Truck Stop Meatloaf Made with Potato Chips

A moist delicious meatloaf and a salty waitress — these are some fond memories of a college road trip and a truck stop diner. I love meatloaf, especially when it’s made with potato chips. The best part is having enough left over to make sandwiches the next day. I’ve heard the life span of a good meatloaf is four days, but there's rarely enough left over to find out.

The tangy ketchup sauce is very important, it keeps everything moist as it bakes‚ I call it the protective ketchup barrier. Although people balk about using Liquid Smoke, I think it gives this meal an extra BBQ flavor that kicks the cold out of a chilly evening.

For this Truck Stop Meatloaf recipe and more, visit GardenFork.tv.

Flatbread Made with Chickpea Flour

I finally used up the last of the chickpea flour. I made Socca, a type of flatbread or crêpe from Southern France. The ingredients are simple — everything came from my local grocery store. You’ll need a cast iron griddle or a large cast iron pan.

Bean flours are super nutritious foods that are high in protein and fiber and low in fat. They are essential to vegan cooking. Bean flours are also a great alternatives for people who can’t eat wheat products, such as pasta and breads. But when combined with grain, they create a complete protein.

I’ve used the Bob's Red Mill brand, but if you can find it, use Indian Besan. It has a finer mill and makes a smooth thin batter. Socca is typically eaten as street food in the open markets, stuffed with savory things like potatoes and goat cheese. I just ate them fresh out of the oven — socca has a subtle sweet flavor when it’s made fresh.

For this socca recipe and more, visit GardenFork.tv.

Kimchi Jigae on a Gloomy Day

Kimchi Jigae, or kimchi soup, is one of my favorite Korean winter dishes. As our weather quickly moves towards fall, I find myself battling a sinus infection. This soup just might be the cure... or least a delicious home-made kitchen remedy on a clammy overcast day. It’s spicy enough to knock out an on coming cold.

I first had this stew in Flushing, Queens. Thinly sliced kimchi, vegetables, and aromatic spices stewed in a home-made stock — the key to this dish is slow, low cooking. I like mine topped with lots of sweet corn, but the traditional garnish is green onion. For this savory Korean Kimchi Soup recipe go to GardenFork.tv.

Pear-Apple Sauce

My friend Eric gave us a bag of pears and apples from his yard, I made sauce from the ones that were bruised. Apple sauce is super easy to make and pears give it a nice texture.

Pear Apple Sauce
Peel and core the apples and pears, and get rid of the bruised portions. Cut them into 1" pieces then soak them in a large pot of cold water of with juice from half a lemon. Soak for 20 minutes and drain.

You’ll need: 
- 8 cups of apple and pear, cut and cleaned
- half cup water
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/2 a lemon for soaking and for zest
- a large sauce pan with a lid
- wooden spoon

In a sauce pan bring water to a boil and dissolve sugar, then add apple and pear pieces. Lower temperature to medium and cover for 10 minutes. Now add lemon zest, cinnamon, salt, and ginger. Mash the apples and pears with a wooden spoon, stir and return cover. Mash and stir about every 10 minutes so that it doesn’t caramelize. In about 45 minutes or so you’ll have a sweet, tangy rustic sauce.

I like the lumps, they go well with oatmeal. But if you want a very smooth texture run the sauce through a ricer, a food mill, or blender. Store it jarred in the fridge to prevent you from eating the whole batch. For Eric’s video on making apple sauce go to GardenFork.tv.

Zucchini and Corn Fritters

The weather is quickly changing, it's much cooler and the sun is setting earlier. Time to make some dinner. This end-of-summer meal, Zucchini and Corn Fritters, is fresh from my Eric’s garden. I got the last harvest. I think of this type of recipe as typhoon food. We made a lot of fritters during that summer-long blackout of Typhoon Pamela (1976). This recipe combines dried and fresh ingredients.

This dish is typically made with young green squash, but just use a zucchini. You can also use a young pumpkin, the color is pretty. Use fresh or frozen corn, either works fine.

The spices lend an island flavor: cumin, oregano, chili and garlic. The version of this recipe is vegetarian (not vegan) but if you wanted a more authentic flavor, add minced dried shrimp to the batter and fry a piece of dried chili in the cooking oil. For this Zucchini and Corn Fritter recipe and tips on frying crisp, golden fritters, visit Gardenfork.tv.

Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella

The entire East Coast is stung by a massive heatwave. In Brooklyn it’s already over 100° in full humidity, and most of us have already experienced borough wide brown-outs. Angry cyclists collide with angry double-wide strollers. Pedestrians wade through a dusty sea of traffic. People are hot and testy — I just think they didn't have a proper meal. Today I kept my cool with some sliced tomatoes and fresh Mozzarella for lunch.

