Mosaic Meat loaf and Father's day

On some special occasions my dad used to cook a mosaic meat loaf which was very tasty and as kids we liked it very much. He doesn't usually cook, but this was a special recipe from a book called Cookbook for Men - which assumed the recipes would not be very complicated but get you with a delicious result.

#88 Bulgarian Steak and Rice Soup

To serve 2

2 tbsp oil
1 pork shoulder steak
1 small onion, finely chopped
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp tomato puree
1.2l chicken stock
1 handful of risotto rice, washed
salt
black pepper
½ tsp dried savoury (or thyme)
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar, optional

Heat the oil in a pan and cook the steak for a minute each side, just to seal the juices. Take it out on a board and chop into ½ cm cubes.
Add some more oil in the pan, if needed and sauté the onion for 3 minutes.
Add the paprika and tomato puree and stir for a few seconds.
Pour in the chicken stock and once it comes to the boil and the chopped steak. Season with salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for half an hour.
Add the washed rice and savoury and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.
When ready to serve, sprinkle the chopped parsley on top and add the vinegar, if you like a bit of sourness in your soups.

Pork Ribs & Piquant Lentils

To create this recipe I combined two other recipes: piquant pork ribs and piquant lentils.

For the Pork Ribs:
You need some 600 gr ribs
Make a marinade from 2 tablespoons of honey, melted on medium heat, add 2 cloves of garlic, 1 spoon of light soy sauce, 100 ml red whine (Domain Menada Merlot), 1 teaspoon of mustard, salt, white pepper, 3 cm long ginger root (grounded), rosemary and red pepper.
Rub the ribs with the marinade and pour on the rest of it. Leave in cool place for one hour.
Place the ribs in a tin individually wrapped in aluminium foil and bake on 200 degrees Celsius for some 40 minutes.
Then unwrap them and pour on the rest of marinade, bake for other 10 minutes and add the remainder marinade again. Leave in the oven until ready.

For the lentils:
Boil 250 gr of lentils in 500 ml of water, add about 150 gr of tomato puree and salt.
In a pan fry in about 100 ml of extra virgin olive oil a medium onion, 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and one fresh green pepper. Fry for 2-3 minutes and add 1 tablespoon of red pepper, 2 tablespoons of curry powder and salt. After other two minutes add 1 tablespoon of white flour and add 200 ml of the lentils stock.
Drain the lentils from the remainder stock and add them drained to the curry and pepper mixture. Stir for some 3-4 minutes until ready.

When serving, decorate with liquid cream and fresh basil leaves.