Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Meatloaf To Get Excited About


It's been a busy couple of weeks which is why I've been so lax on posting lately. We finally got our stuff from Fort Polk and into storage here in town. I've still got to go through everything to make sure nothing's broken and I've got to find my ice cream maker. Big plans for that this summer. I also get to plant a huge garden this summer. No containers this time. My FIL plowed a big plot and told me to go to it. I had a huge scare with my mom last week. She was hospitalized because her doctor thought she might be having a heart attack but luckily she wasn't and all her tests turned out A-OK. WooHoo!

I haven't really had a lot of time for cooking lately, I've mostly been taking the easy way out and making a lot of frozen stuff but I was in the mood to cook today so I went searching through my mountain of collected recipes today and found a Meatloaf recipe from Alton Brown. I know, who gets excited about Meatloaf but this one sounded really good and I love Alton Brown's recipes. His show Good Eats on the Food Network has done so much to improve my cooking skills. This meatloaf is really good, it's big time spicy but not hot. The glaze is amazing, it really makes the meal pop. It doesn't take long to put together either. What really drew me in to the recipe was the garlic croutons. I love garlic croutons, I eat them like potato chips. Like right now as I type. Somebody please stop me!



 

For this meatloaf you want to start off by pulseing croutons, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and dried thyme until they're a fine powder. 







 
Transfer the powdered spices to a large bowl.









Next pulse onion, carrot, garlic and red bell pepper until they're finely chopped but don't puree them. Transfer the veggies to the bowl with the spices. 







Add the meat, salt and 2 eggs. The original recipe only calls for ground chuck and sirloin but I added ground buffalo too. Time to get dirty. Start mixing the mixture with your hands until it's nice and combined. Don't overwork the meat (yeah, i'm not really sure when that point comes either) and don't squeeze the meat. Once it's combined pack the meat down into a 10-inch loaf pan that you sprayed with cooking spray. I didn't do this and had to get creative to get the meat out of the loaf pan. 


You're going to turn the loaf out onto a baking sheet that you've lined with parchment paper. Put into a 350°F oven and start the glaze. You've got 10 minutes...GO!

 





In a small bowl, mix catsup, ground cumin, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and honey. Whisk until thoroughly mixed. 







After the meat has been in the oven for 10 minutes, you're going to take it out and coat with the glaze. A silicon brush it perfect for this. Save the leftover glaze for later. 






Put the loaf back in the oven. You're going to cook the meat until it reaches a temperature of 155°F. I can't give you an exact cook time but mine was ready about 45 minutes after I put it back in the oven from glazing it. Easy Peasy! Nuke the leftover glaze for about 30 seconds. The meatloaf goes great with mashed potatoes. Plus it's a sneaky way to hide veggies.

Alton Brown's original recipe can be found here.


Good Eats Meatloaf
6 ounces garlic-flavored croutons
½ teaspoon ground  black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder  
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and broken
3 whole cloves garlic
½ red bell pepper
1 lb. ground chuck
1 lb. ground sirloin
1 lb. ground buffalo
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs 

 
For the glaze:
½ cup catsup
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Dash Worcestershire sauce
Dash hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon honey 

 
Heat oven to 350°F.
In a food processor bowl, combine croutons, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme. Pulse until the mixture is of a fine texture. Place this mixture into a large bowl. Combine the onion, carrot, garlic, and red pepper in the food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed. Combine the vegetable mixture, ground sirloin, ground chuck and ground buffalo with the bread crumb mixture. Season the meat mixture with the kosher salt. Add the eggs and combine thoroughly, but avoid squeezing the meat.
Pack this mixture into a 10-inch loaf pan to mold the shape of the meatloaf. Onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, turn the meatloaf out of the pan onto the center of the tray. Insert a temperature probe at a 45 degree angle into the top of the meatloaf. Avoid touching the bottom of the tray with the probe. Set the probe for 155°F.
Combine the catsup, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and honey. Brush the glaze onto the meatloaf after it has been cooking for about 10 minutes. 

 
Hope you like it as much as I did. I'm off to find out what you can do with kumquats.

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