HI-YA!! Battle Meatloaf!

Well, isn't this coincidental. I started cooking tonight, without checking in on the site and low and behold, Kelcy beat me to the punch line. It's ok - we all have our favorites and sometimes they coincide, meatloaf is just warm comfortable food. I'm not sure why I like meatloaf so much, I think it has to do with the fact that my parents always made me Nem Nuong when I was a kid, I consider it a bit of a Vietnamese derivative of American meatloaf, except the consumption medium is slightly different with rice paper and trimmings. When I went away to college, I missed Nem Nuoung and at the time, I happen to find a new love for American meatloaf. It's since stuck. Whether it's frigidly cold up here in Boston or the warmth of the summer heat, I'll still enjoy it. I use a relatively standard recipe as follows:

• 1 green (or red) bell pepper finely chopped
• 1 medium onion (sweet vidalia) finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic

Take the above three ingredients and I like to run it through a mini food chopper/processor instead of hand chopping for a fine chop. Take the ingredients and gently saute them in a pan with olive oil on medium/low heat until a fair amount of the moisture is cooked off. This should take about 7-10 mins. Let cool while combining the following ingredients in a bowl:

• 1lb of ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs (or half and half plain and italian)
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper

Mix the above ingredients along with the saute mixture into a bowl, thoroughly combine/mix (using your hands are best). At this point you can place into a loaf pan, but I prefer to just form a loaf on a baking sheet, bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 mins. About 30-40 mins into the cooking process, top the meatloaf with the red sauce below.

While meatloaf is cooking, make a simple chunky red sauce with:

• 1 large can whole tomatoes
• 1 large vidalia onion very roughly chopped
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 6-8 garlic cloves
• water
  
• salt
• pepper
• sugar

Take onions and saute in olive oil for a few mins, until slightly cooked, while they are cooking, open can of whole tomatoes and rough chop into chunks. Add chopped tomatos to sauteed onions in addition to tomato paste and garlic cloves. Add 1.5 cups of water. Salt, pepper, and about 1 tbsp of sugar to taste. The sauce should be simple and fast to make as well as chunky and delicious.

When the meatloaf is done, I sometimes serve it up with a side of gamelli or cellentani with tomato sauce topped and a simple spinach and tomato side salad with balsamic vinaigrette.


What REALLY makes my day isn't the above plate, I just make the meatloaf as an excuse to really have meatloaf ... the day after - and how I really enjoy a good meats-loafs. Get a chewy/crusty loaf of italian bread, lightly butter one side and place into a fry-pan. Next place a few slices of pepper-jack cheese (yes, that hot spicey jacky-stuff), a slice of meatloaf a dollop of tomato sauce, a few basil leaves, another few slices of cheese and the other slice of bread. Lightly fry 3-4 each side, cheese will be gooey, and I enjoy with a side of sauce to dip in. Ok, I'll admit it's not the most calorie conscious sandwich, but make one and you'll understand.