Local Meat Loaf
by Laura
Since joining our CSA and reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable,
Miracle, I've been mildly obsessed with the local food movement.
By making the effort to buy locally grown and produced food products, I
am trying to help the environment (reducing fuel used to ship goods from
far away to me), help animals (supporting small farms where the animals
lead relatively normal lives before becoming dinner -- I have never felt
it was intrinsically wrong to kill an animal for food, although I have
cut back on meat consumption), and help my tastebuds (local = fresh =
delicious). I try not to get all high and mighty about it, because I'm
certainly far from perfect in my buying habits, but the concepts make
sense to me, and as a bonus I've been inspired to explore more of my
neighborhood and meet some interesting farm folks.
So, anyway, we split our CSA share with another couple. They recently joined yet another CSA which does a meat share. I wasn't as into this idea, since we only eat meat about once a week, but I did ask if they could procure some local ground pork for me. Local ground beef was already freely available at our farmer's market. With their powers combined, I made local meatloaf!
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped or 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 small onion, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup ketchup + spoonful of your favorite chili sauce
Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except ketchup and chili sauce. Mix well using your hands. Form into a loaf shape either freehand or using a loaf pan "mold." Place in a large pan or baking dish (I use a 13x9) and bake for 10 minutes or until brown on the outside. Remove from oven and brush on a thick coat of the chili ketchup glaze. Return to oven for another 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the center reads 165.
Elliot loves this meatloaf, and it's one of my favorite things too. The secret recipe comes from none other than Betty Crocker. Sometimes the classics can't be improved upon. In this case I did make a few tweaks, though -- the original calls for just beef, and suggests using undoctored ketchup as the glaze, for instance. I love the moisture and flavor that pork brings to the party, and the spicy kick of chili sauce.
We served this bad boy up with some mashed roasted acorn squash from the farm and a big old local salad -- lettuces from the farmer's market, carrots, tomatoes, and radishes from our CSA.