You'll need:
• 1 vine-ripe tomato
• fresh mozzarella
• fresh basil
• first-press olive oil
• 1 medium size garlic clove, minced
• pinch of salt

Make some garlic paste — mince the garlic and salt in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Slice mozzarella and coat it lightly in the garlic paste. Mince fresh basil. On a plate, alternate slices of cheese and tomato with some basil in between. Drizzle with more oil and serve with a good crusty bread

Summer Salad Topped with Maple Blue Cheese Dressing

It's late in the evening and the temperature app still reads 87°. Our country is witnessing a hot dry spell this July and Brooklyn is in for another scorching week with temps in the 90s. Good thing I made a lot of Blue Cheese dressing — it's cool, tangy, creamy, and waiting in the fridge. On brutal days like these I'd rather have a cool hearty salad for dinner with a big iced tea. This dressing would be ideal on a cold wedge of crunchy Iceberg Lettuce, but Romaine with a little sliced onion and red grapes is just as nice.

My Blue Cheese dressing is made with Danish Saga and a little maple syrup. Of course some crumbled bacon and wedge of bread completes this meal. My freind Lindsey says that her mom makes some kick-ass blue cheese dip as well — and Mrs. McCosh was nice enough to give us her recipe. For my tasty Maple Blue Cheese Dressing and Mrs. McCosh's Blue Cheese Dip recipes visit GardenFork.tv.

Kimchi — the Spice of Life

This year’s first batch of kimchi — It’s not fully fermented yet, but good enough to make a relish for today’s Memorial Day BBQ at Freddy’s Bar. Kimchi isn't difficult to make, but it is a task. If you have refrigerator space and air-tight containers you’re halfway there. For my kimchi recupe and detailed instructions go to Gardenfork.tv: Kimchi-licious! Here's a pictorial overview below.

You’ll need these spices: (clockwise) fresh garlic, ginger root, sweet Korean chili (finely ground), sea salt; brown sugar, fresh onion, scallions (not pictured).

Kimchi is made from Napa Cabbage. Make sure the leaves are firm and tight when you buy a head. Asian white radish (Daikon) lends a nice deep flavor as it ferments. The cabbage and the radish are cut into bite-size pieces, then are salted and brined overnight. Ginger and garlic are the key ingredients for making chili paste. Make sure you use fresh ginger root only — they should be plump and firm. Peel the ginger before you run it through the food processor with the garlic. Scallions are optional, but i do like them.

Make some chili paste (Gochuchang). Put all dry ingredients and spices into a bowl. Mix well and add enough water to make a thick paste. Adjust spices to taste. Now mix everything together in a large bowl until the cabbage is evenly coated. Here’s the tricky part. To start fermentation you must leave everything out at room temperature for a day. After that pack everything into air-tight containers and add brine until it covers the contents completely and place in the fridge. It should be ready in about a month.

A Monstrous Sweet Treatfrom a Little Red Bean

Here’s another childhood memory — sweet Red Bean Paste made from the Azuki bean. It’s sold in most Asian markets all year round, but usually it’s served during fall harvest festivals. Whole red beans are also candied and preserved. They taste similar to chestnut puree and pine nuts and the paste is as smooth as fine pumpkin filling. In Asian cuisine it’s used as a sweet spread or pastry filling in moon cakes and mochi balls. Red Bean ice cream is one of my favorite flavors, especially when it's topped with candied yam.

Koreans stuff Red Bean Paste into buckwheat pancake (pul-bang) as a traditional sweet dumpling. I like it with cream cheese on toasted bagels at breakfast, I bet these would be even better on waffles — very gaijin-gwai. If you make your own ice cream try this as a new flavor. It’s easy to make… and even easier with a blender.

To learn how to make Red Bean Paste and more... visit GardenFork.tv.

The purrrfect puree: Phillip the cat advises me on blender safety.

Not-so-slopy Joe!

Ever wonder what to do with that drawer full of Ketchup and Plum Sauce packets? Cook up some Sloppy Joe! TV trays, Gun Smoke, Kung Fu, or Charlie’s Angels, corn chips, an icy glass of Tang... I have such fond memories of the 70’s and Sloppy Joe Night that I barely remember that we were in a recession.

This is one of my favorite cheap eats. You can find this Not-so-sloppy Joe recipe on GardenFork.tv.

Tostones for Breakfast!

I thought I bought little red bananas the other day. When I sliced one open I could smell the scent of fresh cut grass. As it turns out, I bought a bunch of little red plantains by mistake — lucky me!

Although they look similar plantains are not really bananas, but a close cousin there of. They’re eaten green, or when they turn redish-purple to black. High in starch and low is sugar, they are prepared like a root vegetable... I like mine fried. Tostones are platano chips that are pressed flat and twice-fried, which makes them doubly delicious.

