Sept 14 2013
I have not posted much lately since my wife had both knees replaced and I am busy visiting her in rehab twice a day. She is doing real well. I see there have been a lot of good cooks the past week and sorry I don’t have the time to comment but I have been looking at them. They have been making me hungry so I decided to cook today.
I found a recipe for Midwest meatloaf that sounded good and I would have left overs for several days of eating. I also found a recipe for balsamic onion stacks I adapted for a smoker and since they are done in a muffin pan I would have some sweet potato stacks too. I have done regular sweet potatoes before but had some white yams to use this time. Since it would be just me I did one onion stack and two sweet potato stacks.
I did the meatloaf in the morning then went to visit the wife. I had a little over two hours to relax some before going back to see my wife before supper.
When I got home I had my first beer for the day AHH! I sliced the white sweet potatoes thin on a mandolin and coated them with some half and half cream. I layered some in the muffin pan topped with a slice of Swiss cheese some bacon bits and salt & pepper, then repeated the layer. I covered the muffin pan with foil and smoked at 300 deg. for 25 minutes then uncovered and grilled my onions and added the stack to the muffin pan and cooked about 15 minutes longer; added a slice of mozzarella to the onion stack and did 5 more minutes.
I turned the smoker down to smoke mode while I heated a couple slices of meatloaf and toasted a cheese roll and topped it with some gorgonzola garlic chive butter.
It all hit the spot, meatloaf was good, and the onion stack is to die for! The white sweet potatoes are a little more dry than the orange so next time I would add more half & half cream.
Meatloaf Recipe
Midwest Meatloaf
Adapted from a recipe by Cathy Lowe
Serves:4 servings
Ingredients
* 2 pounds ground beef
* 1 small onion, finely chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* Salt
* Pepper
* 2 teaspoon chili powder, optional
* 3/4 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
* 2 tablespoon mustard
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 TBS dried
* 4 slices bacon (optional)
Directions
Preheat smoker to 275 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Gently mound the meat mixture into a loaf and place on a perforated cooking sheet. Smoke until an IT of 160 deg.
Note: I placed a sheet of foil the size of the loaf under it.
Onion Stack recipe
Balsamic onion stacks
Ingredients:
2 slices of onions about ½ inch thick for each stack
2 slices of tomatoes for each stack
1 slice of fresh mozzarella for each stack
4 fresh basil leaves for each stack
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Sweet paprika
Salt and pepper
6 hole large muffin pan
Pour some balsamic vinegar in a shallow dish large enough to layer the onion slices. Place the onion slices in and turn over. Drizzle a little olive oil over, and dust with some salt and sweet paprika. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours; turning onion slices over after 4 hours.
Heat your smoker to 300 deg. Spray the pan with some cooking spray. Grill the onion slices on a hot grill about 2 minutes on each side.
Build as many stacks as you are making with an onion slice, tomato slice, two basil leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Repeat for each stack.
Spray a sheet of foil and cover the onion stacks. Smoke covered at 300 deg. for 20 to 25 minutes. Add a slice of mozzarella cheese to each stack and cook uncovered another 5 to 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
Serve with thin slices of basil over top and add any seasoning needed.
Simply delicious!
Smokin Don
