Adventures in Meat - the cottage/Jarred edition

I spent another fabulous weekend up north and cooking. When i arrived and was putting some of the vegetables i brought away, i opened the fridge and was greeted by the smell of various types of meat. I always try to get the boys to eat veggies, but apparently they had been on Roncesvalles and had been to the butcher - there were big sausages, deli meat and a bag of mixed ground pork and beef.

After reeling back from the smell, i realized that this weekend was going to be a meat weekend, no matter what i did.

Friday the boys just did some of the sausages on a bun, i did make myself a salad and then had a little bit of sausage. I didn't know what the combo of pork and beef was for, but apparently Jarred had plans for a pasta sauce with three types of meat!!!!

For my contribution to the meal i made a greek salad, minus olives as someone at the table was picky. A plate of dips and sauces for breads, and finally i made a alfredo sauce with blanched asparagus for a small dish of veggie pasta.

Above:

Two types of ground meat

Dips and veggie pasta

Meat pasta

Garlic bread, salad and crostini

The table

Valentine's Steak Dinner

This Valentine's day, which was also the family day long weekend AND Chinese New Year, i spent up at my parents place. Instead of heading out to a restaurant and having a rushed meal with a bunch of couples who hate each other we decided to eat in. (this also allowed me to save face and not third-wheel with my parents like last year).

Now that i am a meat eater, my mother picked up some HUGE steaks which i seasoned with a mixture of almost any spice i could get my hands on. Instead of digging out the bbq from the snow bank we did them on my mom's indoor grill/sandwich maker. My mom also made a really cool sweet potato and pear side dish along with sauteed king oyster mushrooms, asparagus with Parmesan and a beet and carrot salad.

The meal as lovely, and a lot better than going out!

Above:

Dinner (and my mom's new/vintage Denby plates
Mushrooms
Adding the pears to the potatoes
Steaks
Beet and Carrot Salad
Asparagus

Non-meat meals for meatlovers

Growing up eating little or no meat, i've never really had the idea that meat makes a meal, but i forget for some people it is the focus on the meal, and everything else is just window dressing. Cooking for a crowd can present this challenge, especially when you have people (okay men) who don't think they could possibly get full from a non-meat meal. I have converted an number of people and made them believers, and Mike is one of my success stories.

On day two of our winter visit to Mike's cottage and after our massive surf & turf meal i thought it would be nice to lighten up the menu a little. We were so preoccupied with the first meal, we had to run out to pick up some more groceries for the second meal. I was wheeling the buggy to the checkout when two of our party realized that there was no meat, they were worried, but i had my secret weapons - pasta and eggplant.

A lot of people claim to dislike eggplant, and i think that's just because they haven't had it made well. I actually didn't really have a plan to make everyone who was skeptical about a meatless meal happy, and Mike was offering to cook up some sausages on the side, but i prevailed.

I think one of the fundamental problems people have with eggplant is the texture. One of the things i've learned to do in order to make people more receptive to them, is either to use the small asian eggplants, or salt the eggplants. After cutting the eggplant into discs i place them in a colander, coat with salt and allow the eggplant to sweat for ten minutes or so. This tends to take the bitterness out of them. you simply wash them off afterwards and pat them dry.

I decided to make mini deconstructed eggplant Parmesan to go with the meal. I lightly covered the eggplant with with a breadcrumb and Parmesan breading, and baked them till golden and topped with with a oven roasted cherry tomato sauce i made and a bit of Parmesan.With the veggie pasta in a rose sauce and a salad even Mikey was happy and there were no sausages necessary!!!

Above:

My eggplants

Fresh out of the oven.