Meatloaf Ingredients
- ½ onion (baseball size), chopped into 1” chunks
- 1 carrot, chopped into 1” chunks
- 1 celery stalk, chopped into 1” chunks
- 6 mushrooms, quartered
- 1/3rd green bell pepper, chopped into 1” chunks
- 1 -2 inch piece of jalapeño (check the level of heat first and adjust to preference)
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- ¼ c milk
- ½ cup panko or breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons ketchup, barbecue sauce or tomato juice
- 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 egg. whisked
- 1-2 teaspoons of kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 lb. ground beef, room temperature
- 1 lb. ground pork, room temperature
- 2-3 strips of bacon*
- glaze (see recipe below)
Glaze Ingredients
- ½ cup of ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- dash of Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar (red wine vinegar or white are fine substitutes)
- pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
Place the onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms and bell pepper in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. If you don’t have a processor, just finely dice the vegetables.
Heat a sauté pan on medium heat. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of bacon fat or olive oil until shimmering and sauté the vegetables you just ran through the processor, with a good pinch of kosher salt until soft, then add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Remove from heat and cool.
In the meantime, soak the panko or breadcrumbs in the milk.
When vegetables are cool enough to touch, add soaked bread crumbs, ketchup, bbq sauce or tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon, egg and salt and pepper. Mix well then add the ground beef and pork. Mix with your hands until combined. Be very careful not to over-mix or the texture of your meatloaf will suffer.
Form the meat mixture into a log – I never use a loaf pan but go for it if you want. Place meatloaf log on a sheet pan. Lay 2-3 strips of bacon along the top*. Cover loosely with foil and place in a 350F oven for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare your glaze: in a small sauce pan place all glaze ingredients and slowly bring to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
After the meatloaf has been in for 30 minutes, remove the tinfoil and paint your meatloaf with the glaze. Return to the oven and cook, uncovered, for an additional 20-30 minutes and the glaze is starting to caramelize. Pull the meatloaf when the internal temperature reads 150-160F. Let it rest 15 minutes before digging in.
*This is still great even without the bacon so don’t let a lack of bacon stop you from making this.
Additions if you want to gild the lily:
Punch up the flavor by adding a couple chopped, oil-packed anchovies or a teaspoon of Vegemite or Marmite and a good pinch of dried marjoram when you are sautéing the vegetables.