Three Layer Cake - Meatloaf - No more ini food

Food - Recipes

Monday, 28 August 2006

Meatloaf

Husband: "Honey, you know what leather is?"

Wife: "Yes"

Husband: "Well, last night that's what you served me for dinner. It was like chewing on my belt. See if you can learn some recipes from Kristina while she's here!"

That's the conversation I witnessed at friends' house one summer not too long ago. My friend, despite being in his early 30s, was more like Paul Dooley's character in Breaking Away. He wanted meat and potatoes. He didn't want any "-ini food", Italian foods ending with the "ini" sound like zucchini, fettucine, linguine. So what better recipe to start out with than meatloaf? They changed houses shortly thereafter and lost the recipe which was on the refrigerator, so here it is again...

1 cup bread without crust
1/4 milk
250g Ground Turkey or Chicken
250g Chicken or Turkey sausage
1/2 cup savoy cabbage
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup onion
1/4 vegetable broth
1/3 cup tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
ketchup

Note: I like to use also about 75g of seitan when I can find it, chopped with the rest of the meat. It is ok to use beef in this recipe, or even ground veal, but because there's so much meat, I just opt for poultry products to reduce the amount of fat. Of course there's nothing better than a juicy meatloaf, or a juicy meatball, so try it with all beef at least once!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 c)

Boil water for vegetable broth (bouillon)

Cut bread into cubes, soak in milk while preparing other ingredients.

Finely chop cabbage and onion in food processor.

If meat is not already chopped, add it to the food processor.

Transfer everything to a bowl. Mix in egg, parmesan, tomato, bread, vegetable broth, cabbage and onion (if not previously chopped with meat.

Spoon or pour ketchup along the top of the meatloaf to taste (1/4 cup should be good)

Line an 8x4 (more or less) loaf pan with foil, or any type of oven-proof dish. Shape meat into a loaf. (Martha Stewart says not to handle meatloaf too much or it will get tough. I don't know what that means...it's not like you're kneading it...)

Leave in oven til cooked through, about 1 hour.

Let sit in pan for at least 5 minutes before serving to allow meatloaf to plump itself back up.

It's great the next day in a sammich.

Intro photo: Robert Lerich

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