The Very Best Meatloaf

It’s probably pretty brazen of me to claim my meatloaf as “the very best,” but it’s just hard to be humble sometimes, dang it.  This is another one of those times when you’ll just have to trust me.  You do trust me, don’t you?

So the other morning I traipsed myself on down to our little farmers’ market that gathers on the courthouse sidewalk (I really need to do a story about it, don’t I?) to see what might remain after the early birders had feasted.  I mean.  I love me some local farmers’ markets, but I really would prefer that they started ‘em later in the day. I get up early but I just don’t get around early if you know what I mean. 

There was okra.  I didn’t need that since my plants have suddenly decided to be very prolific.  There were tomatoes, but they were foreigners.  I don’t buy “foreign” tomatoes.  Either they're local or they’re not going in my basket.  Plus, my Cherokee Purples and Golden Jubilees are coming on strong these days.  What remained though and what I grabbed as quickly as I could, were some purple hull peas.  Oh yeah!  I do love me some purple hulls.  You can have my share of black-eyed  peas, but keep your chubby little fingers off my purple hulls!  And don’t write me some cutesy little comment telling me that there’s no difference.  God and I know better!

You're probably asking yourself right about now what purple hull peas have to do with TVBM.  Well, IMO (I’m learning the hip language – or at least I’m trying.) if you have PHP, you gotta’ have meatloaf.  You can keep your mashed potatoes (well, maybe not all of them), but me, I want peas with my meatloaf. 

So there you have it.  That’s the whole summation behind why I just happened to scribble in TVBM on last week’s menu board (You do have a menu board, don’t you?)

The Very Best Meatloaf

1 1/4 pounds lean ground beef (85-15)
3/4 pound ground Italian sausage
2 eggs
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
(Substitute 1/2 teaspoon dried if you cannot possibly use fresh.)
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 cup milk
1/2 pound hickory-smoked bacon
1 12-ounce bottle Heinz Chili Sauce (do not substitute)

Sauté onion, celery, bell peppers and garlic in the 1 Tablespoon of olive oil until tender; set aside to cool.

Mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper, oregano, marjoram, thyme and parsley together in a large bowl.  Add in ground beer ground sausage,  and sautéed vegetables. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over all.  Mix together well, but do not over mix or you will end up with tough meatloaf.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Place a wire cake rack on the foil-lined pan and cover it with aluminum foil as well.  Punch holes in the foil on the wire rack.  (You won’t believe that you EVER made meatloaf in a loaf pan after cooking yours this way.  Trust me.)

Form the meatloaf mixture into an oblong loaf on the wire rack.  Cover the lop and sides of the oaf with a single layer of bacon strips.  Baste with a thick layer of the chili sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 – 50 minutes  Baste with another round of the chili sauce and return to the oven for 15 minutes.  Repeat every 15 minutes until you have reached your desired doneness.  Mine usually takes about 80 minutes.   Do not overcook.

Remove from the oven , baste and allow to rest 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Serve it up with some of those fresh purple hull peas – and some mashed potatoes if you want --- you’re in blue plate heaven!

See that frosted cauliflower sneaking in the photo?  I’ll be telling you about that soon.  Ya’ll come on back, ya’ hear?