meatloaf, pan fried white rose potatoes and mustard greens with bacon

i remember growing up as a child in gallipolis, ohio, envying other children as they shared what they had for dinner the night before. how i would drool at the mention of exotic concoctions like pot roast, chicken pot pie and beef stroganoff. the closest my mom ever got to the all-american supper meal was spaghetti. and even that was prepared differently from what i'd experience at my best friend's house. there wasn't a bed of soft white noodles with an enormous ladle of chunky, tomatoey-red pasta sauce and two meatball boulders on my mom's table. instead, she stir-fried the noodles with pasta sauce, sausage, broccoli and slices of american cheese and on my plate would appear a giant, globulous mess. bleh. another stir-fry. mom!! can't we go to mcdonald's and get a big mac instead??

oh the things kids say. as an adult, i now realize that stir-fried spaghetti, sans broccoli and sub shredded cheddar, is damn good. who knew?? but those foreign suppers at jason's house became glued in my mind as what american people have for dinner and heck, if i was born here, then i'm gonna eat fried chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes too, damnit! (which happens to be one of my favorite meals... yes, the swanson hungry man version too.) so for the past decade i have deliberately chosen to order homey, soul food dishes on the menu whenever possible and pass up the more "exotic" dishes like seared ahi or other fusion varieties. you may know them as comfort foods. i'm talking about collard greens, mac n cheese, pot roast, fried chicken, meatloaf...

oh. meatloaf. the blue plate special. how can you not love meatloaf. it's a carnivore's delight but without the fuss of cutting the meat with proper etiquette. whenever jason's mom made this my eyes ogled at a giant mound of deep red ground beef being shoved into a small, rectangular loaf pan. how can something so gross taste so good?? but taste good it did, and i have loved and ordered meatloaf wherever i see it. most recently, i had the meatloaf entree at the restaurant, home, in the castro. it was, well, like home. mmm...

so tonite's meal is in memory of my childhood culinary fantasies. it's also dedicated to roy, who i learned tonite loves meatloaf as much as i do. bon appertitey!

this recipe is another finding in saveur's classic american issue. it's simply entitled "meat loaf."

start with one finely chopped onion and 4 minced cloves of garlic (the recipe actually calls for 2 onions and 2 garlic cloves; i only had 1 onion and love garlic)...

and saute them with a good amount of olive oil in a pan until soft and translucent.

then combine 3 pounds of ground beef, 1 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, an 8 oz can of tomato sauce, 3/4 of the onion saute, and then season generously with salt and pepper. according to saveur, you should combine just enough to blend the ingredients, handling the loaf as little as possible. it doesn't state why, but i'm pretty sure the more you work the meat, the tougher it will turn out after baking. chemistry, people. chemistry.

when deciding on what type of ground beef to use, go for the ground chuck or beef with a higher fat content. 80/20 or 85/15 minimum. ground chuck is a fattier and more flavorful cut of beef and will result in a juicier, beefier meatloaf. the same rule applies to making hamburgers from scratch. save the lean ground beef for making... um... i dunno.

stuff the mixture into a loaf pan. if you don't already have one, just pick up an inexpensive aluminum one at the supermarket, measuring 5.5" x 10" x 3". they're less than $5 and great duty for this and baking cornbread loaves for stuffing.


spread the rest of the onion saute on top and generously drizzle ketchup over the loaf. the more the better i say.

throw this into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 45 min.

while that's going slice about 1 pound new potatoes into chunks, dry well, and add to a hot pan with olive oil and a couple of smashed garlic cloves to season the oil. pan fry over med heat and brown the potatoes to a golden hue. add a teaspoon of crushed rosemary (dried variety is fine), stir and scrape the pan, then cover tightly with a lid to let the potatoes "steam" over low heat for about 15 - 20 min until tender. add a couple swirls of olive oil to moisten and some chopped fresh parsley.

potatoes are potatoes. and they can get pretty boring if you don't think creatively night after night. i had originally planned on making basic mashed potatoes, then realized 1) that's old news, and 2) new potatoes don't mash well. you should really stick to russets if you want a fluffy mash. new potatoes don't break down properly and red potatoes are more suited to "smashed" potatoes. so i decided to do a take on homefries, substituting olive oil for the butter and omitting onions and paprika. the olive oil and parsley lighten up the heavy, greasy weight of typical homefries.

in the other pan, render the fat of 2 slices, chopped bacon.

add a bag of mustard greens and saute until the greens have wilted. grate a sprinkle of nutmeg and combine. quick, easy, tasty and full of vitamins.


by this point the meatloaf should be ready. pull it out and let it rest for 10 min to finish cooking and let the juices redistribute.


at this point, i plated my dinner as such...

and then realized upon closer inspection,

that the meatloaf wasn't done! it was still undercooked inside! =( now i like my hamburgers medium rare, and don't mind mushiness in the meat, but this was too rare. so sadly, i fired up the oven and threw the loaf back in for another 15 min.

pulling the loaf out again, i did what i should've done the first time, cut into the loaf to check for doneness. you want the meat cooked enough to be edible, but not overcooked to the point it gets dry and tough and chewy. i threw it back in for another 10 min.

after the extra time, the top of the loaf had browned and the ketchup was glazed to a deep, dark red. picture this...

only darker, brown-er, and glistening all over. it was also firmer and while still a little pink inside, didn't show any signs of raw meat. finally.

the meatloaf was good, but i think i overcooked slightly with all the in-out-in time of the oven. next time i'd definitely season more generously - remember there's 3 pounds of meat in there - and drizzle more ketchup for a thicker glaze. i think also having 2 onions vs 1 would make the mixture even more moist. the greens and potatoes were great.

moral of this dinner? nothing's ever perfect. check for doneness and don't assume that what the cookbook says is accurate for your own kitchen. there are so many variables that can affect your cooking time, from the temperature variance of your oven to how tightly you packed the meat. i've been told that my blog makes cooking dinner look effortless. while this is true relatively speaking a majority of the time, i do have royal screw ups every so often. but i learn pretty quickly what not to do after that. =)

so even though i didn't get to eat this meal in one sitting - i had a slice of meatloaf 30 min after finishing the potatoes and greens - it did satisfy my craving for a homestyle meal. well, my best friend's homestyle meal. meal? comforted.