When it comes to uncomplicated cooking, meatloaf is a champion. It’s classic comfort food, the kind of cozy, familiar dish that everyone loves. Prepping meatloaf takes just minutes, and you can have it on the table in less than an hour. It can be made ahead, doubled to feed a crowd, or frozen and sent along to a new parent or busy student. As well, there may be nothing finer in the world than a leftover meatloaf sandwich. My version is tender thanks to a mixture of pork, beef and breadcrumbs. I use the trick of grating the onions and garlic (instead of chopping them) so they disperse more evenly in the mixture and essentially disappear during cooking. I adore this dish, and often make it early in the week so we can have it for lunches for the next few days. Serve it with mashed potatoes and Curry-Spiced Roasted Squash.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound lean Ground beef
- 1 pound Ground pork
- 1 small Yellow onion
- 2 grated Garlic cloves
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Panko crumbs
- 1/3 cup Ketchup
- 1/4 cup finely-chopped Parsley fresh
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Dried thyme
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp HP sauce
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Mix the beef, pork, onion, garlic, eggs, panko, ketchup, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and salt in a large bowl until well com Pack the mixture into a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan and smooth the top.
- Brush the top with HP Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until the blade of a paring knife poked into the centre of the loaf is hot to the touch.
TIP: Breadcrumbs do a lot of the work in this mixture. They make the texture even and light, and help all the flavours to blend. It doesn’t matter if you use panko crumbs, unseasoned Italian breadcrumbs or breadcrumbs you make yourself.
MAKE AHEAD: Mix the ingredients and keep the mixture in the fridge for up to 12 hours before transferring it to the loaf pan and baking it. You can also cook the meatloaf, take it out of the pan, chill it and reheat it any time in the following 2 days. It’s also delicious cold.
BATCH COOKING: Double the recipe and portion it into two loaves. Wrap each one individually in plastic wrap, then freeze in a resealable plastic bag for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then transfer to a loaf pan to bake.