So. I’ve done meatloaf like a thousand times in my life. I think it was my father who taught me this “recipe”. I’ll say this with stretching it a bit since three ready-to-made ingredients and stick into an oven is not that much of a recipe 🙂 But with the basic recipe so simple, I’ve experimented with it a dozen time over. I’ll give you a couple of the better modifications.
So, the basic Meatloaf is like follows:
Ingredients:
400g – 1kg minced beef & pork
1 jar of Cremé Bonjour: Garlic & Herbs creme fraiche.
1 pouch of dried French Onion Soup
Pre-heat oven to 200C. Mix everything in a bowl, move to a oven-ready pot. Cover with aluminium foil. Put into the oven for 40-50min, then remove the foil. Cook another 30-40min without the foil. Take out and let it sit for 30min before eating. Done.
It’s ridiculously easy, doesn’t need too much prep and can be done by pretty much anyone, cooking experience or not.
It’s because it’s so easy that I started to experiment on it.
Experiment 1
Cover the meatloaf if breadcrumbs and 3-4 spoons of butter before putting it into the oven. This gives the meatloaf a nice and tasty surface.
Experiment 2
Add 1 fine minced onion (I usually use red onions or sweet onions for this) and a teaspoon of “French Four Tastes” or allspice while mixing it all up. If you like hot food, add teaspoon of chili powder or a teaspoon of minced fresh chili. This gives the meatloaf character and a little “kick”. Delicious.
Experiment 3, the “I just want to eat one thing” -food.
Take the Experiment 2, then add:
1 egg
3-4 large-ish cooked potatoes, peeled and fine diced.
1 tbsp “BBQ Spice”
1 tsp Black Pepper, ground
1 tsp Salt
½ dl breadcrumbs
Add all to the mixture, mix really well. Let cook for 10-20 minutes longer (with foil on) than the base one. Server one slice with grated Parmesan cheese on top and a small side of greens or a salad. You don’t need anything else.
With this being what it is, I’m sure there’s more coming on this front in the future. The base is just too easy and too open for experiments to not try 🙂