Meatloaf

There are days when I'm more focused on getting food ready than I am on getting photos of the food.  This was one of those days.  While this is certainly not the best display, the meatloaf is still pretty darn good. The recipe is adapted from the Cook's Illustrated recipe.  If you don't have a Cook's Illustrated cookbook, I recommend getting one.  Those folks sure know how to cook.

To start, you will need a zillion ingredients:  1 lb of ground chuck, 1 lb of ground sirloin, monterey jack cheese, eggs, onion, celery, parsley, garlic,  unflavored gelatin, tomato sauce, dijon mustard, soy sauce, saltines (or gluten free saltine like crackers), paprika, oregano, chicken stock, and salt and pepper.  It takes a while to make this meatloaf, so go ahead and star chopping up all of the ingredients.

Other preparation steps include crushing up the saltines to crumb size pieces (2/3 cups), chop up 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, measure out salt and pepper.

You will want about 3/4 cup of shredded cheese.  Once it is shredded, spread it out on a plate and place it in the freezer.

Next up, you want to finely chop one celery stalk and one onion and saute them in some butter. While it is cooking, chop up some fresh oregano, one to two garlic cloves, and measure out a teaspoon of paprika.

Cook the onion and celery until it is beginning to  brown.  Then add the oregano, garlic, and paprika.

Next, add in about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce.  Stir until everything is combined and the sauce has thickened.  Then remove this mixture to a bowl so that it can cool.

In a separate bowl, combine 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of chicken broth.  Whisk it together. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin over the top and let sit for five minutes.

Next, add the saltines, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon mustard.  Mix together.  Then add in the onion/celery mixture.  Finally, crumble the frozen cheese on top of the mixture.

Now, add in the meat and combine with your hands.  Form into a loaf.

Cook for about 1 hour in a 375 degree oven.

Meanwhile, put together a tomato based glaze sauce.  I used about 1 can of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and 2 teaspoons of hot sauce.  Cook over a low simmer until thickened.

Once the meatloaf is done (reaches 140 degrees), brush with the glaze and turn the oven up to 500 degrees.  Cook for another ten minutes so the glaze gets nice and sticky.

Then serve!  See that gross picture.  If I was better prepared, I would have transferred the meatloaf to a serving platter and took a picture of it without all that grease/sauce mixture. Yuck.  Oh well.

Serve with mashed potatoes and sugar snap peas!