Meatloaf

Here we are, mid-October in Los Angeles and we are in a heat wave! Temps have been in the 80's-90's!!! Luckily last week we had a little taste of fall, the air was cool and there was even some rain and thunderstorms!

I am not here to give you a recap on the recent weather but I am here to tell you that I love fall! As soon as the temps dipped last week, we turned on the fireplace (yes there is a switch, it is gas) poured our selves some glasses of red wine, and cooked up one of my fall favorite comfort foods, meatloaf, with roasted butter nut squash on the side. So although we are back to crazy hot temps at least last week for a brief moment we had a little fall evening of our own.

Italian Meatloaf

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped italian parsley leaves
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 1/2 punds ground beef
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce

I think the key to good meatloaf, that isn't too tough or dry is preparing all of the ingredients first and waiting until the very end to combine them with the meat, once the meat is added using a simple folding method to combine everything and not over handling the meat should make for a delicious tender meal!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
First up, chop up your garlic, onion, and bell pepper

Then in a saute pan heat up 1/4 cup of olive oil and then add the garlic, saute the garlic for about a minute then add the onions and bell peppers. Saute everything until just about soft, remove from the heat and let cool.

Up next whisk together the basil, parsley, and eggs in a small bowl, then add the salt, and pepper.

Then in another small bowl combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.

Lastly in a large bowl combine the meat, herbs and eggs, parmesan and breadcrumbs, Worcestershire, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon on olive oil. This is where it gets messy, use your hands to fold in and combine all of the ingredients, be very careful as to not over mix so it does not come out too tough.

Then you will want to pack the meat mixture into an oiled loaf pan and top with the marinara sauce. If you do not have a loaf pan, don't fret you can use a sheet pan and just form the meat into a loaf shape.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes, let it cool for about 5 minutes. Pour yourself a glass of wine and serve!

For my butternut squash side dish, I simply purchased pre-cubed, packaged butter nut squash from Trader Joe's, brilliant! Sprinkled them with a little olive oil, salt pepper, and cumin, and baked according to the instructions on the package.

Dinner is served, enjoy!