Finding new recipes to use to make meat loaf has proven to be pretty easy. Everyone seems to have their own variation on a meat loaf recipe depending on how they like it or what they grew up with. I try to make it a little different each time I make it, trying out a new spice or herb or blend of meat. This time, I turned to a recipe I had used a long time ago and haven’t tried in quite a while. It takes the meat loaf and places it inside a loaf of bread.
Meat Loaf in a Loaf
1 pound meatloaf mix (this is a mix of beef, pork and veal that you can get at most grocery stores)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder (or you could use 1 onion, chopped fine and sautéed)
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs (or dried, if you’re using store-bough)
1 large egg
1/2 cup ketchup
Tomato paste
1 loaf of French or Italian bread
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the meatloaf mix, dry mustard, celery salt, Worcestershire, oregano, pepper and onion powder until evenly blended. Add in the breadcrumbs and egg and mix again until blended, then add in the ketchup and mix again (I mix this all by hand to really work things in. It’s messy, but the results are worth it). Form the mixture into a free-form loaf.Coat the mixture with tomato paste (as much or as little as desired. I use more to get a nice coating on it). Slice the loaf of bread in half lengthwise. Using your hands hollow out the bottom and top halves of the bread to make room for the meat loaf. Place the meat loaf on the bottom half of the bread and cover it with the top half. Wrap the entire loaf well in foil and place it on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the loaf until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees, about an hour and 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. Place the wrapped loaf on a cutting board and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Unwrap the foil from around the loaf and slice into individual portions and serve.
One thing you can certainly do is take the bread you have hollowed out from the loaf and mash it with a little milk and use that as your binder instead of the breadcrumbs in this recipe. You can use any meatloaf recipe you like really and just hollow out the bread and make it that way. I love the way it comes out with the nice, crunchy bread around the loaf, almost like you have a small meatloaf sandwich with each slice. I served this with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, but your really could make it like a warm meatloaf sandwich and make a little beef gravy to go along with the sandwich and the potatoes.
That’s all I have for today. I’ll be away all week starting tomorrow as we are vacationing in the Outer Banks, so my posts are going to be posts and links to other sites that have some recipes I like for the week. You can check back during the week to see what comes up. Until the next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
onedadskitchen 