Comfort Food ROCKS!

Today, I made meatloaf. No biggie, right? Usually. But this was a little different for me. I did my own thing with the application and I think it turned out pretty good. I like a dense meatloaf so avoided a lot of filler to lighten it up. Here's what I had:

Meatloaf Software -
½ a pound each of ground chuck, lamb and pork
1 egg
1 leek - just the white and a smudge of the green - about 3 inches worth
4 green onions - wilted leaves removed if any
1 clove of garlic
A small bunch of fresh parsley
1 heaping tsp ground thyme
¼ scant tsp ground cumin
4-5 oz (roughly) garlic flavored toasted bagel chips

Glaze Software
½ cup ketchup
½ heaping tsp ground cumin
a dash of Worcestershire sauce
a dash of hot pepper sauce (I used a habenero sauce I picked up in Jamaica)
1 (+ if you like) Tbs honey

Prep -

Preheat the oven to 325° F

The meat and egg go into a bowl. I use Clyde. It's easier.

The leek gets halved and rinsed. Trust me - you want to rinse. Look for my post on the Leek and Potato soup. There's a picture there that gives a good reason why. Here's what your leek half should look like --->

Both halves get sliced down their length into several pieces and then chopped for small pieces. One half gets set aside with the parsley which you will chop coarsely. The other goes with the rest of the vegetables. Finely mince the garlic clove. Finely chop the green onions. Place all into a sautè pan with a drizzle of oil to cover the bottom and a pinch of kosher salt. Sweat the veggies until softened.

While the vegetables are sweating, place the bagel chips into your food processor along with the spices and process until you have a fine mix. Don't be crazy about small bits that might be larger. Once the vegetables are done, add them to the bowl along with the reserved leek half and the parsley.

Add the crumb/spice mix, a good healthy pinch of kosher salt and some freshly ground black pepper. mix on slow speed until combined. You don't want to crush the meat. If doing by hand, just mix, don't squeeze the mixture.

Once mixed, place the meat into a 10 inch loaf pan and push it into the corners like you would normally. Here's the thing though - get some plastic wrap or waxed paper and place in the bottom of the pan so it overlaps the sides. The meat goes on this. I failed to take a picture but you will push the meat into the pan thusly <-----

Once in the pan, pop the meat out with the bits of the plastic or wax paper that are hanging over the sides and place the meat onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. If you are using a probe thermometer (and you SHOULD) place it into the loaf at a 45° angle ensuring that you only go halfway through the loaf. Don't touch the pan.

This goes into the hotbox which should be preheated by now. You did allow the oven to completely heat, right? While this is starting to bake, make the glaze.

Mix all the ingredients. Taste it. Adjust if you want. Taste again till you like the sweet/spicy balance and put it on the loaf about 15-20 minutes into the bake time.

It looks like this in the oven.

It looks like this on the plate. I didn't do mashers this time since I am fresh out of Idaho potatoes and didn't feel like venturing out.

I liked it overall. I will make a sandwich out of it tomorrow to see how it fares between slices of bread. I need to make some bread. I am sick of buying whole wheat. That's another blog topic.

Doing it again, I will add a little more garlic. I wanted a bit more in there. If you try this, let me know what you think.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.