Jacey's Easy Day meatloaf

Ready to eat Meatloaf

Ingredients:

800 grams of minced beef/pork-beef
150 ml of breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 large Onion (minced)
2 Tbsp Butter
2 tsp of Cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp of Black Pepper
2 tsp of garlic powder
2 tsp of onion powder
2 Tbsp of finely chopped fresh parsley
200 ml of cream
Salt to taste

Optional:
1 small sweet pepper minced

Method:

• Grease a loaf pan with butter.
• Beat the eggs and cream together with all the spices, herbs and salt (you may want to add a little more salt as you'll be mixing this into the rest of the batter), leave aside to set for a while.
• Gently brown the onions in a frying pan with butter and allow to cool.
• Mix the onions into the minced meat along with the bread crumbs, and mix well.
• Pour in the beaten egg and cream batter into the minced meat dough and place into the loaf pan.
• You may place the meatloaf in the oven immediately or prepare this in advance in reception of lots of kids :). Serve with mash potatoes and save the juice from the meatloaf to make a good sauce.
• If cooking immediately place in oven at 225°C for about 1- 1 1/2 hours (reducing heat to about 180°C about halfway through to avoid drying too much)
• If cooking the next day. Allow meatloaf to sit in room temperature for about an hour and cook for about 225°C for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours reducing heat to about 180°C halfway through)
• Note: Adjust the time according to your oven type. Make sure that the meat is completely cooked before serving especially when using pork. The best way to find out is to pierce the meat in the center and allow the juice to run clear. If it appears a reddish cook for another 35 mins (in 170°C), if it appears a little pink then cook for another 15-20 mins (in 170°C).

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

The Buttercream frosting

Ingredients:

120 ml of solid vegetable shortening
150 ml of solid butter (unsalted if you don't like the salty taste)
200 ml of unsweetened cocoa powder OR 50 grams of unsweetened melted cooking chocolate (I prefer cooking chocolate because the texture of the buttercream will be smoother)
700 ml of confectioners sugar (in Finnish: Tomusokeri, you can reduce the amount of sugar if you are using sweetened cooking chocolate)
3-4 Tbsp of milk

Method:

• Mix shortening and butter until well beat with medium-high speed.
• Add the melted chocolate or cocoa powder and beat well at medium speed.
• Sieve in the confectioner's sugar a little at a time and beat at low speed to avoid clouding.
• Finally add the milk a little at a time until the mixture is smooth.

The icing can be put into the fridge and can last up to 2 weeks. To reuse take out of the fridge and allow to 2 hours at room temperature, whisk it up before using to pipe it on the cupcake or spreading over cakes.

For the recipe of the chocolate cupcake go here: Chocolate Cupcake recipe

Chocolate cupcake

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

4-5 Tbs (heap) of butter (room temperature)
300 ml of sugar (I use less because I don't like my cakes too sweet)
300 ml of all purpose flour                    }
170 ml unsweetened cocoa powder      }
2 tsp baking powder                            }    Mix all this together
1/3 tsp baking soda                             }
1/8 tsp salt (or a pinch) (omit this if you're using salted butter)
2 eggs (break them into a cup so you could pour into the batter a little at the time)
3/4 tsp Vanilla extract or 1 tsp of Vanilla sugar
200 ml of milk

Method:

• Beat butter and sugar until fluffy at medium speed.
• Add eggs a little at a time until beaten in at medium speed. Throw in salt (if using) and continue to mix.
• Add vanilla extract/vanilla sugar and continue to beat until well blended.
• Pour in flour mixture a little at a time and beat at low speed until well blended.
• Now your mixture would be rather thick, add the milk and beat until well blended.
• Scoop the batter into muffin pan (about half portion of the standard muffin pan as the cupcake tends to rise, you do not want it too round so that you can make a prettier buttercream swirl) and bake at 180°C for about 30 mins (to make sure that cupcakes are cook stick in a toothpick and make sure that toothpick comes out clean) You may need to adjust the time depending on your oven or even turn the pan around for even browning.

