sour cream
3 sticks butter
24 oz sharp cheddar
2 large yellow onions (white are ok, but yellow have more flavor)
2 lg cans cream of potato (or cream of celery, cream of chicken, etc.)
salt, pepper
Add other things you like on a baked potato if desired—mushrooms, cooked bacon, chives, etc.

To expedite, leave the frozen hash browns in the fridge to thaw.

Chop the onion. Melt the butter in a large skillet, at medium heat—I use a wok-shaped pan, but that’s not critical. Cook onions till they’re transparent.

Original recipe’s plan:
Then mix everything in a big bowl. Spray some non-stick on a large pan (the above was made in a turkey roaster) and transfer. Bake at 350F—a normal sized recipe would probably take 1 hr 15 minutes. All you really need to do is cook the hashbrowns to the desired consistency.

How I really do it, especially if the hashbrowns have frozen clumps:
Put everything in the pan, throw in the oven, bake awhile. Remove, stir well, return to oven. Why dirty a bowl to mix it, then slop some out while transferring etc.?

Note: These will take longer than your guidelines, I know. However, they’re yummy and you can freeze them, microwave, etc. Divided over the number of days you’ll have them, they’re worth the effort. Have as a side dish or wrap in a tortilla, add some salsa for a breakfast burrito.

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This one is very fast, filling and tasty:

1 baking potato, cut up into bite-sized pieces
1 large smoked sausage, such as kielbasa (like Hillshire Farms or similar) cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
olive or vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Put a couple tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan. Heat up to about medium-high. Dump in the potatoes and fry them until brown and nearly done (take one piece out, cut it open and eat it; if it needs to cook a little more, that’s “nearly done”). Add the onions and sausage and cook until the sausage pieces are brown (smoked sausage is already cooked/cured, so doneness is not an issue). Season with salt and pepper.

You can also make this with hamburger, but you need to add the burger earlier so it cooks through. Or cook it separately and add it at the end. I like a lot of pepper in this dish, and sometimes add some dried sage.

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Put one cup of long grain white rice in a pan. Add two cups water and a tablespoon of butter or margarine. Bring to a boil. Cover tightly (i.e., put on the lid that matched the pan, or else seal with aluminum foil) and turn off the heat. Wait 20 minutes without peeking. Fluff with a fork.

This morning I sliced up a rib-eye steak and put it in a bowl with Soy Vay Very Very Teriyaki. For lunch I’ll cook the meat in a skillet and make some rice to put it on.