Endangered Adobo

A lot of my friends are big fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I’ve seen a couple of episodes myself and sure, that shit’s funny. But honestly I can’t watch it because of Meatwad.

I know, he’s the cute and innocent one. But he’s an uncooked meatball. With hair. And a tooth. It gives me the heebie jeebies whenever I look at him.

Today’s recipe somewhat resembles Meatwad but I promise it is delicious and not at all off-putting. I saw this on one of Emeril’s shows, and though I turned the volume down to avoid a lot of the BAMs, I knew it was the answer to my longtime meatloaf quandary.

See, in general, I enjoy foods comprised of mashed meatstuffs:  meatballs, burgers, sausage. So really I want to like meatloaf. The problem I’ve always had with it is that it dries out like a brick. Ketchup can save it… sometimes… but really most of the flavor gets all cooked out when the moisture is zapped out.

The fact that Emeril cooks his meatloaf in a pool of broth was something of a revelation to me, and I’ve been cooking it this way ever since. Plus it gives you enough juices for gravy! Seriously, win-win.

Meatloaf, adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredient:
3/4 pound ground beef
1/4 pound ground pork
1/2 yellow onion, finely minced
1/2 bell pepper, finely minced
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 to 1 cup Panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a roasting pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, add beef, pork, onions, peppers, garlic, eggs, cream, and bread crumbs. Blend thoroughly. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Shape the mixture into a loaf and place on the prepared pan. I use the Alton Brown method: cover a loaf pan with Saran wrap and use that to shape the meatloaf. Invert it over your (bigger) pan and peel the Saran wrap off.

Pour the stock over the meatloaf and place in the oven. Bake for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, basting occasionally. Mine only seem to need 1 hour in the oven but this depends on how thickly you shaped your meatloaf.

Remove the pan from the oven. Using a long spatula, remove the meatloaf from the pan. Place the roasting pan on the stove, over high heat. In a small bowl, whisk the flour with 2 tablespoons water. Whisk the slurry into the gravy. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook for few minutes, stirring constantly. Season the gravy with salt and pepper. Serve with a spoonful of gravy.

We ate ours with some of Boyfriend’s mashed potatoes, (which involves a lot of butter, heavy cream, a splash of beef broth, and a generous dash of garlic salt), some sauteed corn-from-a-can, carrots, and some ready-made dinner rolls. Mmm, comfort food.

So if I like mashed meats so much, would I cook meatloaf any other way? You know that I would do anything for love… of meat… but I won’t do that…

(Sorry, but you know I HAD TO)

Speaking of Meatloaf, Boyfriend and I have frequent shitty-movie watching parties and incidentally Mr. Loaf was in a movie we recently watched. Check out the review.