Considering who I live with, I don't do a lot of cooking. That doesn't mean I can't cook but, c'mon. I can put a basketball in a hoop but if Michael Jordan shows up to a pick-up game I'm going to pass the ball to Jordan.
Lately our schedules have diverged where I'm working early enough that I barely see the Little Red-Haired Girl any more, so I'm kind of on my own for dinners. She's been buying me all sorts of easy things to cook, where "easy" means "boil tortellinis according to the package directions until done, drain, add pesto sauce from the package". Difficult to screw up.
But, hey, I wasn't always engaged to the best cook in the United States and I can still not cut myself with a knife. So last night for dinner I made a classic dish: Meatloaf! The recipe I used is from Mark Bittman's wonderful book "How to Cook Everything", which you should buy immediately. It's great. I don't actually own the book, I own the iPhone app instead which is equally great and recommended for those of you elites like me who have an iOS device.
Meat Loaf
By Mark Bittman
From the How to Cook Everything® app
Introduction:
Free-form meat loaf has several advantages over those cooked in loaf pans: It develops a lovely crust on three sides instead of just one, and the fat can run off, rather than become trapped between pan and meat. Plus it's easy to shape by hand and always turns out in the shape you wanted. You can also shape this mixture into meatballs if you like; just bake them for about half the time.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs, preferably fresh
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 pounds mixed ground meats beef, veal, lamb, and/or pork (you can use turkey or chicken also if you like)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 small onion, minced
- 1 small carrot, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh sage leaves or 1 pinch dried sage leaves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 slices bacon (optional but good, especially if the meat is very lean)
Steps:
Heat the oven to 350°F. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk until the milk is absorbed, about 5 minutes.
Mix together all the ingredients except the bacon. Shape the meat into a loaf in a baking pan; top with the bacon if you like. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, basting occasionally with the rendered pan juices. When done, the meat loaf will be browned lightly and firm and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center will read 160°F.
This is the first time I've used this particular recipe. Here are some tips:
- The recipe says "minced", not "diced". I don't know why my brain read that as diced and it didn't seem to hurt much of anything. I've given up after 45 years of trying to figure out anything my brain does.
- Cook by time, not just temperature. I used Cindi's temperature probe thing that beeps at the right temperature, but the whole thing could have used another ten or fifteen minutes to evenly cook.
- There is a proper way to cut an onion - this way - and you should do that. Not my technique of "have at it and don't cut off your hand".
- Unless you have really lean meat, you probably don't need the bacon. Keep it for a Breakfast for Dinner Day.
- I left out the parsley and sage because we didn't have them. It didn't seem to matter.
- Be prepared with an answer to "What else are you planning to serve with the meatloaf?" that isn't "Er, I hadn't thought that far ahead?" (Turned out we had potatoes I could bake.)
The results!
This is one of 2 small loaves made from the above recipe. You could also bake it as one large loaf. Since this was for dinner for just 2 it made sense to divide it and wrap up the second one for leftovers later in the week.
So, what's for dinner at your place tonight? Pull up a chair, pour yourself a drink and leave the politics at the door. Thanks for stopping by!