A Little Bit of Comfort

It's funny what a difference a couple of days makes. The recipe that follows was created and committed to paper on Friday. Five days and about 1,000 degrees later, I can't even think about meatloaf. But maybe one of these days, the mercury will fall below 102, and a little comfort food will hit the spot. Here's hoping.

If you’ve been hanging around The Coquettish Cook long enough, you know that in my house, we’re all about simple, delicious comfort food. So it should come as no surprise to hear that last Friday, I had a mean craving for meatloaf.

I know what you’re thinking. Meatloaf. A childhood memory that really doesn’t deserve much thought as an adult. But this version came out juicy and flavorful. Served up with roasted zucchini and mashed sweet potatoes, this meal was very comforting. Details after the jump.

For Meat:

1 lb ground beef

1 large egg

Panko Bread Crumbs

Red Pepper

Onion

Garlic

Worcestershire Sauce

Beer

Salt

Pepper

Dried Oregano

Mustard Powder

 

For Glaze:

Ketchup

Brown Sugar

Worcestershire Sauce

 

This was so haphazard. I really just used items that were already in my house for this creation. I used just one egg because my package of ground beef was only about .80 lbs, but use your judgment. You might opt to include another egg. The panko bread crumbs were eye-balled – I’d say I used about a half cup.

 

While I was combining the ingredients into the beef, the whole thing seemed a little dry, so I literally splashed the beer I was drinking into the mix. (Nothing but first class here, folks!)

 

I put the beef mixture into a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick spray, and then covered it with the glaze – a mixture of ketchup, Worcestershire and brown sugar to taste. The meatloaf baked at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. At one check, I noticed some fat from the beef sitting on top, so I skimmed it with a spoon.

 

This is not rocket science. In fact, I’m almost a little embarrassed to post this. But if you’ve had a rough day, and you really just want to sit with a plate of hot, good food, this is a great choice.