Roasted Vegetable Meatloaf

 

 

A guest post from our customer Audrey:

 

This week I was craving something meaty, not sure why, but I wanted something homey and delicious and meaty.   I tried and tried to think of a recipe. I failed, so my husband said to make his favorite… MEATLOAF.  Growing up I hated meatloaf, it was dry and flavorless and ultimately just a vehicle for A-1 and ketchup, making it not the most healthy thing I could consume.

Like so many old favorites this is one my husband and I have been working on and improving to our tastes for a few years now.  We have found that if you add a bunch of veggies, some good seasoning, and the ketchup on the inside it turns out really awesome.  This one doesn’t even have any out of the ordinary ethnic ingredients, which is not the norm for me.

If you have a stand mixer with the meat grinder attachment this is a great opportunity to use it.  You can use a nice big grind and control what kind of meat goes into your ground mix. I use beef and pork, but you can just use beef if that is what you like or have on hand.  Same thing on the veggies, I recommend using onions, squash, carrots, and bell peppers. But if you don’t like any of those or have something else on hand subs are awesome. Leeks and chopped spinach could be really good too.  Just make sure you squeeze the extra moisture out of the spinach.

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef (as lean as you prefer)

0.5 lb Ground Pork

1 medium onion chopped

2 yellow squash

2-3 carrots grated

1 bell pepper chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

2 Tablespoons canola oil

2 eggs

½ cup breadcrumbs

1 cup ketchup

1 cup balsamic vinegar

¼ to ½ cup parsley (I really like parsley, you don’t have to use that much if you don’t like it)

Crushed red pepper

Grated parmesan cheese

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 425⁰ F. Place oil in a large skillet on medium high heat, I use my big cast iron. When oil is shimmering add onions, cook until translucent. Add garlic, cook until fragrant about 30 seconds. Next add carrots, peppers, and squash. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender, but relatively dry. You don’t want too much liquid in your meatloaf.  If the vegetables aren’t getting soft enough for your liking cover for a few minutes to steam them. Remove the veggies from heat and set aside.

In a small bowl combine ketchup, balsamic vinegar, and crushed red pepper. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine ground meats, egg, bread crumbs, and parsley. Mix carefully (I like to use my hands) and don’t over mix; you don’t want a tough meatloaf. Next add vegetables, mix again. Finally add half of the ketchup/balsamic mix save the rest for the top. Mix everything evenly.  Season with salt and pepper (about a teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper)

Place a small metal rack inside a cookie sheet (the ones that you usually cool cookies on) cover it with aluminum foil then poke holes in it to allow the drippings to run through. Form your meat mixture into a loaf on your pan. Cover it with the rest of the ketchup/balsamic mixture. If you need you can stop here and save it for cooking later, just fridge it for however long you need (Up to 24 hours, cover if waiting more than an hour). I usually let it rest for 10 minutes in the fridge, but if you don’t have time you can skip that step.

Place the meatloaf in the oven on the middle rack for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove when the internal temperature reads 140- 150.

Let rest for 10 minutes, slice and serve.

Leftovers make awesome sandwiches. ENJOY!

We ate this while going through some of the wedding photos. I included one here for fun. Choosing which if these to print is going to be really hard.