Pain De Viande En Brioche

Last night I brought a classic brie en brioche (brie baked in brioche) to a potluck, topped with apricot preserves.

And I thought, why not make meatloaf in brioche? It would be an elevated meat pie. I don't speak a lick of French; I had to ask a friend how to say meatloaf. Pain de viande: bread of meat. Perfect.

For this, the meat needed to be simple. Pork and beef, with romano cheese, seasoning salt, and just one egg. It turned out to be the most scrumptious meatloaf yet--what did it? Well, I had some stale slices of brioche leftover from a previous loaf (I've been on a kick. It happens.). Rather than whirl 'em up in the food processor, I turned to my grandmother's method of briefly soaking the bread in water and mashing it up with the meat. The meat turned out moist and rich--really lovely.

As the meat, formed into a flat disc, baked in the oven, I rolled out my dough, which had chilled in the fridge overnight and was easy to handle. My toddler yelled at me to let her try, so I set her up with a step stool, a teeny piece of dough and a miniature rolling pin so we could work side by side.

Now for the fun part--assembly. One layer of dough, then meat, then cheese...but I wasn't done. In order to recreate the flavor profile from the night before, I spread a layer of roasted sweet potato on top of the cheese. That, I hoped, would bring a sweetness and color similar to the apricot. I topped it off with more dough and brushed the whole thing with egg wash. After it rose for an hour and got nice and puffy, it was ready for the oven.

This was the first time I was mad about having to wait for the photo shoot. It smelled so good, I wanted to dig in--especially when we cut into it and the cheese came oozing. Mmm! Good stuff, I hope you try it.

Meatloaf Father and Son

OK, so in my family the baseball bat is a Wii remote more often than not. But it's the quality time that counts, right?

Happy Father's Day to the photographer who captures our greatest moments, the husband who helps set up the birthday parties, the guy who knows how to put band-aids on a scraped knee, the faithful Mets fan, the garbage taker outer, and most importantly, the dad who makes my kids drop everything to run to the door when he gets home.

Autism Speaks...and Autism Eats

This may be among the simpler of my meatloaf creations, but I wanted to pay homage to Autism Speaks, and this puzzle piece is the organization's logo.

As I sculped the piece, I thought about how appropriate a symbol it is for autism. I thought of my son Theo doing the same three-piece puzzle for hours when he was a toddler. I thought of the very puzzle that is autism--where does it come from? What will be the cure?

And I thought of the meatloaf Theo and I made together when we experimented with a gluten-free/dairy-free/soy-free diet for almost 6 months last year. The meatloaf was admittedly still pretty tasty with the gluten-free breadcrumbs. But I hoped he wouldn't have to eat this way forever.

Though other moms turn to the diet counting on it to be a cure, I secretly hoped it wouldn't work. And it didn't. (In fact, it made his stimming behaviors worse, which all his teachers could attest to!)

You see, my boy has always been my little sous chef. Cooking together is part of our relationship. I want him to know the delicate crisp of great bread, the silkiness a touch of butter brings to a sauce.

I believe Theo's food vocabulary will be a great asset to him. He's almost 7 now and as his social skills emerge, it's important for him to grab a slice of pizza with friends or bake brownies with them without having to worry about feeling different because he can't eat what they eat. Last year, with the decision to quit the special diet, I concluded that it was counterproductive to inhibit him in social situations by setting him even further apart from the other kids than he already is. I wrote a post about this on my other blog, How are Theo and Melody?.

I've often fantasized about starting a cooking therapy program for children with autism. Who's with me?

Meatloaf Mother and Child

Turns out a woman's figure isn't just hard to sculp in real life.

Yesterday I served this to my mother and sister-in-law, a mom-to-be, for Mother's Day. Well, this and lobster.  Lobster and meatloaf--talk about a poor man's surf and turf.

I wanted to keep the meatloaf a simple silhouette. Because of this, I had to jazz up the inside. This loving duo is stuffed with good ol' American cheese!

