Hello again! This column deals with a few pretty fast, easy-to-fix "supper dishes" - and a multi-purpose mix -- using ground beef.

The title of this column comes from a recipe, written in pencil on a scrap of brown paper, that I found stuck between the leaves of an old cookbook. Like many early recipes, this one is primarily a listing of ingredients; specific measurements, techniques, cooking temperatures, and what-not were usually left up to the individual cook - I guess it was just assumed that the "how-to" was common knowledge! It's been a long time since one could buy "10¢ worth of hamburger", but the "hash" is still good!

The "recipe" follows - the spelling is original ! I've added some explanation, amount clarification, and a few changes from the original recipe at the end.

"Take 10¢ worth of hamburger. Fry in a little lard. 3 irish potatos 1 onion Bell pepper - choped. Parsly. Salt and Pepper, worsteshure sauce. A little top milk. Catchup over top."

The cookbook that I found the paper in was published in 1902; "10¢ worth of hamburger" was probably about a pound. Lard is the best for making pie crust and tamales, but it's an artery-clogger! Besides, it's almost impossible to get good fresh "leaf lard" anymore; the stuff available now is a rectangle of preservative-laden suet. "Top milk" is what rose to the top of the bottle of non-homogenized whole milk that the milkman left in the wire crate on the front porch; it's pretty much gone the way of leaf lard! Too bad - there was nothing better than a dish of fresh peaches with a little brown sugar and cold top milk!

NOTE: With all the hamburger recipes, it's important to have the frying pan HOT before putting the meat in or it will just lie there and stew and not brown! And, anything with hamburger should be thoroughly cooked!

I use about a pound of lean "ground round", pull it into small "chunks", and brown it quickly in a little butter in a hot frying pan. Remove from the pan. Peel and cut the potatoes into about 1/2" or smaller cubes, cut the onion into medium "dice", and cut the green pepper into small pieces. Chop the parsley - you should have 2-3 tablespoons - and set aside. (I use red pepper and peel it; eating pepper skins is just like eating plastic wrap and about as digestible!)

I sometimes cut up a couple of small zucchini in pieces a little bigger than the potatoes and add those into the potato/onion/pepper mix when the potatoes are close to done; it takes very little time to cook zucchini unless they're old and tough, and if they're over the hill, I think you might as well just throw them out. Fresh corn cut off the cobs - we have a pretty long "fresh corn" season in California - is good, too; about two cobs' worth should do it! Add this in with the zucchini and don't overcook it.

Add a little more butter to the pan, heat the pan just to the point of browning the butter, then throw in the potatoes/onions/pepper and sauté until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the hamburger - now probably about $3.00 worth! - and the parsley and drizzle about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce over top, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

You can put "catchup" or chili sauce or salsa over top of the hash; a little grated cheese is pretty good, too! This feeds 2-4 depending on appetites and what's served with it - I go with a green salad and sourdough bread.

Joe's Special

There are several theories about the origin of this dish; some say it's a quicker variation of an Italian frittata, or it may have been served in restaurants along San Francisco's "Barbary Coast" in the 1850s, or it may have been created in "New Joe's" restaurant as a late-night feed for dance-band musicians in the 1920s. I think that this last theory is the most likely, but the point of agreement is that the dish is a San Francisco original!

1 pound lean hamburger (And about 2 tablespoons butter or oil)
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
10-12 brown (or white) fresh mushrooms (about 1"-1 1/2 " across), sliced. (Wash the mushrooms and dry them well with paper towels before slicing.)
1/2 - 3/4 pound of fresh spinach, stems removed, roughly chopped (4-5 cups packed leaves)
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
A few "grinds" of pepper (or about 1/2 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons leaf oregano or 2 teaspoons "Italian herbs" (Crumble this between your fingers; the rosemary in the herb mix tends to be a little "spiky".)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4-6 eggs, beaten just enough to combine whites and yolks. ( I use 6 eggs to serve 4 people.)

Heat the butter or oil in a 12" frying pan until hot; it's OK to let the butter brown a bit, but don't let it burn. Crumble or "chunk" up the hamburger and brown it, then dump it (temporarily) onto a plate.

Pour off any excess grease, re-heat the pan, then add the onions, garlic and mushrooms. (The mushrooms give off a lot of liquid, but there's not much to be done about that!)

Sauté for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, then add in the salt, pepper, oregano, nutmeg, and the hamburger. Stir in the spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted. (Don't be concerned if it looks like there's way too much spinach and the leaves fall all over the stove when you put them in the pan; they'll cook down pretty quickly.)

Stir in the eggs and cook over low heat (if you use an electric stove, you may be able to finish the cooking from the residual heat from the turned-off burner) just until the eggs are set.

Serve immediately; this doesn't "wait" well!

NOTE: If you have to use frozen spinach, use the chopped kind, thaw it, squeeze the water out of it, pick out the stems - some are like tree limbs! - and use as directed for the fresh spinach. Frozen spinach can turn the eggs kind of grey-green, and this is not particularly pretty.

