NORTH DAKOTA - Meatloaf

This week, we’re headed up North to the wilderness of the Peace Garden State.  North Dakota was first settled by Native Americans several thousands of years ago. The major tribes in the area by the time of settlement were the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Sioux, and Chippewa.  Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered North Dakota in October of 1804. During their winter stay at Fort Mandan, near present-day Washburn, they met and hired Sacagawea to act as an interpreter and guide. Between 1804 and 1806, she traveled thousands of miles with the Lewis and Clark Expedition from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and is now immortalized on the US dollar coin.  The state of North Dakota was carved out of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with South Dakota. There have been two attempts (1947 and 1989) to drop the word “North” from the state name; both were defeated. Although, no United States presidents have come from North Dakota, Teddy Roosevelt spent a considerable amount of time in the state, which attributed to his passion for conservation. The world's largest French fry feed is held every year in Grand Forks, ND. In 2006, a new world record was set when 4,620 pounds of French fries were served to about 10,000 people with 113 gallons of ketchup used.

I had to use a little creativity when coming up with an idea for a meal inspired by North Dakota. One of my favorite films takes place in the great state of North Dakota and from that film, there is one iconic scene that always comes to mind.

So in honor of “Fargo” and Steve Buscemi being ground up in the wood chipper, we’ll be making a meatloaf.

 

Meatloaf:

2 eggs

¾ cup milk

½ cup bread crumbs

¼ cup chopped onions

2 tablespoons parsley flakes

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sage

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup catsup

1 ½ pounds ground beef

In a large bowl, combine and beat together the eggs and milk. Then, stir in bread crumbs, onion, parsley, salt, sage, pepper and catsup. Now comes the fun part! In case you haven’t done so already, wash your hands and add the ground beef to the bowl and mix together with your hands. 

Take a loaf pan and line with foil or plastic wrap and spoon meat mixture and press down to form the loaf.  Carefully, turn the loaf pan over onto a jelly roll pan with a raised lip and un-mold the meatloaf.  Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for at least an hour.

I served this for friends as a blue plate special with mashed potatoes, peas and of course some catsup on the side. It’s also great the next day for meatloaf sandwiches!

MAINE - Lobster and Lobster Rolls

This week I’m excited to be on location in "Vacationland.” The great state of Maine is famous for its beautiful scenery - jagged, mostly rocky coastline, lighthouses, rolling mountains, and picturesque waterways, as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobster. Originally part of Massachusetts, Maine achieved statehood in 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise. Since the Revolution, the country had grown from 13 states to 22 and had managed to maintain a balance of power between slave states and free states. There were 11 free states and 11 slave states, a situation that gave each faction equal representation in the Senate. By 1818, the Missouri Territory had gained sufficient population to warrant its admission into the Union as a state. Its settlers came largely from the South, and it was expected that Missouri would be a slave state, which would make the balance uneven. A compromise was reached after Maine petitioned Congress for statehood. Both states were admitted, a free Maine and a slave Missouri, keeping the balance of power in the Senate and postponing the inevitable showdown for another generation.

Some fun and interesting facts about Maine, it’s the only state in the United States whose name has one syllable and is the only state that shares its border with only one other state. Maine also claims America's first chartered town, York, incorporated in 1641. Maine produces 99% of all the blueberries in the country making it the single largest producer of blueberries in the United States, and approximately 40 million pounds, nearly 90 percent of the nation's lobster supply is caught off the coast of Maine.

On my recent trip up to Maine, we spent a night indulging in freshly steamed lobster. When cooking your own fresh lobster at home, one of the most important things is picking out the right one. Here’s a little on location report on what to look for.

Once you get the lobsters home, cooking them is quite easy. Instead of dropping them in a whole pot of boiling water, we used a steaming technique.

Take a large pan and fill it with about an inch or inch and a half of water, put it on the stove and turn the heat up until the water stars boiling. Put the lobsters in the pan and put the lid on

top. After about 20 minutes, check to lobsters, the shell will have turned bright red. If you pick up one of the lobsters by the claw and it separates from

the body, then it’s done! Serve with melted butter and go nuts.

We also cooked up some corn on the cob and pasta salad to go along.

On the off chance that you happen to have some lobster left and the end of the night, you can use the leftovers to make another Maine tradition – Lobster Rolls. Just clean out whatever lobster you have left, washing off the little parts of meat in water to get any bits of shell or green stuff off. Add a little mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste. Put it on a role with some lettuce and enjoy.