Comfort Food, Why's it so hard to duplicate?

Comfort foods are those that generate good memories of our Mother's and Grandmother's cooking. It doesn't matter if your Matriarchs were amazing cooks of just fair, there was always something in their repertoire that reminds you of home.

I think that one of the most common comfort foods is Meatloaf. Sunday meatloaf covered in perfect gravy, mashed potatoes swimming in butter and a side vegetable, usually canned (I grew up ten thousand years ago and frozen vegetables weren't readily available).

For some reason there seems to be a disconnect with our matriarchs meatloaf and what we produce today. I find the thought of a yummy meatloaf dinner enticing, but the end result is often disappointing. The meatloaf seems tough and sits in your stomach like a rock.

I truly believe that our predecessors used methods of cooking that they found natural; methods that were passed down from their predecessors. The unfortunate thing is that they never wrote anything down. They didn't see cooking as an art form, but as a necessity. You learned to cook in the kitchen with your mother or you didn't and if you didn't, you're sorely out of luck.

I've been thinking a lot about meatloaf - who knows why? I've found an interesting "technique" that I think will help with that HEAVY meatloaf. I've started with a great Pampered Chef recipe and added a technique often used in Italian cooking. Pampered Chef's recipe is for Swedish Meat Loaf Supper (the leftovers can be used for sandwiches another day). The technique is to soak soft bread in milk, gently "ring" it out and add the milk softened bread to your meat mixture. I hope you'll try this out and let me know what you think.

Swedish Meat Loaf Supper

1 - 4 oz. can mushrooms (pieces and stems), drained and finely chopped

1/2 C. onion, finely chopped

1/4 C. fresh parsley, snipped

1 C. fresh white bread crumbs (about 2 slices)*

2/3 C. milk

1 egg

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground allspice or nutmeg (very common in Swedish cooking)

1 lb. lean (90%) ground beef

1 lb. lean ground pork (not sausage)

Noodles and Creamy Gravy

1 - 12 oz. pkg. uncooked egg noodles

1 - 12 oz. jar of mushroom or beef gravy

2 Tbl. milk

1/4 C. sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 for meat loaf.

Mix together, mushrooms, onions, parsley, bread crumbs, milk, egg and seasoning; mix well. Crumble meat into bowl and mix lightly, but thoroughly, with your hands till everything is fully incorporated. Shape meat mixture into a loaf and place in a loaf pan.

Bake 1 hour and 15 min. - 1 hour and 20 min., or until meat's no longer pink in the center, or internal temperature reaches 160 degrees (use pocket thermometer). Remove from oven to serving platter and let stand 10 minutes, covered with foil.

Cook noodles according to directions and drain. For creamy gravy, heat gravy with milk over med. heat, stirring occasionally with a whisk. Just before serving, whisk in sour cream (do not allow to boil); remove from heat.

Cut meatloaf across in half. Cut one half into 8 slices and serve with noodles and creamy gravy. Tightly wrap remaining meatloaf and refrigerate up to 4 days for use in meat loaf sandwiches.

Yields - 4 servings.

* You can crumble the bread, and add the milk to the meat mixture, as indicated, or you can break the bread into pieces, soak in the milk, then add the bread and milk to the meat mixture (make sure the bread is broken up before adding, you don't want clumps of bread in your meatloaf).

I could not possibly have meatloaf without sage. I'm sure it's not Swedish, but it's surely American. You can add anywhere from 1 tsp. - 2 tsp. of sage to your meat mixture, it depends on your affinity for sage. Give it a try. Start small and see where you go from there.

You'll notice that PC uses some pre-prepared foods, like the jar of gravy. You can make your own, if you like, starting with a white sauce, use beef stock instead of chicken and some milk or half and half and finish off with the sour cream. You can also use fresh mushrooms instead of canned, just saute them in a little butter before adding them to the meat mixture and/or the gravy.

Here's an extra recipe for you -

Millennium Meat Loaf Sandwiches - Serves 4

1/2 loaf of reserved Swedish Meatloaf

1/4 C. mayonnaise

1/4 C. sour cream

1 Tbl. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. All-Purpose Dill Mix (from the Pampered Chef)

1/2 medium cucumber, sliced

2-3 slices red onions, separate into rings

4 slices of rye bread

Cut meat loaf across into 8 thin slices. Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard and dill mix - set aside.

Slice cucumber and onion; separate onion slices into rings.

To assemble sandwiches, spread half of the mayonnaise mixture on one side of the bread slices. Top with meat loaf, onion, cucumber and a spoonful of remaining mayonnaise mixture.

There's nothing greater than cooking once and eating twice. Remember, you can always change things for your personal taste. I'd probably eliminate the onion, I love the idea of the cucumbers and, knowing how good the dill mix is, I'd definitely leave that in. This sounds like a great sandwich. Served open face, you're eliminating an extra slice of bread. Really, "what's not to like"?

Thanks to the Pampered Chef for their AMAZING recipes - just YUMMY!

Enjoy!