Mean Chef's Meatloaf With Mushroom Gravy

~Bekah~'s Note:

I adopted this recipe from Mean Chef. He and I made it together one cold spring in 2005 "Just your basic fabulous meatloaf with mushroom gravy. Great serve cold on a sandwich."

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard, plus
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1 cup milk
• 2 lbs ground beef (equal parts beef, pork, and veal preferred)
• 2/3 cup crushed saltine
• 1/4 cup minced flat leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 8 ounces thinly sliced bacon

Mushroom Gravy recipe 66984

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms (8 ounces)
• 1/4 cup unbleached flour
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock (store-bought or homemade)
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pour the oil into a sauté pan and set over medium-high heat.
3. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
5. In a mixing bowl, stir together the eggs, thyme, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and milk.
6. Place the ground meat into another bowl and pour the egg mixture over the meat.
7. Add the saltines, parsley, onion, and garlic to the bowl.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Roll up your sleeves, and knead the meat together with the other ingredients until well blended (if you like, cook a small portion of the mixture in a pan, taste, and adjust seasoning).
10. Transfer to a cookie sheet and form into a loaf.
11. If using the bacon, wrap the slices lengthwise over the top and tuck them under the loaf, to completely cover the meat.
12. Bake for 1 hour or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads 160 degrees.
13. If the bacon on the top is not as crisp as you would like, put the meatloaf under the broiler for a few minutes.
14. Remove from the oven and set aside to rest for 5 minutes.
15. Slice and serve with mushroom gravy (Mean Chef's Mushroom Gravy) and mashed potatoes Mashed Potatoes - Master Recipe.
16. Mushroom Gravy (Mean Chef's Mushroom Gravy): Melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat.
17. Add the mushrooms and sauté until brown, about 7 minutes.
18. Stir in the flour; it will become very pasty.
19. Cook this roux for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
20. It will stick to the bottom of the pan a little bit; that's okay.
21. Stir in the stock, wine, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil.
22. Cook the sauce at a lively simmer for 5 minutes, stirring almost constantly and scraping any crusty bits that adhere to the bottom of the pan.
23. Serve in a sauceboat.

Reviews

[bowhntngbabe]

AMAZING!!!! I think my husband fell back in love with me after eating this. The mushroom gravy was fabulous and I will never make gravy with cornstarch again. The only change I would make is to cut back on the thyme. Thank you for a recipe I will continue to make for years to come.

[sitbynellie]

Made this last night - the best meatloaf I ever had. I had to use whole-grain mustard as it was what I had, but the end result was great!

This will be a regular dish on our table from now on. Thank you Mean Chef and ~Bekah~

[fousilly]

Absolutely the best meatloaf recipe ever. I didn't saute the onions and garlic. Just threw everything together and put it in a loafpan as I didn't want to wrap it in the bacon. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the right internal temperature. The gravy was delicious as well. I used beef broth since I used all beef for the meat. Have given the recipe to many others since last weekend and even those that normally hate meatloaf have loved this one. It's on the menu again tonight for us. Will put in different types of mushrooms this time to change it up a bit but we are both salivating waiting for dinner time.