I had meatloaf for the first time last semester. We made it in my food science lab and I was pretty disgusted by the process of kneading the raw meat for 5 minutes, but I was surprised by how good the end product tasted! I asked Mike to buy me the book the recipe came from for Christmas, and he delivered.

If you have a food processor, I highly recommend that you use it. I spent so much time finely chopping the ingredients until I remembered I had purchased a Cuisinart food processor during Black Friday. Unfortunately, I was already half way through the prep work, but the other half only took 30 seconds.

Don’t let the length of the recipe deter you from making it! It really doesn’t take that long, especially if you have a food processor.

Market Street Meat Loaf
serves 8 – 10
from The New Basics Cookbook

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup finely chopped scallions
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
1/4 cup minced green bell pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Salt, to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup half-and-half
2 pounds lean ground beef chuck
12 ounces sausage meat (not fennel-flavored Italian sausage)
3/4 cup fine fresh bread crumbs, toasted

1. Melt the butter in a heavy skillet and add the onion, scallions, carrots, celery, bell peppers, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until the moisture from the vegetables has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate, covered, until chilled, at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Combine the salt, black and white pepper, cayenne, cumin, nutmeg and eggs in a mixing bowl and beat well. Add the ketchup and half-and-half. Blend thoroughly.
4. Add the chuck, sausage, and bread crumbs to the egg mixture. Then add the chilled vegetables and mix throughly with your hands, kneading for 5 minutes.
5. With damp hands, form the mixture into an oval about 17 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches, resembling a long loaf of bread.
6. Place the loaf in a baking dish and place this dish inside a larger pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
7. Place the pan in the oven and bake 35 – 40 minutes.
8. Remove the baking dish from the water bath, and let the meat loaf rest for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.