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The Family Meal Thread

post #1 of 9
12/7/07 at 2:00am
Thread Starter 
So, what did you make or eat for family meal today?

My answer: meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, blanched and buttered swiss chard.

Meat was courtesy of all the beef scrap we had in the freezer. It was no problem to grind it all in the Hobart, so I turned half of it into burgers for family meal some other time, and the other half became meatloaf with the addition of minced onions, garlic, S+P, ketchup, Worcestershire, eggs and breadcrumbs. Plus a coating of sauce made of ketchup, Worcestershire and horseradish, for a spicy caramelized crust. :D

(This is also a bald-faced attempt at gleaning more family meal ideas from everyone else. Hmm hmmm.)
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post #2 of 9
12/7/07 at 5:08am
Sounds good Sleepy_Dragon..worked last night and my dinner was chicken, tomato, some greens and red onion..sprinkled with paprika and granulated garlic in parchment...so no family dinner.
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post #3 of 9
12/7/07 at 5:35am
I made a very provincial dish.

Boiled salted cod fish ( after I rinsed some of the salt off)

boiled green bananas, potatos, eggs, yams, yellow plantains and yucca and some "pumpkin" (squash thing)...put everything in a bowl with chopped onions and some olives.

Drizzled everything with olive oil

Good to go baybee!! yummmmm
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post #4 of 9
12/7/07 at 5:38am
I also make "concoctions"

When I'm sort of money and need a little meat, I sautee a chicken breast and/or "fake" crab or lobster meat ( I've also been desperate enough to use chopped SPAM...hehehee) in a little olive oil and minced garlic.

Then add this to cooked flat noodles that I've boiled with some Italian veggies...mix all together with some store bought Alfredo sauce.

It makes a HUGE pot, it takes less than 30 minutes to put on the table...great for people that drop in!

( they know I don't do gourmet after working 10-15 hour days..lol)
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post #5 of 9
12/10/07 at 12:20am
Thread Starter 
Hehe, pot o' pasta is a frequent go-to at my place too!

We've only recently been allowed to actually purchase little extras for family meal, like Asian condiments, noodles, pastes, and so forth. It's been really nice, because I remember the Bad Old Days when there would literally be nothing available for family meal except bechamel, pasta, ham scrap, red pepper scrap, onion scrap, and either potatoes or pasta. One of the sous would yell at us to STOP MAKING PASTA!!! but what could we do, it was all we had.

At least now, the pasta comes with a proper tomato sauce and even meatballs! Luxury!

Today's family meal: my place does brunch so there's always a bucket of eggs from day service to use up. For fam I made scrambled eggs with goat cheese and chives, potato and caramelized onion hash with gruyere cheese, and a spicy ratatouille left over from a menu item no longer being served. All of it ended up being a delicious combination, and I especially appreciate service items I can just heat up and boom, it's done. We're always physically wiped out on Sundays.
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post #6 of 9
12/11/07 at 2:52pm
umpteen years ago when I worked in a "continental" restaurant we'd trim the beef tenderloin and the scraps would become BBQ sandwiches for the staff....if you've got the time to futz around with it there's meat amoungst the fat.

I'm a strong believer in making sure my catering staff knows the food.....as in has tried it. Several competitors do not let them eat anything.
Sarah Moulton has told the story about the restaurant who's staff meal was carrot peelings/potato scraps.....at some point you just breed contempt when you treat staff poorly.
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post #7 of 9
12/11/07 at 3:09pm
Hubby and boy had macaroni cheese and i had a cous cous version of Tabbouleh. Noone else would eat it after the addition of cold brocolli. My Indian assistant who only works on Tuesdays, developed a fabulous spring roll, Very much like a vegetable samosa FABULOUS and we all had lots of them for afters
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post #8 of 9
12/11/07 at 3:46pm
family meal? eh? im sure im confused :frazzle long day today, we had our college students quit yesterday as they were tired of potwash and veg prep

well im sorry, but at 16, what do you honestly expect?

so im now going in at 8am and working through till 11pm...

anywho, kitchen staff at my place dont get a break... we dont seem to need them... i mean, no one says dont have a break, in fact the rule is, if your ready early (say 15 minutes before service your ready) then take a break,

but whos ever really "ready" !!

i tend to make sandwiches out of the scraps of meat... theres plenty of them, some people simply dont know how to carve properly... leaving huge chunks of useable meat!

pies, real gravy and sandwiches for all! lol
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post #9 of 9
12/12/07 at 5:41am
real gravy? what's fake gravy....noooo don't answer that, just got a visual and it was ugly.
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