Meatloaf with Carrots and Potatoes

Saturday 21 June

Barbara's meatloaf guidelines have become a lot looser here; we have no robot-coupe, and tend to throw in the things we have, rather than measuring and calculating amounts.  And you know, it still comes out tasting pretty good, though we miss our allspice.

We whipped up a panade with 2 eggs, a glugg of milk, as many breadcrumbs as we had or could grate from a soft farmhouse loaf, a squirt of tomato paste, a spoonful of dijon mustard, 2 chopped gherkins plus a pour of their brine, and a big squirt of ketchup.  We seasoned with pepper, salt, and thyme, then mixed in a pack of six Co-op "quarter pounders," a chopped red onion, and a chopped stalk of celery.  Moulded into a nice loaf shape, and baked at 400º F/200º C for a half hour, then reduced to 350º/180º.  Around the sides went two sliced carrots and 6 little halved potatoes.

The meatloaf came to the perfect 160º F by our instant-read after only 45 minutes, and we let it rest for 5 minutes before tucking in.

This probably had a bigger proportion of eggs and crumbs than usual, which may be why it stuck together better.  Perhaps when we get home we'll decrease the amount of meat we use to 1.5 rather than 2 pounds, and keep the 2 eggs and amount of milk, crumbs, etc. the same.