This has been a weird day. This afternoon we walked to Tate Britain to see the Hogarth exhibition. While I love those prints and paintings of 18th century London, with recognisable landmarks like St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and Covent Garden, the crowds were gathered around trying to read the text on the bottom of each print. Traffic jams galore. The same thing happened at the Blake exhibition a few years ago. What lovely paintings of the gentry he did! I enjoyed it immensely; I think that HWMBO wasn’t as enamoured–he got through it a lot quicker than I did.
Up to the Members Room for coffee and a piece of cake. It’s very intimate–kind of like a transit caff with art on the walls. Then walk back home, past the Imperial War Museum.
So I had bought ground beef for a meatloaf. Instead of breadcrumbs, I thought I’d use the leftover rice in the fridge to bulk it up. Well, my advice is: don’t. The meatload was tasty enough, but more like porridge than meatloaf: it never really firmed up. What a pain! Oh, well, HWMBO ate it without complaining, which is only one of the many reasons I’m in love with him every day.
One thing that confuses me is the fact that the English are unfamiliar with meatloaf. When I grew up, meatloaf was the standard way of using a large amount of ground beef with a relatively large amount of breadcrumbs bulking it up. It’s an American comfort food that is great with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and even better after being refrigerated overnight and sliced thin for sandwiches. I really love it! HWMBO isn’t wild about it as beef is not one of his favourite foods. But I often eat his comfort food (Chinese soups, stir-fried vegetables with chicken or pork, and the like) and find it wonderful. I will break down and make a proper meatloaf next week. Don’t tell HWMBO, though; he might be a bit cross.
Mother Hansen’s Meatloaf
1-1/2 lbs ground beef
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 egg
salt, pepper, oregano, basil to taste
Worcestershire sauce and tabasco sauce, to taste but liberally when you like it.
One can condensed cream of mushroom soup (optional)
Put the ground beef and diced onion, pepper, and celery in a large bowl, pour the breadcrumbs over it, and break the egg into the breadcrumbs. Add salt, pepper, oregano, and basil and start to knead the mixture with your hands. Don’t be afraid to get them stuck right in. Once well mixed, add the Worcestershire sauce and tabasco and mix again.
Put the mixture into a loaf pan and pack it tightly. Run a butter knife around the edges, and turn the meatloaf out onto a rack in a deep pan. Place the rack in an oven set to gas mark 6, and leave for about 3/4 hour.
If desired, after 3/4 hour take the can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, spoon it over the mostly-cooked meatloaf, and ice the meatloaf as if you were icing a cake. Return the meatloaf to the oven for about 15 minutes, then remove and let the meatloaf set for a bit before slicing. Serve with beef gravy, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.
I do wish that I’d followed the recipe.
I’m currently listening to The Archive Hour on Radio 4, which has been playing the tapes of the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Service during the Argentine invasion. Very interesting stuff.
Consistently making an award winning meatloaf is tricky if you ask me. Mine always taste good, but it is hard to get them to come out of the oven moist enough without being over-done. Roberto doesn’t care though – he always covers his in ketchup. 🙂
I prefer to make sure they’re done–Mother Hansen had a tendency to let her meatloaves cook not quite enough, and they were pink in the middle. Not desirable. The gravy adds the desired juiciness to the meat. Of course, if one cooks the meatloaf until it’s sawdust, that’s not desirable either. So you’re right: it’s tricky. I guess I don’t have the knack down pat yet.
I like mustard on one slice and ketchup on another. Tonight I didn’t bother, though: it wasn’t worth wasting the condiments on.
FINALLY! A meatloaf which looks like a breadloaf!!! In singapore…I ate ‘meatloaf’ once. And it looks like pure sandwich!
Well, the kind in the picture is what I make when it comes out right. When it doesn’t come out right, it looks like … well … nothing you’d really want to eat.
That being said, putting the leftover meatloaf in the fridge overnight, then slicing it thin (as it will be pretty firm by then) and putting it in a sandwich is a great way to have it at work the next day for lunch. Yellow mustard or ketchup is the proper dressing for such a sandwich.
Hey Chris,
Sounds yummy. I also make a mean meatloaf.
1-1.5 lbs ground beef
1 C crushed corn flakes
1 egg
1 stalk celery
1 small onion
1 Gala apple
1 Tblsp Fresh parsley diced
2 Tblsps Hunt’s Barbecue Sauce or favorite brand
Blend egg, celery, onion, and parsley in blender. Combine with meat, corn flakes 1 Tblsp of B-sauce, and half of the apple cubed in a bowl and combine thoroughy. Form loaf in large iron skillet, coat the surface with remaining B-sauce. Slice remaining apple thinly and fan out pieces along loaf’s spine. Bake at 350 for about an hour (depends on amount of meat used).
I once made this for my ex- on St. Valentines Day in the shape of a heart. Not necessarily a recommendation…he is my ex-! Cheers r.
I’m sure he’s not your ex because he didn’t like your meatloaf–it sounds yummy. I like my mother’s recipe simply because that’s what I associate comfort food with: what my mother used to make. I rarely eat lamb (and never cook with it myself) as my father didn’t like it so my mother never cooked it. This does not apply to fish, which she cooked quite often, I had to eat, but disliked tremendously. It also does not apply to liver and onions, which she also cooked and which we had to eat, but couldn’t stand (she fried it until it was the texture of very new leather shoes). Her spaghetti and meatballs were divine, and she made a mean stuffing (combined bread with mashed potato).
By the way, you might want to log in before commenting so that we can all enjoy you as instead of “A Nonny Mouse”…!!