Please check Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for the frosting recipe.

09 April 2011 - I'll add the Chocolate Ganache Frosting shortly =)

Chocolate Mousse cake (Vegan friendly and gluten free)

First draft:

Chocolate Mousse cake (Vegan friendly, lactose intolerant friendly and gluten free)

Ingredients
400 ml of oat whipping cream (fridge temperature)
200 ml of rice or other veggie based whipping cream (fridge temperature)
1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
250 grams of dark chocolate (milk free) (make sure you dissolve chocolate to runny texture, microwave or bain marie will do)
3 Tablespoons of vegan friendly margarine (melted)
2  Tablespoons of brown cane sugar
1 pack of gluten free digestives Semper oat digestive or Glutano digestive (these are wheat free, milk free, egg free)

Optional
1-2 teaspoon of agar jelly dissolved in hot water (If you're not familiar with using agar you can screw it up pretty badly)
Berries for decoration

Method

• Break the cookies into crumbles and add the sugar.
• Pour the melted margarine onto the cookie and mix well.
• Press the cookie dough mixture into a 24 cm springform pan and bake in the oven at 200 degrees C for about 5-10 mins (depending how dark you want it to be)
• Remove the cookie dough from oven and allow to cool on a wired rack.
• Once the cookie base has harden you may proceed to make the mousse. Put all the cream together and whip until almost double in volume
• Add vanilla sugar and melted chocolate and continue to whip (for a more grainy texture half whip and then stir the chocolate to get a chocolate chippy effect)
• Scoop the finished mousse onto the cookie base and even it out.
• Leave the cake in the fridge overnight (at least 6 hours) before serving. 

Note: To remove cake from the springform, run a thin knife (preferably dipped in hot water) around the edges to loosen the side before releasing the baking tin. If you use baking sheet underneath the cookie base it will make it easier to transfer to a serving dish. =) Enjoy!

Ps: The original recipe is slightly different, taken from a Finnish website called Kinuskikissa. I didn't like how it turned out so I had to adapt it to make work for me :). You should experiment to get the best results up to your taste.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin (Vegan friendly)

The Ingredients

Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin (Vegan friendly)


Ingredients
400 gr broccoli

400 gr cauliflower

Pot of water + salt 

2 Tbsp Margarine (I use Keiju blue as this was told to be without anything of animal origin)

1-1 1/2 Tbsp of flour

200 ml soya milk

200-250 ml oat cream (oatly cooking cream, the black box in this picture)

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of white pepper (as strong as you want it to be)

Salt to taste

Optional

1 tsp Vegetable fond

Dash of Garlic powder (not in picture because I was too fast with the photo :P)

Method

• Boil a pot of water and put in the harder stems from broccoli to cook for a few minutes (2-3 mins) followed by the cauliflower and the rest of the broccoli florets (cook for another 3 mins or so)
• Drain the veggies leaving behind some of the broth to add taste and to thin the gratin sauce. Pour the veggies into a oven proof bowl that is greased with margarine. Heat a saucepan (stainless steel pot) with the margarine and whisk in the flour until it turns into roux (thicker consistency)
• Reduce heat and pour in the soya milk and continue to whisk until flour has dissolved. Add the cream and continue to whisk. Now put in all the spices and add the broth from the veggie to thickness you desired (I usually add about 100 ml of the broth). Taste and add more salt if needed. You may also add some vegetable fond and garlic for the extra kick. It's good without it anyways :).
• Pour the finished gratin sauce all over the broccoli and cauliflower. Cook in the oven for 30 -35 mins at 200 °C (fan assisted at 180°C for 30-35 mins) or otherwise until there's a slight golden layer.

Caution: Don't serve the casserole immediately. Leave it to cool after removing it from the oven for 5-10 mins. 

Enjoy!

The Finished Product