Mama Mia! Meatloaf!
I am not now, nor have I ever been a meatloaf lover. I have eaten it and I have made it before. But I have never ordered it when dining out. And I rarely, and I do mean rarely, make it at home. Mostly because it isn't very creative and it takes, I think, skill to make it have good flavor, not crumble when baked, and be moist at the same time. My father used to make a pretty good meatloaf. And we had it often in our house growing up. But since getting married and beginning my self education in the culinary world, meatloaf wasn't high on my priority list of "need to conquer" recipes. However, the other day a friend of mine mentioned she was making meatloaf for dinner and, for some odd reason, it actually sounded like a good idea. So I searched my recipe archives to see if I could find a doable recipe for tonights dinner. And not only did I find one, but I found a realllllly good one. Believe me, no one else is as surprised as I am that I liked the meatloaf. Mama Mia was it good! And even though I probably won't be making it on a weekly basis, it is definately on my list of monthly recipes. Which is saying a lot. I wasn't able to document the whole process like I wanted to, but I do have some pics to show you. The recipe is adapted from Tyler Florence's.
Here is the finished sauce. Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving.
This is after coming out of the oven with the crispy bacon on top. Dripping with goodness.
Yum! And chunks of tomato and pepper. Double yum!
Meatloaf with Tomato Relish Recipe
Tomato Relish:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced
1/8 cup dried parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Meatloaf:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks by hand
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
1/4 tsp dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 to 5 bacon slices cut in half
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes to create a base flavor. Throw in the red
peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften. Now add the tomatoes; adding them at this point lets them hold their shape and prevents them from
disintegrating. Stir in the parsley, ketchup, and Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes to pull all the flavors together. Remove it
from the heat; you should have about 4 cups of relish. I made this relish a couple hours before I was ready to make the meat loaf, so it was plenty cool enough to handle by the time I was ready for that.
Place the torn white bread in a bowl and add the milk to just barely cover, swish the bread around in the milk and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients for the meat loaf together. This is where you get your hands dirty! In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork with 1 1/2 cups of the tomato relish, the eggs, and
thyme;season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the soaked bread to the meat mixture. Taste the patty for seasoning.
Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Transfer the meat mixture to the center of the cookie sheet and form into a log about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Coat the top of
the meatloaf with another 1/2 cup of the tomato relish. Lay the bacon across the top lengthwise. Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the bacon is crisp and the
meatloaf is firm. Rotate the meat loaf while it's baking every now and then to insure that the bacon browns evenly. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool a few minutes before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side. Unbelievably moist!