Nanoscale meat amalgam
As far as I can tell, everything is cuter when it is small: babies, puppies, vegetables, etc. So why not tiny meatloaves? A sane person might ask why anyone would want a dwarf loaf of meat. Let’s see…they would cook faster, they would have a higher surface area to volume ratio – thus yielding more browned tasty outside bits per serving, and they would be perfectly sized to pack in a lunch. Don’t worry, the rude comments from your coworkers as you feast on your miniature creations stem from their meatloaf envy, not anything inherently ridiculous about diminutive portions of ketchup covered meat.
Miniature Meatloaves
adapted from Gourmet, February 2008
Ingredients
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T butter
2 T Worchestershire sauce
1/2 t allspice
2 t salt
1 t pepper
1 lb. ground chuck
1 lb. ground pork
2 large eggs
1/3 cup chopped parsley
Procedure
1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, add the butter, and when foaming subsides saute the onion, carrot, and garlic until the carrots are soft (about 5-10 minutes).
2. Remove the skillet from the heat and mix in the Worchestershire sauce, allspice, salt, and pepper.
3. Soak the bread in the milk.
4. Use your hands (clean please) to mix the beef, pork, bread mixture, onion and carrot mixture, eggs, and parsley in a large bowl to combine.
5. Shape the mixture into 6 identical loaves.
6. (optional) Cover each loaf with ketchup and/or bacon strips for additional flavor.
7. Bake the loaves in a 350 oven for approximately 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 155 degrees.
And here is the result…
Yum!
What is there not to like about delicious and individually sized loaves of meat? Add some mashed potatoes and perhaps some cranberry sauce to form a yummy winter meal. Better yet, surprise your friends and serve them at a dinner party (who would be expecting tiny meatloves?) along with some upscale sides; perhaps a potato gratin made with gruyere and cream (to finish off their coronary arteries) or some sauteed wild mushrooms with thyme and sherry, some roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta would also be great. Anyway, use your imagination!
1 Comment
November 11, 2008 at 10:18 am
Mini-meat loaves at a dinner party sound like a very barefoot countess-esque idea. Very cool.