Friday, August 06, 2010

Gonna stick with the meatloaf

I think I'm done with the liver experiments. I just don't like it.

But, there lurks in my freezer several pounds more of the stuff, so we're going to consume it one way or another.

By "we" I mean our whole family, including the dog. She likes it, and our vet said we should give her some, so I'm going to interpret that as "give her half the package when you open one".

The other half goes into meatloaf. Here's the recipe. It's delicious, and the liver just makes it taste richer, not livery.

1 lb or so ground beef
8 oz beef liver, chopped finely or whizzed up in a food processor
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1 small carrot, finely diced
1/2 bell pepper, any colour, finely diced
1 small stalk celery, finely diced
olive oil
bay leaf
1/3 cup ketchup or bbq sauce, or some combination thereof
1 tbsp mustard
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 egg
1-2 cup raw mushrooms, diced finely (these are for soaking up delicious juices.)
salt to taste (yeah, you're going to taste it raw. Deal.)

Sautee onion, carrot, bell pepper & celery in olive oil, with the bay leaf. Cook until transparent, but it doesn't really matter if you forget and it starts to brown. Dump it in a large mixing bowl and let it cool so you can touch it, then remove the bay leaf.

Add everything else and probably 2-3 tsp salt. (How much salt you need depends on the brand of ketchup you have, your mustard, etc. It really varies.) Mix it all up (by hand is best, just squoosh it around with your fingers. Take your rings off first, because it's really gross if you don't.) Taste. If it's too salty, throw in some more beef if you've got it, more mushrooms if you don't. If it's not salty enough, add more salt. Mix thoroughly.

Put the mixture in a parchment-lined loaf tin and bake at 375F for about an hour. You don't even need to tell your family that there is liver in there.