Italian Meatloaf with Fig-Balsamic Sauce

[ts]
We served this for Boss #1's 5th birthday party a while back. Meatloaf was something easy to prepare ahead and could feed a lot of people.

For this version, we decided to "jazz" our usual meatloaf up and do an Italian-inspired version. In addition to the usual suspects of onions, carrots, celery, we added our "Italian" ingredients as roasted bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and blue cheese (OK, it's not an Italian blue, but still), to the ground beef mixture.



[ts]
We had about 8 pounds worth of meat here, plus all the other ingredients. So, as illustrated above, I needed to stand on a stool to get leverage so that I could mix it all together.



[ts]
We free-formed the loaf on a half-sheet pan. It was pretty big. We figured getting flat like this would make the whole thing quicker to cook.



Next, the sauce.



[ts]
Italian-inspired still, so instead of the sweet ketchup-mustard combo, we went with a fig-balsamic glaze for this big slab o' meat.

I simply placed some dried figs in a small saucepan with balsamic vinegar and heated it on low until the figs softened and the balsamic vinegar had reduced. In hindsight, I would've chopped up the figs before the cooking process. Then, it was a matter of buzzing the whole mixture, seasoning with more sugar, balsamic vinegar as necessary, and salt and pepper.

I spread the sauce on top of the meatloaf and baked the whole thing at 375F until done. It might've taken about an hour or so.



Italian, see? It's endorsed by Mario Batali.*



[ts]
This meatloaf was quite popular and several of our guests had seconds and thirds. It might seem like such humble fare, but "classed up" with some common enough "Italian" ingredients, it was worthy enough to be served at our boss' birthday party.


*LOL. That's actually the label from his Dutch oven.

"Chinese Adobo" Clams and Oysters

[ts]
We playfully refer to this as "Chinese Adobo".

Mama has been making what she calls chicken or pork "adobo" for quite a number of years. For the longest time, even though experience had shown otherwise, I would still expect "real" adobo upon Mama's mention of it.

Philippine (Filipino) Adobo is anything cooked in soy sauce, garlic, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and the all-important vinegar. In reality, my mother uses "adobo" to refer to anything that she cooks in soy sauce, usually sweetened a tad with sugar, with no vinegar!

We've been subject to Mama's "Chinese Adobo" all these years, so we thought we'd finally put it to good use for our Starry, Starry Night celebration.

This dish came together quite fast.


Cooking
[js]
This was one of those dishes that should be cooked last minute, so I was working in a hurry, trying to get the dish ready in time for the guests.

A couple of swirls of oil in the pot.

In goes slivers of ginger, green onions, and then garlic until fragrant.

Then, I put in the oysters.

The oysters were large-ish pieces. I was thinking of dredging the oysters in a little bit of flour (or cornstarch) and pan-frying them before putting them into the pot, to help them keep their shape, but since I was pressed for time, I didn't.

To braise the oysters, I splashed a couple of tablespoons of Shaoxing wine, added some soy sauce (about a fourth of a cup), and tablespoon of black vinegar.

I added one star anise and a teaspoon of cinnamon. I also added some more sugar to balance out the saltiness of the soy. If the sauce is too strong, then some water may be added to dilute the flavours.

I tasted the "sauce" until it tasted balanced to me and then in went the clams to steam.

After all of the clams have opened, I tasted the sauce again and made the necessary adjustments. It should be a balanced sauce, slightly salty but sweet, with sweetly acidic hints from the vinegar. There should also be a pronounced flavour from the star anise.

I put it more of the star anise syrup we made for our Pineapple-Pomegranate Star Anise Soda to get the licorice-y note.

The sauce can be reduced or, in our case, thickened with some cornstarch slurry.

Garnish with green onions on top.


Read all about our Starry, Starry... Pig? adventure -- aka, the Case of the Missing Pig.

We served "Chinese Adobo" Clams and Oysters during our New Year's Eve party:
A Starry, Starry Night in Vancouver -- Evoking the Philippine Christmas Spirit

eatingclub vancouver adobo posts:
Chicken Adobo
Pork Belly, Two Ways
Adobo Kangkong (Adobo Water Spinach)
Adobo Mushroom Tart
"Chinese Adobo" Clams and Oysters
Chicken Adobo in Coconut Milk (Adobo sa Gata)
Coconut Adobo Halibut Tails (Adobo sa Gata)
Roast Chicken Adobo
Brown-braised Pig's Feet
Adobong Baka (Philippine Beef Adobo)

eatingclub vancouver Filipino food
Bibingka
Mama's Ampalaya (Bitter Melon)
Faux Kamote-Que
Philippine-Style Chicken "BBQ"
Fried Hasa Hasa (Mackerel)
"Savory" Chicken Wings
Sinamak (Chile-infused Vinegar)
Pan-roasted Halibut w/ Fava Beans, Potato-Onion Cakes & Bagoong Butter Sauce
Bulalo & Bangus: an even simpler Filipino meal
Baked Tahong (Mussels)
Adobo Kangkong (Adobo Water Spinach)
Oyster Torta (Oyster Omelette)
Chicken Tinola (Chicken Soup w/ Green Papaya & Pepper Leaves)
(Chinese) Roast Pork Belly / Lechon
Tilapia wrapped in Banana Leaves
Pork Belly, Two Ways
Chicken Adobo
Embutido
Salabat (Ginger Tea)
Lechon Manok (Philippine Roast Chicken) & Lechon Sauce
"Chinese Adobo" Clams and Oysters
Bistek (Citrus Beef with Caramelized Onions)
Beef Kaldereta (Beef Stew with Bell Peppers)
Atsara (Green Papaya Pickle)
Sardinas na Bangus (Milkfish in the style of Sardines) and Pressure Cooker Fear

White Chili, Green Chili

The photograph on the left has been added to this post after publication.


update:
We've reposted this recipe with brighter, better pictures! Check them out here.

