Meatloaf with Horseradish

Welcome back to the kitchen, all y’all. Today it’s all about Comfort Food. When I taped this segment, I’d been working almost non-stop for several days, preparing for upcoming rehearsals and working with Ryan and our Web Guru Roger Barlow on the Sharky’s Lounge section of Ryan’s site. So I decided that what I needed was a good old-fashioned dinner.

I chose meatloaf and potatoes, along with some green beans, as my Comfort Food. I then decided to switch things up a bit and stray from the traditional path. Instead of my basic meatloaf recipe, I prepared miniature meatloaves with horseradish. The horseradish variation is a crowd favorite I’ve done many times, but the miniature loaves were a first-time experiment that worked pretty well.

Check out the video, then take a look at the instructions below.

Ingredients:

Meatloaf –

1 cup bread crumbs
2 Tablespooms finely crushed parsley leaves
2 big pinches of salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon garlic
1/4 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 Tablespoon light brown sugar

1 large egg
1 cup half and half or milk
2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
3-4 Tablespoons horseradish (see below)

2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onions

Sauce –

2 cups ketchup
1-1/2 Tablespoons prepared mustard (brown preferred)
1/3 cup horseradish
3 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce

Getting It Done:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, combine the first group of dry ingredients.

In a small bowl, beat the egg, then combine with remaining wet ingredients (the second group). You may wish to adjust the amount of horseradish, but I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you. Even a full 4 tablespoons is not enough to create any heat. Instead, it simply adds a bit of a tang to the meatloaf. The main reason for adding it to the meat mixture is so that there isn’t a huge disconnect from the flavors of the meat and the sauce. It just sort of carries the horseradish theme through the entire thing.

Add wet ingredients to large bowl and combine thoroughly.

Add ground beef and onions to large bowl. Using your hands, thoroughly combine all ingredients.

If you have time, let this mixture sit at room temperature for thirty minutes. This is a good time to make your sauce.

In a small bowl, combine two and a half cups of ketchup (catsup, whatever) with mustard, Worchestershire sauce and horseradish. Combine thoroughly and set aside.

If making one large meatloaf, mold it on a baking sheet (with or without aluminum foil) or press into a loaf pan. I know that there are special loaf pans available that are actually two pieces with holes in the bottom of the interior piece so the fat drains out. Personally, I prefer to use a foil-lined baking sheet, as I find it easier to clean, and it allows increased coverage by the sauce. And folks, I’m all about the sauce on a meatloaf.

Now for this particular meal, I tried something new: I made mini-loaves. Here’s one way to do that:

Use a small bowl or other contraption as your mold. Wet it with some oil to make it easier to remove the loaves. Fill the mold and press meat mixture together firmly. Carefully remove meat from mold and place on foil.

Once all loaves are done, use a shot glass or other small doohickey to press a well into the top of the loaves. In truth you don’t really have to do this step, but I found it worked out very nicely.

Spoon some horseradish into each of the wells you made on the meatloaves. (If doing one big loaf, spread it evenly over the top.)

Spoon sauce mixture over each loaf or over the one big loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. For one big loaf, bake for one hour. Internal temperature should be about 160 degrees when done.

Let loaves stand for five minutes to reabsorb juices before serving.

Serves 6-8 people, depending on appetites.

As I mentioned in the video, I served this with roasted red potatoes with garlic and onion and green beans with butter and lime juice. I was very pleased with the mini-loaf experiment and will definitely do this again. In the mean time, I will keep my eyes peeled for a slightly smaller bowl so I can get 8 mini-loaves out of this recipe.

Try this one soon, and let me know what you think in the comments below.

I’ll see you again soon. For now, as always,

Play with your food!

Lane

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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