I usually make turkey meatloaf, but tonight I was feeling like beef. None of the ground meat looked appealing at the grocery store, but we have a butcher shop in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd give them a try. I didn't see any ground meat at all when I walked in, but when I asked about it, the butcher told me he'd grind any cut of meat he had. So I got some freshly ground chuck for this recipe, at at $ .50 less per pound than the grocery store was charging!
The Ingredients:
1 medium onion, small diced
2 stalks celery, small dice
1 small bulb fennel, small diced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup dry marsala (or good red wine)
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
1/4 tsp ground fennel seed
1 egg, beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1 6oz can of tomato paste
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
The Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Sweat the onion, celery and fennel until soft and translucent. Deglaze the pan with marsala (this is what I have in the house, but red wine would be great here, too), and reduce until almost all the liquid is gone - there should be no more than 1 tsp left. Put the veggies in a mixing bowl and let cool.
-Add the garlic, fennel seed, beef, parmigiano, breadcrumbs, red pepper flakes and egg to the cooled veggies. Mix with your hands to combine all ingredients, but do not over mix. On a foil lined sheet tray, form a loaf with the mixture.
-In a small bowl, combine tomato paste and balsamic vinegar. Brush half of the tomato/balsamic mixture over the loaf. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and brush remaining tomato mixture over loaf. Return to oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes before cutting.
This was really tasty. I often make this by grating raw onion and garlic into the ground meat, which is delicious. But I read a recipe that sauteed onions and celery, so I thought I'd try that method, and throw in some fennel since I had some in the fridge. I don't think I reduced the marsala enough, so the meatloaf was a bit crumbly, but otherwise it was absolutely delicious! And we have enough left over for meatloaf sandwiches tomorrow.I am trying to be better about serving square meals with vegetables and starches/grains with high nutritional value (more whole grains like brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat couscous, quinoa, or sweet potatoes). So I served this with mashed sweet potatoes and marsala glazed carrots and parsnips.
