Cheddar & Kale Stuffed Meatloaf

Local Edibles: ground sirloin from Everett's Meats, my favorite butcher shop in Minneapolis (around $3.50/lb)

Grocery finds: Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage (on sale at Rainbow, with coupon (doubled if you go on Wednesday or Saturday!), $1.50 for a 16 oz package); kale on sale for 99 cents a bunch

Ahhh, meatloaf.  Much like chicken, this dish has SO much potential...for good or evil.  A bad meatloaf is bad (dry, bland, uninspired) whereas a good meatloaf is delicious (flavorful, fun, and even more delicious reheated the second day!)  I have read so many cookbooks, blogs, and magazine articles espousing the merits of meatloaf, offering hot tips and whatnot, but I've personally found what I like by trial and error.  I've made some bad loafs in my day, folks, but I can honestly proclaim here and now that I have it down to an art form at this point.  My better half says it is his favorite dish that I make, which I take as a great compliment, given its humble beginnings as a Midwestern supper staple (and the many, many bad loafs-o-meat that I have left in my wake to get to where I am today!)

Much like last week's chicken entry, I have a couple of tips on meatloaf that I thought I'd share with you all today.  Here they are, in no particular order:

1) there are 3 basic ways that I have cooked meatloaf: free form (on a baking sheet), molded (in a small pan, like a loaf pan), and foiled (wrapped in tin foil and then placed on a baking sheet).  My favorite is definitely foiled, as it cooks evenly, looks the best aesthetically, and is the easiest cleanup.  Usually what I do is cook the meatloaf wrapped up 75% through, and then unwrap for the last 25% in the oven, as-

(rolled, shaped, and foiled loaf)

2) I always add something porky and fatty to the outside layer of the loaf (i.e., bacon or pancetta rounds or prosciutto), and in order to crisp it up a bit, it needs to be exposed in the oven--hence finishing it off sans tinfoil.  Some purists (hi there, mom!) might scream, 'but what about the tomato sauce on top?!'  Spooning ketchup on your loaf verses enveloping it in porky fatty goodness?  Please.  There is no comparison.

(not my loaf)

3) a ground meat combination is essential for flavor--doing just ground beef is definitely no fun!  I've done loafs with varying amounts of ground beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, and pork--play around a bit with the concept!  For today's meatloaf, I'm doing a 60/40 combination of ground sirloin and Italian sausage.  When I lived in northern Wisconsin and had access to local lamb, I would often do a ground lamb/beef/pork combo.  Wild times in Wisco.

(60% ground sirloin; 40% Italian sausage)

4) a few tiny tips: panko bread crumbs are best in the meat mixture (as opposed to whole wheat, white bread, etc).  Dried onions, too--onions retain a lot of water, and fresh onions in the loaf contribute to a watery loaf, in my humble opinion.  Some people use dried onion soup mix in their loaf recipes, which works well for this very reason.

5) stuffing and rolling your meatloaf is fun and looks SO COOL.  Seriously, it is a great way to add extra vegetables and flavor, and the spiral design that you end up with when you slice the finished product makes you really look like you know what you're doing in the kitchen (which, for someone like me, is laughable...and therefore awesome).  

With all of that said and done, for this particular recipe, I stuffed my meatloaf with kale, cheddar cheese, and carrots.  I sauteed the kale in a bit of butter beforehand, and I used the already pre-cut matchstick carrots (I hate the knife work that is typically required to cut larger carrots down to size, plus--it's fun to cheat a bit).  I seasoned my meat mixture with one egg, a quarter cup of panko bread crumbs soaked in milk, a quarter cup of dried onion flakes, and various seasonings (salt, lemon pepper, parsley, a tablespoon of the beef Better Than Bouillon (love that stuff), and, my secret weapon--a teaspoon of anchovy paste.  Once everything is in the bowl together, mix gently.  Over-mixing is not your friend here!

To roll out your loaf, lightly oil a sheet of tinfoil (it assists with the eventual rolling of the log-o-meat and prevents it front sticking to the foil), and place your bacon (or prosciutto or pancetta) down first.  Pat down the correct amount of meat mixture, thinly, on top, and spread it out in a long rectangular shape.  Disperse your stuffing mixture over the meat, and be sure to avoid the edges (about 1 inch on all sides) so that these delicious vittles won't leak out whilst it is baking.  Carefully roll up your meatloaf (kinda like how you would a jellyroll) and be sure to pinch in the sides and make a seam on the long side where the final 'roll' meets up with the full loaf.  Double wrap with tinfoil.

Baking time and temp depends on the size of your loaf.  Mine were small-to-medium sized, and I baked them for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven, flipped them, and then baked for another 15.  I then cranked the oven up to 425, de-foiled my loaves, and popped them back in the over for another 10 to 15 minutes to crisp the bacon.

The Verdict

Damn.  This meatloaf is tasty.  Although the spirals didn't turn out as prominently as they usually do, it still tasted delicious.  The kale/carrot/cheddar combination was a winner.  Today I was also able to fulfill my little nephew's lifelong dream/constant request to eat a 'bowl of meat' for dinner--apparently, I am in the dream makin' business tonight.  No potatoes, no salad, just...MEAT.  Here's my little munchkin savoring his meat bowl:

Taste: 8
Appearance: 6
Creativity: 6

Improvements for next time: prosciutto over bacon.  I find I prefer this as it is easier to roll, and crisps much faster in the oven.  Also, if I had the time, I would've made a shallot and mushroom gravy to go with it.  Alas, I did not, as I was chasing a two-year-old around all day and watching countless episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba! in a futile attempt to hold the little lovebug still for an amount of time over five seconds long.

I failed on that, but damn if I didn't make a tasty meatloaf stuffed with cheese and veggies to feed the little bugger!