Saturday, February 18, 2012

[Crispy Onion meatloaf] Ultimate comfort food - Easy dinner

My kids have never been into meat.
They love any kind of vegetables though.
They poke and eat all the broccoli first when they are given broccoli chicken pasta and eat steamed carrots & cauliflower before they touch their nice juicy steak.
 As they get older, 7 and 5, they get better and eat more meat now, but we were worried when they were younger (even younger than now) since they didn't want to chew red meat.
  

However, they have liked all kinds of dishes made with ground meat,
meatballs, beef pot pie, hamburger and meatloaf!


One  positive aspect of ground meat?
Yes, it costs definitely much less than wholesome meat. :)


As meatloaf is my kids love meatloaf,
I make it regularly, once a month or so, in colder months.


Another positive thing about meatloaf is that it's very easy to make~
You can bring leftover for lunch of the following day. 
Once heated, it tastes as good as the day before.


And don't forget to make your favorite mashed potato to go with meatloaf.
I don't think meatloaf is quite right without creamy mashed potato.
Don't you agree?

This recipe is adapted from "How-to-do with Allie"
As we don't eat white bread at home, I swap white bread with wholewheat ones.


Here goes the recipe for Onion meatloaf:


Ingredients
3 slices wholewheat sandwich bread
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 medium onion, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg
1/4 cup ketchup
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Topping:
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil


How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. 

2. Place bread in food processor; pulse until fine crumbs form. 

Pulse onion for 2 x 5 seconds.

3. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in milk. Set aside, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine beef, pork, onion, garlic, egg, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, bread mixture and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. 

5. Mix very gently with a fork.
Please do not overmix.

6. Place meat mixture on prepared baking sheet, 
and form into a loaf about 9 inches long and 4 to 5 inches wide.

 7. Toss 1 thinly sliced medium (or small) onion with 1 teaspoon olive oil. 

 Brush with ketchup.

Sprinkle on top of meatloaf, pressing in slightly.

8. Bake 55-60 minutes until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees Fahrenheit

9. Let meatloaf rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Serve with your favorite mashed potato.

This ultimate comfort dinner will warm you up in a chilly evening~


Enjoy :)
We are going out to drop Remi at a birthday party, before we go to a FAMEUSE Portuguese restaurant. I'll post some photos later.

Have a nice Saturday~


Crispy Onion Meatloaf

2 comments:

  1. In my home we LOVE onions and garlic...and it never enough in whatever we add it too. (Maybe that is why we don't get many visitors. lol!)

    This is comfort food indeed!
    ~Virginia

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    Replies
    1. Hi Virginia, I thought you'd have visitors all the time. You will not encounter a single vampire, for sure. :) I like both garlic and onion, too.
      My kids are okay with onion, but they don't appreciate the garlic flavour yet. I need to hide garlic between the layers of food.
      Yes, I agree. Meatloaf is one of the first comfort foods I would name. :)

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