DON'T MESS WITH MEAT LOAF!!

How can one create something new from this classic? We all had several versions of this dish, and seen hundreds of recipes, many of them claiming to be the best. But are they?

I don't claim to be the best cook, and you may have noticed, by now, that my husband doesn't consider ground meat as being "real meat". On the other hand, my mother loves ground meat in different forms, because it's easier for her to chew. Also, if children are involved, meatballs are always a favorite. So what can an accidental cook like me do in such a situation? The best solution is to go back to the basics and simplify things. I am using a very simple recipe, with few ingredients and no fuss at all. You will notice that I don't use bread crumbs, which seem to be an essential ingredient in all meat loaf recipes. Why? you may ask..the answer is simple: I learned from a nutritionist I was seeing that bread crumbs absorb the fat and keep it in the meat. So I tested her theory: I made two batches, one with bread crumbs and one without.The result: the first one with bread crumbs came out of the oven in a "clean" pan, no juices or anything around it, the other rendered all its fat in the pan. So if you want a delicious, easy and bursting with flavor meat loaf, follow me.

  For a large baking dish, you'll need:

4 lb ground beef (the leanest you can find)

1 cup carrots, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion

6 cloves of garlic

1 bunch each:  flat leaf parsley and dill

3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 egg, beaten

Salt and pepper to taste 

In a food processor (or if you have the small one like mine) pulverize the carrots, followed by the onion and garlic and then the parsley and dill. Reserve some of the onion, herbs and carrots, about 1tbsp or 2, for later, plus some parsley leaves. In a big bowl mix the meat with the chopped veggies, add the 3 tbsp of sauce, the egg and salt and pepper. Transfer all to a baking dish large enough to have the meat in 1 inch layer. Press with your hand to even the meat mixture in the dish. Bake in a 375 degree oven until the meat is browned, about 25 to 30 minutes. You'll notice that the meat loaf has shrunk and that it has rendered all its fat in the pan. As soon as you can handle it (watch out the juices will be extremely hot), remove the meat loaf from the pan. If it is too big for you to handle, cut it in strips 1 inch wide, and remove to a platter. When it's rested, cut the strips in 1 inch cubes (remember it was 1 inch high in the pan to start with).

Today I served the meat loaf cubes with leftover Chinese rice, with the works:

cook the onion, garlic, carrots and herbs we have reserved from the meat loaf in 1 tbsp of oil in a nonstick pan. When fragrant, add 1 1/2 cups of sliced mushrooms. Stir until all veggies are done. Add the rice (about 1 1/2 containers) and stir to heat it through. Sprinkle with some chopped fresh parsley leaves.

TIP: If you have the time and energy, you can use the same recipe to make meatballs or shape the meat mixture in fingers and flatten them. Arrange the meatballs on a baking sheet and bake in a 375 degree oven til browned.  

TIP: You can also use the double bottom meat loaf rectangular pan. When you lift the upper part you'll leave all the fat in the bottom pan. But please note that these pans are small, so either divide the recipe in 2, or use two pans.                                            

EASY CLASSICS IV

EGYPTIAN SHEPHERD'S PIE

This is my version of an international classic. In Egypt it's commonly called "pureed potatoes in a pan". I still remember the days when as a little girl, I would come back from school to find out, with delight, that our lunch that day was this delicious "pan". Actually it was one of the few things our cook made that I really loved. For me this is comfort food at its best. In a cold winter day, it was heartwarming to come home to a hot meal, and this was the best thing I could have. Now that I'm all grown up and that I traveled the world, I discovered that this is not an exclusive dish of my native country. It seems to be also comfort food for many cultures around the world, strangely enough with very little variations.

What I'm proposing here is the Egyptian version, the one I grew up with, of course with some tweaking. It might be something I picked up along the way when eating the same dish in another country. I really can't tell, because I never knew how it is originally made in Egypt. I only know how it is presented, and how it tastes: it's basically a layer of pureed potatoes, a layer of browned ground meat, topped by another layer of potatoes. What I know for a fact is that I've tried to eliminate as much fat as I could from the dish, without of course affecting the taste or texture of the original. 

Note: for those of you who never had the Egyptian version, it is firmer than the Western shepherd's pie, this is why it can be served in square portions that tend to keep their shape.

                                                         

You'll need:
About 20 medium potatoes
1 lb ground beef
1 cup coarsely chopped carrots
3 stalks of celery
2 tbsp of frozen onion/garlic mixture
1 tbsp butter, at room temperature
Skim milk
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 to 2 tbsp bread crumbs
1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste

The main idea here is to make mashed potatoes. You can make them they way you usually do, but try my way, and you'll see that you'll not miss the fat. So, boil the potatoes and mash them. Add some skim milk and fold in the tbsp of butter. Don't make them very soft, by adding the milk a little at a time. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and sprinkle some bread crumbs to coat it. In the mean time, in a nonstick skillet brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic mixture and salt and pepper. While the meat is browning, pulverize the carrots in a food processor (I use a very small one for these jobs, I think it's less than a cup capacity, best 9 dollars I've ever spent!!!). Then do the same to the celery stalks. Add them to the meat and stir to combine. Adjust the seasoning when all the pan liquids are fully absorbed, then add the tomato paste. Stir to fully cook the tomato paste for a couple of minutes more. Remove from the heat and let it rest before you assemble your dish. Put half of your mashed potatoes in the baking pan and spread to an even layer. Add the meat mixture, spread it to cover the potatoes. Cover the meat layer with the remaining potatoes. Sprinkle some bread crumbs over the top. Beat the egg, you may add some water to it, and brush it over the top of your dish. Bake in a 375 degree oven until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it rest before you start serving it. If you cut it when it's still too hot it will be running, but when it rests, you'll be able to get beautiful layered portions.

Serve with a salad.