Description
I created this recipe for my wife, Yvette. Her all time favorite comfort food is Meatloaf. Inspired by the blended burger project, I decided to see how far I could take this blend. She loved it!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 Tbl butter
- 1 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/4 Cups white onion, fine dice
- 1 Tbl garlic, minced
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- 12oz cremini mushrooms, minced in a food processor
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 21.4oz grass fed ground beef (Costco pack)
- 1 Cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 Cups shredded mozzarella
- 1 Tbl grated parmesan
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1.5 Tbl fresh basil chiffonade
- ½ Cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
Instructions
- In a 12” saute pan, melt the butter with olive oil. Add in the finely diced white onion and a touch of salt. Sweat the onions until translucent and sweet. Add in the garlic and dried basil and cook for another 1 minute.
- Now add in the 12oz of mushrooms you minced in a food processor with the additional spices. Stir to blend into the onion mixture. Turn up the heat up to medium-high. Stir frequently. The mushrooms will produce a lot of water, we want to do here is to reduce that water down and get the mushrooms as dry as possible. Now, we won’t get this to be completely dry. Slowly cooking this mixture down also helps develop the “meatiness” of the mushrooms. After about 10 minutes or so, depending on how large of a pan you used and how much surface area the mushrooms were exposed to, the mushrooms will be done. You will know when you drag a line across the pan with a spoon. If moisture seeps out into the open space, it needs more time.
- Transfer this to a shallow bowl and put it into the refrigerator to start cooling down.
- While this is cooling prepare the meat mixture by placing all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. If you don’t have stainless steel bowls I strongly recommend you add them to your cabinet. One of many reasons is because they don’t break when you drop them. They make a lot of noise and will scare the living crap out of you, but you won’t be picking up broken glass off the floor.
- Once the mushroom mixture has cooled completely add it to the bowl with the meat and remaining ingredients. Use your hands and gently fold this all together. This is not therapy so don’t take out your frustrations on it, just mix it until it becomes a homogenous mixture.
- Transfer a lightly greased baking tray and form into a single loaf in the center of the tray.
- Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. I say about because every oven is different. You may or may not have convection, you may or may not have hot spots, you may or may not have an old oven that just isn’t as efficient… or a brand new oven that is maybe a little too efficient. So “about” means that at the halfway point, you are going to remove the loaf from the oven, check the temperature, rotate the pan, and place it back in the oven. You now have an idea of how much longer you need. Pro Tip – after internal temperatures go past 100º they move a lot quicker. The final internal temp you want is going to be 155º.
- Once out of the oven, let it rest for about 5 minutes if you can. This will make slicing it a little easier. Cutting meatloaf while it’s still really hot never ends well for me.
Notes
- If you want to top it with a tomato sauce I would do that at the 30-minute marker. I used RAO’s marinara as that is a family favorite, rather than the traditional ketchup glaze. It will not glaze the same as ketchup, as it doesn’t have all the extra sugars. That’s ok.
- When it comes to food processors. I rarely need a large one at the house. 99% of the time the mini prep food processor works great. I also like that if one of my kids drops the plastic bowl and it cracks and breaks, I’m not out $300 and the headache of trying to find a replacement bowl. I just buy another mini prep for $35 or so.
- Prep Time: 45 min
- Cook Time: 45 min
- Category: Comfort Food
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
