Today was crazy. Preparing the house for my son's Halloween party, running him to boxing training after school and choosing his costume made for a long and tiring day. It wasn't until 6:30 at night and two trips to Wal-mart before I could even get dinner started. Making the Polpette (meatloaf in the united states) was easy breezy, 1-2-3. I enjoyed mixing all the ingredients together and molding my oval shaped loaf of meat. I wasn't sure how the end result would be, but I jumped in with both hands. No pun intended. Since I didn't even search for mortadella in my neck of the woods, I simply used the turkey bologna that was left in my fridge. Soaking the bread in the milk added such juice within the meatloaf. Every bite oozed flavor and tenderness. I knew I had a winner on my hands when my grandmother went back for seconds and on the way made a point to stop and say "I don't think I'm ever gonna cook again" and "it was the best meatloaf I have ever tasted." I concur! This meatloaf was everything Lucinda said it would be. Because I'm used to some sort of tomato paste on top of my meatloaf, I quickly pulled together a little concoction of ketchup, dijon mustard and salt and pepper to taste as coating...adding just the right amount of zest. I decided to forgo the spinach with this meal because one, I had it yesterday, and two...I was just too damn tired by this point.
While the meatloaf was doing its' thing in the oven, I proceed to peel my potatoes for the pot of water I had boiling on the stove. 45 minutes later, I was chopping them into chunks, heating up the milk and butter and then mashing them down until they were almost smooth. Even though the recipe called for cottage or ricotta cheese, I forgot to pick either up on both my dashes to the store, so I just did without. These potatoes were so much better than the store brought flakes that pretend to be made with "real potatoes" which I purchased all my adult life. I have to be honest and say that mashing the potatoes with my new found utensil, the "potato masher" is the best invention ever! I didn't even know we owned one. And now I, Rochelle Lanphear, having never made mashed potatoes from scratch a day in my life, was using this gadget that actually mashed potatoes for me. I know, I know, I know, it's just a potato masher, but wow, when life has you traveling down a bumpy road every now and then, it's nice to know that you can always turn to your handy dandy potato masher to smooth out the pot holes of life.
For further confirmation of a job well done, my son who adamantly expresses his sincerely dislike for meatloaf helped himself to a slice so huge I had to stand guard. All and all, it was a long, tiring, running around town, trying to do it all, tummy filled, and can't believe I just made mash potatoes from scratch kinda day!
To get your mash on, click (or copy and paste) the link below for this recipe.
http://blog.madhungry.com/2010/10/recipes-from-todays-show-italian-comfort-food.html
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