Spices

Spices

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Meatloaf - with new spice combinations

My meatloaf recipe with new spice combinations - a very nice surprise.

Everyone has a special meatloaf recipe. Fantastic when it is a family tradition passed on to the next generation. I have my favorite, go-to, family recipe also.
Last night, though, I was looking through my spice collection and I chose a combination of spices that attracted me because of the warmth of each ingredient. Wow, what a surprise to find that this blend of spices created a new version of my family's recipe for meatloaf. Can't wait to share this with you, too.
Along with our meal highlighting this new meatloaf recipe, I served a side green salad and for the comfort carb sidedish, I prepared my new go-to grain: Roasted Brown Rice Couscous (gluten-free). Oh, and it does come in a convenient box, is organic brown rice and cooks-up in 15 min. How easy is that? (As Ina Garten, "Barefoot Contessa" would say.)
Hope you will try this healthy grain as your sidedish when you have comfort on your mind at mealtime.
Thank you Lundberg Family Farms for Roasted Brown Rice Couscous. Gluten-free, Vegan and 100% whole grain. Kosher product, too. Here is the link to their product: http://www.lundberg.com/Products/Roasted_Brown_Rice_Couscous.aspx

Preparation time of this recipe: about 15 minutes.
Cooking time for this meatloaf: about one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes, depending on the calibration of temperature in your oven.

Preparation:
Loaf pan coated with Canola Oil spray on bottom and all sides.
Large mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Oven mitts
Place oven rack in the middle portion of your oven
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Kitchen knife
Large spatula
Serving platter

Ingredients:
Ground beef, one pound
Egg, one whole egg
Ketchup, one half cup; a little more also to spread on top of the meatloaf before cooking.
Worcestershire sauce, one quarter cup
Cumin, one teaspoon
Paprika, one teaspoon smokey version if possible, if not then plain paprika
Cinnamon, one teaspoon
Kosher salt, two teaspoons
Black pepper, one teaspoon, crushed
Parsley, one quarter cup fresh, chopped (or one tbs. dry parsley)If using fresh parsley, save a few pieces to put on top of the cooked meatloaf for a pretty pop of color as the garnish.

Assemble the meatloaf mixture:
Put the ground beef into the large mixing bowl
Crack one whole egg into the mixing bowl with the ground beef
(option: crack the egg into a small bowl first to make sure the egg is fresh and then empty the egg into the ground beef.)
Add the ketchup into the mixing bowl with the groundbeef and egg.
Add the Worcestershire Sauce into the above mixture also.
Add the cumin, paprika and cinnamon into the mixture above.
Add the salt and crushed black pepper into the mixture above.
Add the fresh, chopped parsley into the groundbeef mixture, too.
Mix all the ingredients in the mixing bowl with the wooden spoon using a light, turning-over stroke, so all the ingredients remain loose.
The goal is to have a mixture with some air in the combined groundbeef texture.
Add the meatloaf mixture into the greased loaf pan.
Spread some ketchup on top of the uncooked meatloaf.
Place the loaf pan into the preheated oven at the middle section of the oven.
The meatloaf will be ready when it is browned on the top of the meatloaf, and the meatloaf has pulled away from the sides of the loaf pan.
Depending on the amount of fat in the groundbeef used, you may want to pour off some of the liquid fat that remains in your loafpan. Use your oven mitts to carefully carry the cooked meatloaf in the loafpan to the sink to pour-off the fat into the drain of your sink.

Serving suggestion:
Using your kitchen knife along with a large spatula, cut wide sections of your cooked meatloaf and carefully place on the serving platter.
Put a few pieces of whole, fresh parsley on the top of the sliced meatloaf for the garnish.

5 comments:

  1. Cinnamon? Interesting.

    http://www.alittlenosh.net

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  2. Wow, I never would have thought to add cinnamon to meatloaf, but I do love all those spices, I bet this is wonderful!

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  3. Amy, Yup...it was the cumin-cinnamon-smokey paprika spices that blended beautifully in this meatloaf recipe.
    One comment from a friend said it tasted "Mexican", hmmmmm.

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  4. Hi my fellow Lady Blogger! Sorry if you get this twice. Thanks for my post. Your site is going to get me into trouble and I can't wait. Everything looks delicious!. Still learning this technical stuff, hopefully I am following you successfully :-) Chat soon
    (The Haute Host)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Lisa, thanks for dropping by Prep2eat. Cooking trouble is a good thing, have fun :)

    The Souper

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