Tostones go with any meal that you’d serve with fries — I made them for breakfast. They aren’t hard to make but there is a little trick to peeling them. Lucky for us, we can find green plantains is most grocery stores, bodegas, and Caribbean markets here in Brooklyn.

You don’t need any fancy equipment — frying pan, sharp knife... if you don't have a tostonera press you can use a the bottom of a coffee mug. For a pictorial how-to and more, visit GardenFork.tv.

Huevos con tostones  — make this for breakfast.

Another Square Meal... Mushroom Frittata

I’m really getting into these cooking rings. Here’s another square egg dish: Mushroom Frittata with red pepper, parsley, cheddar cheese, and onion. It's served with cocktail sauce with a healthy side of buttered toast fries.

This recipe makes breakfast for two — or brunch for two depending how late your day starts on a weekend. It’s important not to over-fill the rings, otherwise they’ll flow over the tops of the rings as they cook. You’ll add the eggs into the rings to make layers, sorta like a parfait.

Since this dish is finished by steaming in a non-stick, you won’t need much butter, but that’s entirely up to you.

For this Mushroom Frittata recipe and more visit GardenFork.tv.

Square Egg in a Round Hole

Square cooking rings: a culinary  oxymoron — I bought two at New York Cake & Baking Distributors the other day. I was actually supposed to have bought vanilla, but got distracted by the shiny isle.

So I made square poached eggs with chives, and home fries for brunch on a sunny Saturday afternoon — two eggs in each ring. I had a set of round rings at one point... lost ‘em between apartment moves. These new rings are much thicker and they distribute heat much better... most of all they just look real cool.

What did we do before these fanciful gadgets? My grandmother used to make her coconut flan in rings that were made from large coffee cans. The bottoms were cut free and the edges were filed smooth. They weren’t as impressive as store bought equipment but they did a nice job.

This was much less effort than poaching eggs in a boiling pot of water and vinegar. For details go to GardenFork.tv. I’m making square coconut flan next time around.

Blancmange for Dessert

Some Brits fondly refer to blancmange (blə-mɒnʒ) as “shape.” Similar to Italian panna cotta, This custard is made with whole-fat milk, cream, eggs, and sugar. But the key ingredient to this rich silky dessert is carrageen, aka Irish moss — without it, it's just pudding. Some recipes call for agar, cornstarch or gelatin as a substitute.

Blancmange is derived from Old French for “white food.” It was found on the tables of the upper-class, dating as far back as the Middle Ages, although the original recipe includes shredded chicken meat and almonds... yuk, that’s just wrong!

This is the same dried carrageen that Lucy sent to us from Ireland. After soaking in cold water, the dark purple bundles bloom into delicate lavender and cream petals. Carrageen dissolves easily in hot liquid to form a thick liquid.

This custard from the UK is actually easy to make, and you probably have most everything you need in your kitchen... except for the Irish moss of course. For this blancmange recipe and detailed instructions visit GardenFork.tv.

Meatloaf: Slow Cookin’ for Two

On this quiet balmy Saturday in Prospect Heights, I finally planed, scraped, and painted the hallway doors a soft Naples Yellow while Steph was out. Why would anyone use sand paint on a door? These doors now look less like a David Lean prop from Great Expectations. Meanwhile in the news the Middle East has been in turmoil. Egyptians have overthrown their regime. Libya has followed suit as is much of the Middle East. Social media lead their revolution. In the U.S. social media is more often used by an anonymous person to girl-bully another, i.e. Sarah Palin's online ghost writer Rebecca Mansour circa the "bullseye map" incident.

Here in the U.S., economic unrest is becoming more apparent as we trudge through an unpunctual economic recovery and growing unemployment and inflation. Gasoline is said to go up to $5.00 per gallon. Are we now headed into the revolution with out a car? The only thing good about slow going is a slowly cooked meal. I made a meatloaf dinner in my Crock Pot — slow going but always moist and delicious with little effort. I used beef, pork, veal, bell pepper, onion, garlic, celery, basil, fresh parsley, ketchup, bread crumbs... practically everything in the fridge. My Parmesan & chive mashed potatoes were actually more work than the meatloaf.

To get my slow cooker meatloaf recipe visit GardenFork.tv. I think everyone can figure out how to make Parmesan & chive mashed potatoes.

GardenFork.tv was created by my friend Eric Rochow, a social media guru who advocates greener living in New York. GardenFork.tv is a how-to blog that features podcast commentaries, video interviews, DIY projects, cooking segments, and original recipes. I'm a regular content contributor. Eric and I often explore Brooklyn neighborhoods and promote the fine local fare, and to reconnect with a more human way of living.

...oh, and shortly before dinner our neighbor Justine D. brought over her delicious brown-butter carrot cake with lemon cream cheese icing for dessert — she's quite the chef. Brooklyn revolves with the flavor of life.