Restaurant-Style Meatloaf (No Bread Crumbs)

Roxygirl in Colorado's Note:

This meatloaf is from the Chez Melange Restaurant in Redondo Beach, CA., and is definitely worth the extra steps. It has a wonderful mellow blend of flavors that makes it really taste like it came from a restaurant. It's unusual in that in doesn't use bread crumbs as a filler and this was done for the texture, years before the "low carb craze." I've frozen it both cooked and uncooked, and texture does not suffer.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 finely chopped green onions
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
• 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 2 lbs ground beef (or mix with part veal or pork or beef)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper sauce

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in medium skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the green onions, regular onions, green pepper, celery, and garlic and cook until softened.
3. Stir in salt, cumin, peppers, nutmeg, and bayleaves and cook 1 minute.
4. Stir in ketchup and half and half and simmer 2 minutes.
5. Cool and remove bay leaves.
6. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Combine meat, eggs (lightly beaten), worcestershire, red pepper sauce in large bowl.
8. Stir vegeable mixture into meat mixture unil well blended.
9. Spoon mixture evenly into a 9 x 5 pan or freeform the mixture (I use the 9 x 5 pan as my mold and place on rimmed cookie sheet).
10. Bake 70 minutes or until temperature of meat registers 160 degrees.
11. Cool in pan 5 minutes (at least) and drain and unmold onto serving platter.

Reviews

[Pokie10]

Fabulous meatloaf recipe. Who needs breadcrumbs?! I don't measure the veggies exactly and add way more than called for. We can all use more veggies, right?! I also make sure there's lots of garlic and I don't use any ketchup. I use a little more half n half to compensate. I've done free form and have used loaf pans with similar results. The free form lets you cut off some of the extra fat, though, I wouldn't use anything less than 85/15 to ensure good flavor. This meatloaf will be more brittle than meatloaf with breadcrumbs, but it is so worth it. Just cut it carefully and serve with your favorite barbecue sauce. Delicious the day cooked and as leftovers.

[joanalang]

I have been searching for a tasty meat loaf recipe without bread crumbs, and am very pleased to have found this one. I also used only a small amount of ketchup and substituted some sundried tomatoes, and eliminated the half and half, as I am trying to minimize carbs. I baked it free-form as 2 loaves on a foil-wrapped cookie sheet and it came out yummy--my family, who are not carb-counters, liked it a lot, too. It held together quite well, and was moist. I will definitely make this again.

[evewitch]

I had made this once before and thought I reviewed it but I guess I forgot. This time, I was not pleased with the results (I thought I liked it the first time). It turned out very greasy and mushy. I cooked it in the loaf pan. I could not have cooked it loose, however, because the mixture was runny.