Jeanne here.
Sometimes, it’s nice to take a culinary journey back to the 1940s.
Not that we ever ate in the 1940s (no one in our house was alive then).
But who doesn’t have a mom or grandma who made an awesome down-home meatloaf?
Juicy. Salty. Ketchup-y. Homey. Satisfying.
And meatloaf is a pretty cost-effective way to stretch your food-dollar.
I grew up in a house with seven kids. So we ate more than our share of meatloaf when I was a little.
But I have a sister who doesn’t like ketchup. Which means meatloaf dinners were a pretty big bummer for her. Actually. She doesn’t like tomatoes (?!?! Who doesn’t like tomatoes?! Weirdo. Who I love like no other.)
Truth is … a lot of dollar-stretching dinners (lasagna, spaghetti, tomato soup & grilled cheese, pizza) were a bummer for her.
So I came up with this recipe in her honor.
Because she reads this blog.
Hi Teri!
And she cooks (she might tell you she bakes rather than cooks. But I’ve eaten at her house, and she’s amazing. One day I’ll get her to share her recipe for Naan with us. OMG.)
So this is in honor of Teri.
A truffle-infused (that makes it fancy)…
Tasty…
Juicy…
All-grown-up…
Tomato-free-meatloaf.
With sprouted grain breadcrumbs (which make it more digestible and nourishing in that the nutrients are in the breadcrumbs are not just filler, but actually available to absorb).
(I have also been known to use leftover cooked sprouted quinoa in place of breadcrumbs … depends on what we have in the house).
Next time you want a cozy, nourishing, good-for-you, meatloaf, but you want to grow it up a bit … give this a try.
Seriously.
You won’t be disappointed.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 cup thin-sliced carrots (we cut and froze these after harvest last fall. They’re from our friends Susan and Bruce’s beautiful garden and they are sliced very thin)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 cups Ezekial sprouted bread crumbs (we had these in the freezer, too … shredded the breadcrumbs in the food processor the last time I made meatballs, which was about two weeks ago).
- 1 cup milk
- 1-2 eggs (we used 2 eggs tonight because the hens laid little ones this week)
- 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef (can be combined with pork or lamb or replaced with turkey/chicken … you could even use ground venison or elk if you have a hunter in your life)
- pinch truffle powder (or dash of truffle oil)
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
for the truffle chipotle aioli:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1-2 tablespoon fresh chives (our first harvest from the garden this year!)
- 2 teaspoons chipotle pepper and adobo sauce (available in the Mexican section of your local grocer) – this has some kick to it. If you’re heat-sensitive, start with one teaspoon and add more to taste.
- pinch truffle powder (or drop or two of truffle oil)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large sauté pan and as soon as it’s melted add the chopped onion and carrots. Sauté until onions are translucent and carrots are soft. Remove from heat.
Add the breadcrumbs. Then transfer the contents of sauté pan to a large mixing bowl.
Add the milk (which cools off the mixture so it doesn’t cook the next three ingredients). Then the egg(s), the meat, the mayo, truffle powder and sea salt. Wash your hands and dig in. The best way to incorporate all these ingredients is with the five fingers God gave you.
(The reason you want to use your hands is because that will allow you to mix the ingredients without overworking the meat. You don’t want to overwork the meat. It will make the meatloaf too dense.)
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper (ours is cast iron … we’re doing our best to switch over to cast iron for nearly all of our pots and pans these days) and load the meat mixture into the pan.
Bake for about 55 minutes. Turn the heat up for 400 and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to check that the center of your meatloaf is 145-150 degrees. If it is, remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. NOTE: cast iron takes a little longer to warm up. If you are using something besides cast iron, I would recommend checking the temperature of your meatloaf at around 45 minutes. I turn the heat up and cook another 10 minutes when the meat reaches about 125 degrees. I’ve never made this in anything but cast iron, so that’s the only cook-time I can attest to.
I use those ten minutes to do a quick sauté of a vegetable to serve with it (last night we had haricot vert sautéed in a pat of butter with a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper and some sliced apple).
I also use those ten minutes to whip together the aioli … for the aioli, just combine all the ingredients in a small bowl with a spoon. I use a small mason jar so we can store the leftovers for sandwiches and egg tacos another day.
Remove your meatloaf from the pan (be careful! That pan could still be hot!!). Cut into 1 inch slices. Top with the truffle chipotle sauce and serve. (The kids generally have one piece each, I start with one, the Cowboy starts with two. And I won’t deny occasionally going back for seconds …
But it’s nice when there are leftovers, because this meatloaf makes a good lunch the day-after.
Makes 4-6 servings.