unstuffed cucumber soup, meal and meatloaf

2021-07-30

This is pretty much the same recipe as stuffed cucumber soup, but without the stuffing. I wanted to know if stuffing the cucumbers made a real difference.

A. the soup

In this recipe, I sliced the cucumbers instead of stuffing them. The rest is standard.
I added a few chicken thighs to the base soup for extra flavor and to be served with the meal.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 6 quarts = 12+ servings:

4 large cucumbers
1 lb. beef & pork each
1 head celery
4 large potatoes
S&P

optional:

1-2 eggs
2 chicken thighs
1 medium whole yellow onion

Pic1: unstuffed cucumber soup

Directions

2021-07-30

Pic2: chicken thighs
Pic3: potatoes & celery
Pic4: sliced cucumbers, whole onion

Start the base soup with chicken thighs, diced potatoes and chopped celery.
Bring to a boil. Season to taste. Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes.
If you want to eat the chicken thighs, remove them after 15-20 minutes to avoid over-cooking.
Add the sliced cucumbers and peeled whole onion.

Pic5: ground meats, cooked rice
Pic6: seasoning, capers
Pic7: eggs, breadcrumbs, braunschweiger liver sausage

Prepare the meat mix to your preference.
I added braunschweiger liver sausage to see how that would affect the flavor.
Mix thoroughly and evenly.

Pic8: roll meatballs
Pic9: boil
Pic10: serve

Roll small meatballs.
Add meatballs to the soup.
Simmer at least 15 minutes to fully cook the meatballs throughout.
Serve and enjoy.

b. the meal

The meal is the same as above, the meat and vegetables served without the broth. We enjoy the soup with a few vegetables first, then serve the meat(balls) and vegetables meal separately as a main course.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need:

same as above

Pic11: unstuffed cucumber meal

Directions

2021-07-30

Pic12-14: the meal

Optionally, roast the chicken legs in the oven under the broiler to crisp the skin.
Serve together with the soup vegetables, without broth.
Enjoy.

c. meatloaf / pâté

I I usually make a small meatloaf /pâté with the meat leftovers. I have been having trouble making the texture dense enough to call it pâté. This one was a good step in the right direction.

Both variations used the same meat mix, but were garnished differently.

directions:

2021-07-30 / 2021-08-08

Pic15: black pepper
Pic16: sliced nacho jalapenos

To see the effect it would have, I added an entire 16-oz. braunschweiger liver sausage to the meat mix instead of real liver. It is obvious that the liver sausage did bind the meat mix, but half a sausage might have been better. This seemed to be a bit too dense, and the liver sausage (especially the color) dominated too much to my liking.
While I was at it, I did some further experimentation, made a loaf with black pepper and another one with sliced nacho jalapenos. That experiment was a success! Even though the meatmix was the same for both, the garnish made them quite different.

2021-07-30

Pic17-19: black pepper top and bottom

Sprinkle black pepper in the bottom of the loaf dish.
Fill with meat mix.
Sprinkle black pepper on top of the loaf.

Pic20-22: nacho jalapenos

Spread well-drained nacho jalapenos all over the loaf dish.
Fill with meat mix and push down well to remove air bubbles.
The jalapeno slices should embed in the meat mix.

Pic23-25: bake

I intended to cook the pâté in a water bath for 90 minutes at 280 ºF.
It was a good thing I went that low, because I fell asleep and it stayed in the oven for more than double that time.
The loaves were a bit darker on top than I would have preferred, but surprisingly enough this was still quite edible, not really charred as I first thought.

Pic26-28: black pepper

This is shortly after removal from the oven.
The cooking broth is still very obvious and the texture was still crumbly.
That improved greatly after refrigeration.
Adding the black pepper was a good idea. It spiced up the meat very nicely.

2021-08-08

Pic29-31: nacho jalapenos

This was about a week later, after refrigerating uncovered to dry the loaves further.
Clean slices, no more crumbles.
Much dryer and denser than immediately after cooking.

c. meatloaf / pâté

directions:

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more and avemariasongs.org

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more
and avemariasongs.org