Recipe #5 - Dad's Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

So many recipes in so few days.  This is the 3rd recipe in just over 24 hours.  Saturday morning was the pancakes, Sat night Chicken Marsala, and now we're at Sunday night.  So I guess you guys know what I did last weekend.  Cooked, ate, cooked, ate, cooked and wait for it.....................ate.  I can't think of a much better way to spend a weekend.  Oh wait, I know.  Throw in the first 2 rounds of March Madness and this weekend was legend......wait for it again.............dary! (special thanks to Barney from How I met Your Mother.  If you've seen the show you know what I'm talking about.  If you haven't check it out.  One of my favorites.)

With all that now out of the way let's get cooking.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/dads-meatloaf-with-tomato-relish-recipe/index.html

Looking at the ingredients, I made my list and headed to the store.  The only stumbling block on this adventure was finding ground pork.  I've never used ground pork but assumed the super market for have it just like ground beef, turkey or chicken.  WRONG!  There I am walking up and down the meat section, carefully investigating the packages and none of them said ground pork.  The closest thing I could find was Pork Loin Cube Steak which looks like this:

(stock photo)  Looks like ground meat on top but don't be fooled like I was!

So for a non-seasoned pork cooker (wife does not dig on swine), this looked like ground pork.  I take it out of the package (at home not in the store) and realize that it's just tenderized pork loin.  So instead of throwing a tizzy, I toss the meat in the food processor and make my own ground pork.  Sometimes you have improvise.  When life gives your pork loin cubed steak, you make ground pork.

Most of the ingredients.  Hello Peeps, I see you. 

Before mixing up the meats, get chopping on the onion, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes.  It's a good idea to chop up all your veggies and herbs so they are ready when you need to toss them in the pan.   The culinary term for this is "mise en place" which is french for put in place.  I learned this from Chopped or Top Chef or one of the many other cooking shows I watch.  Do not confuse this with the term "Mieces to Pieces" which is what Mr. Jinks (pictured below) said on the Hanna-Barbera Huckleberry Hound show. 

He hates mieces to pieces (looks to be enjoying them here though).  Not sure what his take on "mise on place" is but I bet he likes to get his mieces in their plieces.

So once you have your mise en place you can start cooking the tomato relish.  

Onions, peppers, garlic, and bay leaves all getting to know each other.  "Nice to meet you peppers, my name is onion, and this is Mr. Bay Leave." 

After these cook down a bit you can add the tomatoes.  I had an issue with the tomatoes.  I never know what kind of tomatoes to get when the recipe just says "tomatoes."  Even my neighborhood stop and shop usually has at least 4-5 varieties.  I would be extremely overwhelmed in Whole Foods that I'd probably just give up, sit down in the product section, and sing a song like, "Yes we have no tomatoes, we have no tomatoes today!"  So anywho, I used tomatoes on the vine(pictured above) which ultimately worked but I wasn't happy with the way they cut.  Had sort of a mealy mushy texture.  I think a firmer tomato would have worked better but I couldn't tell in the final product.  

The relish with all of the ingredients.  Remove the bay leaves before using.  It doesn't say to in the recipe but I don't think you want to be crunching down on a bay leaf inside your meatloaf.

 

After cooking the relish, it's time to mash the the meats and spices, egg and stuff together.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this because I didn't want to get raw beef, pork, egg, and stuff on my camera.  I should have had Robin come in and take a picture but she had her hands full with the little kiddo.  Maybe it's better there is no pic cause who really wants to look at mushy raw meat.  

Once the meat is mixed you can form it into a loaf on a greased cookie sheet or pan/tray thing.  

The loaf is covered with leftover relish and 3-4 slices of bacon.  I love bacon.  For those readers who do not eat pork, you could substitute the bacon with turkey bacon or just leave it off.   And since there is ground pork in the loaf, you could substitute that with ground turkey, chicken or use all ground beef. 

Cook until the loaf is firm.  No one like a mushy loaf.  Took about 90 minutes.  I might have overcooked it slightly but you don't want to mess with undercooked pork.  Just give it a poke after about an hour to test for firmness.  The loaf won't mind a poke here or there, just don't get all poke crazy like some of those facebook people who can't stop poking and you end up in year long poking wars.   

Finished loaf with crispy bacon.  Garnished with parsley flakes on a white serving tray. 

You'll want to let is rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.  I served it with velvety mashed potatoes (another Tyler recipe) and sauteed green beans (my own recipe).  

You can top the sliced meatloaf with the tomato relish.  Put a little on the potatoes and veggies too.  It's that good.

Overall an excellent dish that I would make again.  Took a a bit of time and hit a few minor roadblocks with the ingredients but it was well worth it.  Special thanks to Jenna, Dave, Robin and Ally for joining me on this adventure in meatloafing. 

This recipe is awarded my 4 clean plates

and one baby eating out of your hand .

Do not to put fingers in baby's mouth as she will bite.  This blogger is not responsible for lost fingers.

 

Next recipe : Undecided

So many to chose from.  Can you pick one out?

http://www.foodnetwork.com/tyler-florence/recipes/index.html