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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Meatloaf, Potatoes and Broccoli

I totally forgot to post these pictures from Sunday dinner. I made meatloaf (Tyler Florence's ultimate recipe), mashed potatoes with the last of the Plugra and roasted broccoli.


Everything was sensational. I even cooked the broccoli to the perfect doneness - just starting to get brown around the edges, but still with some bite to it. And the roasted garlic pieces were crunchy and sweet:


This is truly our favorite recipe for meatloaf. It always comes out perfectly moist and the sweet, tart flavor from the red pepper relish is the perfect compliment to the meatloaf:


I think the best part, though, was that the mashed potatoes smelled like pure butter and tasted better than any I've ever made.

Dad's Meatloaf with Tomato Relish
Tyler Florence

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
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf 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
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 bacon slices

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

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.

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. To test, fry a small "hamburger" patty of the meatloaf until cooked; the patty should hold together but still have a soft consistency. 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 bit before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side.

4 comments:

  1. I think I need to try this plugra stuff. the meatloaf looks good. I'll look that recipe up right now... ok, I added it to my list. I'm curious about the tomato relish. also, I have a recipe for meatloaf that I use that I like a lot - I'll be sure to make/post as soon as I can.

    ..aaand I'm done making a comment mess all over your stuff haha. thanks for letting me take part here and for giving me feedback.

    did I ever tell you that I found you through monster munching? I would guess you knew that since we both link the site. I looked at every link he had and only kept a few that I liked - one being yours because, like I've said, I swear everything you cook is stuff I would make for me and steve. very cool.

    anyway, I very much look forward to the next couple of weeks and starting a blog like this of my own! :D

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  2. alosha - After I spent way more than I should on Plugra at a specialty grocery store SP found it everywhere he went and always for much less than we paid for it. Now that I know I can get it cheaper I'll be buying it more often. I swear, I've never had mashed potatoes as good as the ones I make with the Plugra.

    Hehe. Trust me, I LOVE that you comment so frequently. The comments have been few and far between lately and I wondered where everyone disappeared to!

    You know, I never noticed that we both link to Monster Munching. I am forever in debt to bloggers like him, Seth over at Feasting in Phoenix and The Food Pornographer for linking to my blog. They get so much traffic and most of my referrals (according to site meter) are because people clicked over to me from their blogs. I'm really glad that you liked what you saw. Comments like that really make my day! :)

    I promise, this week was an anomaly. I went out with friends twice and we ate leftovers on Monday, but I've got a posting tonight and tomorrow is Pizza Friday and the return of an old favorite so stay tuned!

    And start your food blog!!

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  3. Yummm this meatloaf looks so good. I love your blog and have added you to my favs.

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  4. Nicole - Hi and welcome!! I'm so glad to hear you like my blog. I promise to check yours out as well and add you to my blogroll. :)

    ReplyDelete

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