[js]
Hm, we don't actually know what to call this.

Is it a "White Chili" because it uses white meat and white beans? Or is it called a "Green Chili" because a prominent flavour is that of green chili peppers, as opposed to red smoky ones?
Whatever its name is, it was quite delicious.

We made this one night, late at night, for lunch the next day.

We didn't start with white-white meat (aka breast of chicken), but instead with chicken legs. We had about six pieces of unmarinated chicken legs left over from one of our Thai fried chicken nights. Why I left six pieces unmarinated and unfried, I don't know -- perhaps I was being demure in not wanting to eat a lot of Thai fried chicken.

Demure, I tell you.

Making the Chili
[js]
I browned the chicken legs in some oil.

While the chicken legs were browning, I diced up one onion, minced about 3 cloves of garlic, and chopped up a couple of Anaheim peppers, a couple of jalapeño peppers, and a couple of serrano peppers.



[js]
When all the chicken pieces were browned, I set them aside and drained the excess fat from the pan.

After which, in went the onion first to be sweated until translucent, or even past that, with a hint of brown. I stirred in some ground cumin (about 1 tbsp or to taste, as I like mine to be more cumin-y) with some oregano (Mexican oregano is best, about 2 teaspoons' worth) with the onions to caramelize lightly. Then in goes the garlic, then the all the peppers.



[js]
Back in there went the chicken and about two cups of chicken stock (we happened to have some lying around, because we had a poached chicken for dinner that night). I also opened up a couple cans of white cannellini beans.

Joining our little pot o' chili are about 4 to 6 cloves, two sprigs of thyme, and a bay leaf.

Let all of the ingredients stew for a while, until the flavours have melded. This is important because I made the mistake of not letting the mixture stew together for some time when we did a tofu-and-white-bean version of this. In my haste to eat, I just plopped everything in the pot for a short time, so when I bit into the tofu and the white beans, they still tasted so bean-y. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After stewing for a bit (let's say, 45 minutes), I took the meat off the bone for all the chicken legs.

To finish, I toasted some whole cumin seeds on the side and put them on top, just before serving. I love the flavour of whole cumin seeds.

We had some corn and flour tortillas on the side. While I normally prefer corn tortillas, in this case, the flour tortillas worked a little better with the flavours.

[ts]
While normally we would've eaten this as is with the tortillas (or rice), we had to find some way to neutralize the heat.

IT WAS SERIOUSLY HOT. H! O! T!!!!

JS went a little overboard with the peppers. I mean, jalapeño peppers and serrano peppers -- both plural -- for 6 measly chicken legs!

[js]
I think the Anaheim peppers were also hot. I didn't expect the Anaheim peppers to be that hot, which is why I doubled up on the jalapeño and serrano peppers.

[ts]
Enter our Lemon Feta Dip.

We made this Lemon Feta Dip -- creamy drained yogurt and mayo, with lemon juice, feta cheese and mint, among other things -- on the same night as the chili, trying to quickly make something for First Thursday (at Thursday Night Smackdown).

What great timing. This cool, tangy dip was the perfect way of preventing us from burning our mouths from the chili. Since we had radishes prepped as well, I discovered that the radishes were also good for said burn prevention.


They may not look like much, but these two guys were heroes.

[ts]
I'm sorry my pictures are so ugly, because this white or green chili was really, really good. The photos do not represent them fairly at all. I blame the lighting at the workplace!



[ts]
Still high from the first chili (must be all those endorphins released), but not having any other protein on hand, we decided to make a tofu version a few days later.

As JS mentioned, the tofu version did not get to simmer in her haste, so the tofu pieces weren't as flavorful as they could have been. (Or are we just biased carnivores?) But, it also definitely works.

Try this White Green White White-Green Chicken Chili, despite the lackluster photography.

Recipe

White / Green Chicken Chili
Makes 6 servings

2 tbsp vegetable oil
6 chicken legs

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Anaheim peppers, diced
1 serrano chili pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano (Mediterranean or Mexican is fine)

2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
4 whole cloves

2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups chicken stock

2 tbsp cilantro, minced

flour tortillas (or corn tortillas)

1. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a skillet. Brown chicken legs.
2. Take out and set aside chicken legs. Drain excess oil.
3. Add onions.
4. When onions are translucent, add ground cumin and oregano and cook with onions until lightly brown.
5. Add garlic. When fragrant, add the Anaheim peppers, serrano and jalapeño peppers.
6. Add the cannellini beans.
7. Add chicken stock.
8. Put back the chicken legs and add the thyme, bay leaf and cloves.
9. Simmer until chicken legs are tender, about 35-45 minutes.
10. If desired, debone chicken legs and put back the shredded chicken meat into the pan.
11. Stir in the chopped cilantro.
12. Serve with flour tortillas warmed up.
13. Other garnishes to include: queso fresco, sliced radishes, more jalapeños, sliced avocados, lime wedges. (Or, of course, our Lemon Feta Dip.)
14. Enjoy.