When I had my first baby, my mom gave me a beautiful statue of a mother and child, which inspired this latest creation.

Spring Bunny

Happy Easter!

When I was shopping for the stuff for this meatloaf, I couldn't resist picking up an Easter lily and other pretty spring flowers. I figured I'd use them in the presentation and then bring them to my grandmother. It was worth it to see my daughter, 22 months, walk down the Park Slope street in a spring dress, carrying flowers. But I digress.

The bunny is covered in lots of ricotta cheese to give him rabbit-like fluffiness. (And come on, that cheese makes anything taste good.) For the pink in his ears and nose, I repurposed last week's pink mashed potatoes. And his eye is a simple bean.

Before baking, I used a knife to carve out lines on the basket. I hollowed out the basket using 3 raw eggs while baking. After it cooked I removed those eggs and replaced them with eggs my kids had colored and decorated. The two eggs on the right say Melody and Theo. Also in the basket is some curly parsley.

The "grass" is created from chives...I didn't trim them because I liked the look of the wild grass.

My intent was for the bunny to be peering in the basket, but my husband says it looks like he's pushing the basket. What do you think?

Layer Cake? April Fools!

Of course I didn't make this "cake" with the intention of actually fooling anyone. So imagine my delight when Melody walked in, saw it, and happily chirped, "Cake!" I asked my 21-month-old if she wanted some. "Yeah."

I fed her a bite and she made a face. Uhhh, mom, why isn't this sugary?

Wanna know how I made the pink "frosting?" I'm dying to tell you! When I started this blog I promised myself I wouldn't use food coloring. Dear readers, I kept my promise. I dyed my mashed potatoes using beet water--the water in which I steamed beets. My original thought was to puree the beets and mashed potatoes together, but once I realized that just the water would do the trick, I didn't need to take that extra step.

My husband showed me this awesome George Carlin bit...check it out, starting at :50 seconds. He does a bit where he can't identify leftovers in the fridge. "Is it meat or is it cake?" 

George Carlin - Food (Clean)

Glenn

MySpace Video

Giraffe Love

When I saw the giraffes at the Bronx Zoo two feet in front of me yesterday, I decided they were the most majestic animals I'd ever seen.

What is it about giraffes that have such a profound impact? The big teary moment of The Lion King (the Broadway musical) comes two minutes into the show when the giraffes walk out. Brilliant, brilliant costumes that require super stilts skills.

Oh, but to see them so up close! I didn't know their legs are as long as my body. And such funny bloated bellies rest on top of those legs! Their skin is tight and waxy; nature gave giraffes the most magnificent color and amazing spots, the design of which are unique to each animal.

Then there's the giraffe's funny face! So tiny compared to the rest of his humongous self! He has hilarious ears and strange horse-like features.

Needless to say, the giraffe's neck is his greatest achievement. It's a thrill to watch him slowly extend his neck to grab food while his body stays put.

I decided I had to create a giraffe meatloaf.

When I googled giraffe images for inspiration, I found many shots of the animals being intimate with one another. Males and females necking, lovely photos of mothers tenderly leaning their long necks down to lick their young--I quickly became enthralled with giraffe love. And that's why I made the meatloaf you see here.

Clearly, the biggest challenge was--how do I make those spots? I was going to pipe mashed potatoes in an attempt to draw them on...'til I noticed my daughter's string cheese out of the corner of my eye. Perfect! As the meatloaf baked, I pulled off string after string of the cheese and made a plate of strings.

I was worried about the squares the strings would form if I made a checkered pattern, but as the cheese melted on the hot meat, it became malleable! I was able to smooth out corners and make it look more...well, giraffe-y.

Giraffes have lighter faces, so I used the mashed potatoes there and dotted them with golden raisins.

And there ya have it--smooching giraffes.

P.S. The backdrop you see here was taken from the actual one being used behind the giraffes at the zoo right now because they're sadly crammed inside a room barely bigger than they are. What up, Bronx Zoo, get those poor things outside or more space indoors.