Quick Chili

This chili is good for camping and RV meals; it's not "authentic" by any means, but it does go together fast and the recipe can be doubled easily. You will have to brown the hamburger in two batches if you double the recipe, but this is not hard to do if your pot is big enough to shove some of the hamburger off to the side while you brown the next batch. This chili is good served with plenty of good bread and green salad with avocado!

1 pound lean hamburger
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2-3 14.5/15 ounce cans of kidney beans (or pinto or pink or black beans; the bean choice gives a different flavor to the chili.)

I haven't actually counted the beans, but some brands do have more liquid and fewer beans in a can than other brands. Some brands also use a lot more preservatives and additives than others; try to get the greatest number of beans and the least amount of "junk" in the can, and drain the beans before adding them into the pot.

1 15 ounce - or a little bigger -- jar of salsa (about 2+ cups of salsa)
1 package (1.25 ounces) McCormick "Original Taco Seasoning", mild or hot. (You can add a part or all of a second package of this if you like, but taste the chili before adding it.)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Brown the hamburger, adding the onions and garlic about halfway into the browning process. Dump in the beans and salsa. Sprinkle the "taco mix" over the whole thing and stir in. Taste and correct the seasonings; you can add a little cumin or oregano or more "taco seasoning" or red chile powder or whatever you like. Cook until heated through and blended, about 10 minutes. It "stands" well, and is good re-heated.

Serve in bowls with chopped green onions, grated cheddar or "jalapeño jack" cheese, and/or dollops of sour cream.

Basic Burger Mix

I make up a batch of this "burger mix" - when the "extra lean" is on sale -- and use it for meatballs, hamburger patties, spaghetti sauce, hamburger "stroganoff", meatloaf, etc. I freeze the mix in labeled and dated zip-lock bags in whatever form I'm going to use it, e.g., a meatloaf, or in meatballs, or a "lump" if it's not going to have any recognizable shape when it's through cooking!

If I use the mix to make meatballs, I make the balls, then freeze them on a cookie sheet, then put them in the bags. Be sure to thaw the meatballs completely before browning them in a hot skillet, or they'll stew. You can also bake them when they're still frozen; preheat the oven to 425°, then turn it to 400°. Bake until brown and cover with whatever "sauce" you like.

Meatballs made from the mix adapt to use with several kinds of sauces - teriyaki, sour cream, honey/mustard, sweet/sour, tomato-based, etc. A meatloaf can be baked with a spicy tomato sauce and/or with a couple of strips of bacon over top. Brown some of the meat mix in a bit of olive oil, dump in a (part of) a jar of "spaghetti sauce" ("doctor" this up with a little red wine, a couple bay leaves, a few shakes of Italian herbs, and about a teaspoon of sugar to bring it together) and you have a very serviceable and fast pasta sauce!

The meat mix takes a little time to put together - it goes a good deal faster with a food processor! - but then you have several potential meals waiting in the freezer. The recipe can be doubled or tripled, and is good for hauling along on RV trips; just remember to take it out of the freezer in time!


1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound "breakfast" pork sausage or mild Italian sausage
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 red pepper*
1/4 cup (or more) chopped parsley
2 cups bread crumbs **
1 egg
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon leaf oregano if "breakfast" sausage is used.
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, packed - optional***

* Wash the red pepper and cut it so that it has 3 or 4 "flat" sides. Put these on a piece of aluminum foil under the broiler - skin side up -- and broil until the skin chars. Wrap the foil around the peppers and "sweat" them for about 10 minutes; the skin will peel off easily.

** The bread crumbs should be coarse and made from a good quality,"substantial" bread; no spongy stuff. I put the bread slices in the oven at 250°, dry them out until they're light brown, then buzz them a few times in the food processor. If you don't have a food processor, roll the dry bread slices with a rolling pin. (I've made bread crumbs and pie crust with a bottle of wine covered with foil, too, so whatever you have will work.) About 4 slices of bread - more or less, depending on the size of the slices - will give two cups. "Meat mix" is not precise science!

*** The parmesan cheese is good if the meat mix will be used for tomato-based pasta sauce or meatballs/spaghetti/linguine/other.

Put the hamburger and sausage into a large bowl. Peel the onion and the red pepper, and cut into chunks; process these just until coarsely chopped; you'll have to stop the processor once or so to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. Add to the hamburger/sausage.

If you don't have a food processor, just chop the onions, peppers, and parsley the old-fashioned way; it works just as well!

Put the garlic cloves through a press onto what's already in the bowl, then "buzz" the parsley in the food processor until it's chopped, then add the egg and buzz a couple more times. Add all this to the bowl contents.

Break up the bread slices into the food processor and buzz until you get coarse crumbs. Scrape out into the bowl. Add the Worcestershire, salt and pepper.

Take off your rings, wash hands again and dig in; it's the only way to get a good mix! Mix until everything is well-combined and evenly distributed, then shape and/or pack, use and/or freeze!

Until next time...always know what you're eating!

BACK

MAIN MENU