Meatloaf With Flavor

Meatloaf does not have to rely on Catsup for flavor.  It should be more than an 8x4x4.5 hamburger with a lot of breadcrumbs.  Just give it a little time and a few ingredients and you’ll be looking forward to the meal.  You’ll love it hot, cold, fresh, as a leftover meal or as a sandwich.  Make it once and have it several times.

Feel free to make some changes, especially using those small quantity leftover vegetables while they’re still good.  For instance, you can use cracker crumbs from a box or make your own by crushing crackers you like or use a green pepper instead of a red or yellow.  It’s your meatloaf, make it your way.

Ingredients:

·   3 Tbl       Oil (Peanut will give it a more Southern flavor and different heating temperature but I use Olive or Vegetable most of the time.  They are always around and cheaper)

·   1 small    Onion, chopped

·   2 ribs      Celery (Use less if you want or augment with dried celery leaves or seads)

·   3 cloves  Garlic, minced

·   1 small    Yellow pepper, diced ( I like the yellow or red for taste and color and have used half of each.  Green is fine also, and normally less expensive)

·   ½ cup     Green onions, chopped

·   1 Tbl       Basil, fresh and minced.  You can substituted 1 tsp of dried basil

·   ¼ tsp      Red pepper, crushed

·   1 1/3 lb   Meatloaf mix (that is a combination of ground beef, veal, and pork.  You can also use whatever ground meat you like but I wouldn’t suggest anything with greater than a 20% fat content)

·   1 1/3 tsp Cajun seasoning (you can buy it or make it.  There are several recipe’s  and I will go through some ideas at a later time)

·   ¼ tsp      Tabasco sauce

·   1 Tbl       Worcestershire sauce

·   2 large    Eggs

·   ½ cup     Cornflakes

·   ½ cup     cracker crumbs

·   ¼ cup     Bread crumbs, seasoned

·   ¼ cup     Catsup

·   ¼ cup     Chili sauce

·   2 slices    Bread

Directions:

1.            Prepare the onion, celery, garlic pepper, and green onions and place in a small bowl.

2.            Put the meat in a large bowl and season with the Cajun seasoning, Tabasco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce..

3.            Crack the eggs, one at a time, into a small bowl.  This will help you determine if they are still good as well as fish out the errant egg shells.  Then beat them.

4.            Add the eggs, cornflakes, cracker crumbs, bread crumbs, catsup, and chili  sauce to the meat and set aside.

5.            Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat until hot

6.            Add the oil.  If you are using Peanut oil it will start to smoke when ready.  Other oils will take 30 seconds or so

7.            Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

8.            Add the onion mixture from #1 and cook for about 4 minutes

9.            Add the basil and red pepper and cook for another minute

10.        Take the skillet off the heat and set aside for a while, letting it cool just a bit.

11.        Add the cooked vegetables to the meat and have fun mixing everything together with your hands.

12.        Put a slice or two of bread in the bottom of a loaf pan and then form the meat on top of the bread.

13.        Bake for 40 minutes and check.  This should be enough time but I always check.

14.        Put the meatloaf on a plate, leaving the bread slices either in the loaf pan or garbage.  Better yet, give the bread to the birds.

15.        Let the meatloaf cool for a bout 10 minutes and then cut into ½ to 1 inch slices for serving.

Shepherd's Pie

Don’t you hate to go into your refrigerator and find small amounts of vegetables left over from previous meals?  Not enough for a side dish but throwing them away is just such a waste.   And how about those vegetables you made to share with someone else because they liked them but you didn’t?  What can you do?  How about something like a Shepherd’s Pie.

A Shepherd’s Pie or Potato Pie as it is sometimes called can be made from fresh ingredients and with a more formal recipe but it can also be a catch all for leftovers before they are wasted.  Just use up those peas, corn, green beans, pepper, tomato sauce, sour cream, catsup, milk, onion, mashed potatoes, cheese, celery,  etc. before they go bad, it is pretty ease to make and can be reheated on days when you just don’t have time to fix a big meal.

Now I’m going to give you a more formal recipe but feel free to experiment with what you like and what you have on hand and scale up or scale down the ingredients.  Remember though, food has an expiration date so don’t use anything that is turning green or moldy or went bad already.  You will not enjoy the pain that comes with food poisoning.

Ingredients:

1 lb                ground chuck or meat loaf mix

1                    medium onion, chopped

½ cup          minced celery

3 cloves        garlic

1                    medium bell pepper (I used a red bell pepper for color and flavor

1 tsp              fresh basil41/2 chopped fresh rosemary

½ cup          chopped green onions

1 15 oz can   tomato sauce (I used a pizza sauce)

1 ½ tsp         Cajun seasoning

¼ tsp           Tabasco sauce

1 17 oz can   whole kernel corn, drained

1 17 oz can   green beans, drained

2 or 3            white potatoes

½ stick        salted butter

½ cup          milk

½ tsp           black pepper

½ tsp           salt

Vegetable oil spray

½ cup          Swiss cheese, grated

¼ cup          grated cheddar cheese

Paprika

Directions:

1.                         put onions, celery garlic, bell pepper, basil, rosemary, and green onions in a small bowl.  I tend to just use  Italian seasoning instead of the basil and rosemary.

2.                        Peal the potatoes, quarter them, and place in a large saucepan.

3.                        Cover the potatoes with water and boil for about 20 minutes.  Check at around 10 minutes to see if they are done.  You can do this by stabbing them with a fork and seeing if they are tender.  You can also puncture the potatoes with a fork a few times, wrap them in paper towels or napkins and nuke them per your microwaves instructions.

4.                        Open the cans of vegetables and tomato sauce

5.                        Heat a large skillet over medium heat

6.                        When skillet is hot add the ground chuck and brown for about 2 minutes

7.                        Add the contents of the bowl of onions, etc. and sauté for about 4 minutes

8.                        Stir in the corn, green beans, tomato sauce, cajun seasoning, and tobasco sauce.

9.                        Preheat the oven to 375

10.                     Cook for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally

11.                      If you nuke the potatoes, skin them and mash.  If you boiled the potatoes, drain them and mash.  Add the butter, milk, salt, and pepper while mixing.  I like to make them wetter than normal so that they spread easier.  The baking will perk them up.

12.                     Spray the bottom of a 2 ½ quart casserole with the vegetable oil spray

13.                     Pour the meat mixture into the casserole

14.                     Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the mixture

15.                     Spread the cheeses over the potatoes

16.                     Lightly dust the top with the paprika

17.                     Bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes. 

18.                     You know it is done when the potatoes are getting golden brown, the cheese is melted, and you can stick a knife in the middle and it comes out pretty clean.

This probably wont freeze well because of the potatoes but it does well covered in the refrigerator for a few days,  You can then reheat it in the microwave or oven at 300 degrees.