Cool Campus Cooking: Easy Meatloaf

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Easy Meatloaf

Sometimes you need to try new things, or re-invent old ones. So here's a suggestion: break away from the old stand-by of making hamburgers with ground chuck or sirloin--instead, make a delicious crowd pleaser with a little extra effort--good ol' fashioned meatloaf. Who'd-a-thunk? Kid eats meatloaf? Yep, that's Jon. And from a parent's standpoint who wants meal diversity--it's an awesome burger alternative.

Add 'Crash Hot Potatoes' (next recipe this week), green beans in butter and basil (as already demo-ed with carrots)...and you might just find yourself running "Jon's Campus Bistro Blueplate Special".
You do know Steve Jobs never finished college, right?

Plan for requests to make this recipe again! Leftovers are fantastic heated or made into a sandwich.

Equipment:
9" x 13" Pyrex dish
Large mixing bowl
10" non-stick skillet (if you are opting to add flavor with sautéed onions)
Oven

Ingredients:
4 slices stale white bread, torn
1/3 cup milk, any type
1 lb ground hamburger / sirloin
1 lb ground pork
1 large yellow onion, diced & sautéed
1 tsp butter
1 Tbls olive oil
2 eggs
2 tsp kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 tsp thyme
1 pinch nutmeg (optional- I tend to skip this)
1 Tbls fresh parsley, chopped (optional, if budget tight or not handy)

Bacon

Instructions:
1. Wash hands and have kitchen cleaned.
2. Preheat oven to 400F degrees

3. Dice onion.
4. In non-stick skillet, sauté onions and set aside to cool.

5. Combine torn bread and milk in a mixing bowl.
6. Drain and squeeze milk out of bread. Discard milk.
7. Add meats, bread, onions, eggs, and spices together and mix with your hands.

8. Form meat mixture into a log in the UNGREASED Pyrex dish
9. Cover log with strips of bacon.
10. Some folks like adding a final touch of BBQ sauce or ketchup here. I don't, but you might like the sweetness.