Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Venetian Paninis & Latvian Meatsauce

The other night I made fancy grilled cheese on sourdough bread and since I had some bread left I made Venetian Panini sandwiches for lunch today. I LOVE these sandwiches. I have made them for a few friends and they all LOVE these sandwiches too. I got the original recipe from Giada DeLaurentis over at the Food Network, but I have changed a few things. First, I use spicy mustard instead of dijon, and second, I use swiss cheese instead of Gruyere. Anyway, you can find the recipe here.

For dinner tonight I will be making Latvian Meatsauce. This is NOT a traditional Latvian meal; my mom called it Latvian Meatsauce because the recipe came from her mother-in-law who was from Latvia. My dad said he thinks that his mother and her second husband, who was Hungarian, came up with this recipe based on other recipes. He does not remember eating it as a child in Latvia before his mom remarried. Just wanted to clarify that! :)

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LATVIAN MEATSAUCE

8 oz. mushrooms, fresh or canned
3 stalks celery, diced
2 medium onions, diced
1/2 large green pepper, diced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped OR 4 tsp. dried parsley
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
2 lbs. ground beef
2/3 cup water
1 - 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. celery salt
3 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 3 tsp. cold water
3/4 cup sour cream

In a large pot, saute all veggies in butter and oil until partially cooked. In a separate pot, brown the ground beef; drain off fat. Add beef to veggies. Add tomato sauce, water, and spices; stir well. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add cornstarch mixture and cook until sauce thickens. When ready to serve, turn off heat and let sauce stop simmering. Then add the sour cream, stirring well to mix.

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This is really good served over boiled potatoes with a side of pickles. Well, that's how my mom always served it and we loved it. I will only make half the amount of this recipe since only my husband and I will be eating it. I will make my daughter try it, but I'm pretty sure she'll want a hot dog instead.

Happy eating!

4 comments:

  1. This sounds very tasty, I bet my family would love it, they like things that are in the not too spicy category and this seems like it would be perfect :)

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  2. I can see how this would be good on potatoes; over noodles or rice too; definitely going to try it

    betty

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  3. I make so many of Giada's recipes, she is my fav Food Network chef. (You may recognize some of the recipes that I post if you follow her) I usually replace gruyere with Jarlsburg, which is my favorite cheese, though after following Giada, I always have Parmesano Reggiano on hand! The meat sauce looks good, I will have to try it. Thanks!

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  4. Both of those sound great! Giada makes some yummy dishes, but I've only tried one or two...although I did eat almost a whole jar of Nutella last week....

    I like your explanation of the Latvian Meatsauce! We have "French-Canadian" spaghetti sauce (because it's my Aunt and she's French-Canadian...she put lots of peppers in it) as well as "Polish Spaghetti & Meatballs" (again, FIL's version and he was Polish, ergo it must ve Polish, right!? LOL!)

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