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In cooking, mistakes can sometimes be fortuitous. I’ve been craving meatloaf lately, something to do with falling leaves and increasingly stark trees. Meatloaf is actually not one of those recipes I can make in my sleep as it’s not my usual comfort food.
The other afternoon, on a whim, I grabbed a one pound meatloaf pack from the butcher case and threw it into my cart. Later that night, I decided to throw a meatloaf together. I grabbed the Good Enough to Eat cookbook (from the restaurant to turn to in Manhattan for comfort food), and began mixing the ingredients in a bowl. I was working fast, dumping ingredients from their endless list in a big bowl as I read them. It wasn’t until I got to the bottom of the recipe that I saw that it called for 4 pounds of meat, and I only had 1.
My concoction looked and smelled good, so I decided to give it a try anyway, making a few adjustments to make it work. An hour later, this delicious smelling, but distinctively orange meatloaf emerged from the oven. It was moist, tasty… and perfect for Halloween!
Spooky Halloween Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1/3 pound ground beef, 1/3 pound of ground pork, 1/3 pound of ground veal
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 large onion, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, minced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
3/4 cups of ketchup
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
dried or fresh parsley
dried or fresh oregano
salt
pepper
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Add onions, garlic, celery, and carrots and saute for 10 minutes until tender.
- Crack eggs in a large bowl and scramble. Add all other ingredients except the meat and sauteed vegetables. Once cooled, add the sauteed vegetables.
- Add the meat and mix with your hands. Do not overmix or it will be mealy.
- Spoon into a greased loaf pan.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for 50 to 60 minutes longer.
- Allow to cool and set before serving.
- Put in oven
>Looks delicious! I'm thinking any meatloaf with three different kinds of meat is destined for deliciousness!
>I'm always happy when cooking experiments go well. Although we always have my horrible teryaki chicken as a yardstick. When I make something new, my husband usually says "Well, it's not teryaki chicken."
>My husband sent me a link to one blogger's cheese-covered meatloaf in the shape of a hand, with the core of an onion sticking out the back or wrist. Now that was creepy!
>I love meatloaf, but I especially love it when mistakes work out tasty anyway!