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How to Bring Back Meatloaf
Once a weekly mainstay of the American family diet, meatloaf has all but disappeared from the dinner radar. Health trends, fad diets and an overwhelming culinary drift toward sleek cuisine and even sleeker presentation have
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relegated the loaf to the status of seriously lowbrow sustenance. However, as far as the culture world is concerned, low is the new high in terms of brows and with hit television shows like
The O.C.
glorifying gourmet loaf, it's time to call mom or grandma and dig out the once shameful, secret family recipe. The advantages are considerable; unlike the hamburger, the loaf requires no sugar- and carbohydrate-packed bun and the necessity for binding agents when you try to bake a glob of ground meat into a loaf allows the possible use of all kinds of beans, oats and ingredients considered generally healthy and unlikely carriers for mad anything disease.
Do it yourself:
Visit your favorite market for exciting ingredients. Lightly oil a baking pan larger than the loaf you intend to create and dress the edges with a valiant tricolore of potatoes (Yukon gold, purple, sweet). Combine extra-lean organic beef with a dash of first press olive oil, shredded chard, onions and a medley of exotic spiced, chopped olives. Add salt, freshly ground pepper and herbs of your choice. Form your loaf in the center of your pan, surrounded by potatoes. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Invite the Beav and Wally.
