A Diversion from Music: Meatloaf Recipe

Before yesterday, I’d never made meatloaf.  But we had 6 pounds of ground meat leftover from the Manly Movie Mammajamma, and we’ve already had sliders and sloppy joes in recent memory.  I asked my mother, who is not a meatloaf enthusiast, and she said, “Look it up in Betty Crocker.”  Which I did, but that recipe called for milk–milk?–and what I thought were far too many breadcrumbs.

So I called my aunt, who gave me a million options of what one could theoretically do to make a meatloaf moist but not crumbly, tender but not greasy.  Here’s what I did, based on some of those suggestions:

Ingredients

2 lbs ground beef

1 3/4 cups bread crumbs (Actually, I used squashed up some toasty Nonni’s Panetini; I usually substitute mashed up croutons for bread crumbs)

1 1/4 cups Elizabeth’s quick & easy pizza sauce (left over, recipe below)

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1/4 cup onion

2 slices bacon

Spices: salt, pepper, ancho chili powder, garlic, oregano, basil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Squash panetini/croutons (trust me on this sub–I started making meatballs in college, and panetini/croutons make much better breadcrumbs than actual breadcrumbs).  Chop onions into small pieces.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mix thoroughly.

Gently pack meatloaf mixture into 9″ loaf pan or glass baking dish (I used the latter). Top with two strips of bacon (according to my aunt, this helps retain moisture).

Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until done.

Elizabeth’s Quick & Easy Pizza Sauce

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic

To taste: salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, ancho chili powder, oregano, basil

Combine all ingredients. Stir. Voila!

Warning: this doesn’t quite work as marinara, since it isn’t cooked.  It works as pizza sauce and in the meatloaf because both of those involve cooking (and hence better flavor mixing).  Also, if you make it for this recipe, you’ll have a lot left over!