Monday, April 17, 2006

$64 Peppers

Having decided to make meatloaf for dinner, I stopped by Dean and Deluca in Chelsea for the fixings. I needed some cookware anyway so I thought I'd kill two birds.

D & D is a terrific place to shop with a well stocked produce area, fresh fish and exceptional breads. I made my way through the store, gathered the meat, herbs, bread and vegetables; had them weighed and price marked and eventually landed in checkout.

I didn't have my glasses so when the cashier motioned for me to sign the computer credit card screen, I gave it my best shot and stuffed the receipt into my grocery bag.

I jumped back on the subway and headed home.

Arriving at the house, I set the bags down in the kitchen and started putting away the food. I set the onions, peppers and herbs out on the counter until I was ready to make dinner.

That afternoon as I was beginning the prep something caught my eye. It was the price marked on the plastic bag of peppers. The tag clearly said $64. This was two, domestic, standard-meatloaf orangish bell peppers. I asked the babysitter to confirm the tag. She rolled her eyes and walked off laughing.

Could I have paid $64 for two peppers? No.

Did I?

I looked for the receipt. It was stuffed into the trash bin with the garbage. I had to know. I headed outside and carefully went through my own trash like an identity thief looking for gold. There, coffee stained and wet, was the receipt marked clearly $123 for a few groceries including two $64 peppers.

It was too late to head back into the city to grovel. But the next morning, I had to make my way to D & D to chat with the manager, who, of course, saw the error, issued me a credit, gave me the peppers and cautioned me against shopping without my reading glasses.

Maple Glazed Meatloaf

1 lb ground veal
1 lb ground round
1 lb groung pork
3/4 lb pancetta
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp whatsthisheresauce
1/2 tsp ground pepper
dash cholula hot sauce (You can substitute another but, what are you crazy?)
1/2 cup crushed saltines
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbs dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 375. Saute 1/4 of the pancetta until brown and transfer to paper towels. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and saute that until it's soft. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream, eggs, dry mustard, salt, thyme, whatsthishere, ground pepper and cholula.

In a huge bowl, combine the meat, cooked pancetta, onion/garlic mix, parsley, cracker crumbs and the wet stuff. Lightly combine it with your hands. Don't over-do it or your meatloaf will be too dense. Form it into a loaf on a rimmed cookie sheet. Arrange the rest of the pancetta over the loaf to more or less cover it.

In a small bown mix the maple syrup with the dijon. Spread this over the loaf and slide the beast into the oven for about 1 1/4 hours. Baste it every now and then with the juice. Don't over cook it.

Serve it with mashed potatoes and southern greens.

You may also add chopped bell pepper to the mix but it's sometimes an expensive proposition so be forewarned.