Rollin' Rollin' Rollin': Meatloaf with Greens & Cheese

Do you ever get an idea in your head and it just sits there, occasionally tweaking your brain with that "now what was that" niggling feeling? That was the case when I was thawing out some pasture-raised hamburger from Carman Ranch the other night, wondering whether to make burgers—we had leftover homemade buns in the freezer—or a marinara with pasta, or tacos or…meatloaf?

Pat out the meat and top with cheese and greens.

That's when it hit me. That idea I'd toyed with at some point in the misty past to make a meatloaf with the usual sofrito of onions and garlic, binding it with eggs and oats, but then flattening it out, filling it with with greens and rolling it up like a jelly roll.

How would I roll it up? Would it stay together or crumble into a mashy mess? There was only one way to find out.

Pull away the sheet as you roll.

Fortunately, my neighbor Bill had gifted me some radishes from his garden with their gorgeous greens still attached, and we had some leftover grated Parmesan from a risotto I'd made the night before. The rest, as they say, was history.

Rolled Meatloaf with Greens and Cheese

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lbs. hamburger
1 1/2 lbs. ground pork
2 eggs
1/2 c. rolled oats
1 Tbsp. dried herbs (I used a combination of basil, oregano and thyme)
2-3 c. greens, sliced into chiffonade (I used radish greens, but kale, spinach, chard or any other greens would do.)
1 c. finely grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat olive oil in medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add chopped onion and sauté until tender. Add garlic and sauté briefly until aromatic. Take off heat and allow to cool.

Combine hamburger, pork*, eggs, oats and onion mixture in a large bowl. (I mix it using just my fingers so the meat stays crumbly and doesn't get clumped together.) Form the meat into a loose ball in the bowl.

Lay out a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap about 15" long on a cutting board. Put the meat in the center of the sheet and start pressing it out until it's about 3/8" thick. Sprinkle it with the cheese and the greens in an even layer. Take the long edge of the sheet and start rolling it, repairing any cracks with your fingers, peeling away the sheet as you roll. Close up each end by patting the meat over the exposed edges.

When it's rolled up completely, transfer seam-side down to a sheet pan that's lined with parchment. Bake in a 375° oven for 40-50 minutes until instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part reads between 140-150° (cookbooks all say 160°, but I find that results in drier meatloaf, so you decide for yourself). Remove from oven, tent with foil and allow to rest for 15 min. Slice and serve.

* I like a combination of beef and pork, since it seems to me to make a moister loaf, but all-beef is perfectly fine, too.

My Damascene Moment

Like Paul of Tarsus on his fateful journey to Damascus, there I was, just walking the dog on our usual route up the hill, throwing in a set of stairs to get some cardio. Unlike Paul, I had my feet on solid ground so wasn't knocked off my horse and blinded when the revelation hit. And, truth be told, my bombshell was of a more pedestrian variety.

The clouds had parted, the rays from the sun shone down and it was revealed to me what we were going to have for dinner. Yes, dinner. Thus, instead of running out to preach the gospel, I jumped in Chili and ran to the store, because in that miraculous moment of inspiration I saw…meatloaf.

Now if that seems like a let-down in the pantheon of revelation stories, perhaps even showing a slight lack of imagination on the part of the revelatee, let me tell you that when you're the person responsible for making your family dinner every night, you're happy for any and all inspirations, holy or otherwise.

And the result? As you can see from the photo above, it was moist, meaty and oh-so-satisfying, and went perfectly with the mashers and salad served alongside. And the songs of praise from the assembled throng (well, Dave and our son and the dogs, anyway) was heavenly, indeed.

Fennel and Kale Meatloaf

2 Tbsp. oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
4 anchovy filets
1 bulb fennel, chopped into 1/4" dice
2 c. kale, sliced into chiffonade
1 lb. hamburger
1 lb. ground pork
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh herbs (or 1-2 tsp. dried) like cilantro, oregano, basil or whatever strikes your fancy

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in skillet and sauté onion and garlic till transparent. Add anchovies and sauté till filets dissolve. Add fennel and sauté till tender. Add kale and continue sautéing till wilted. Remove to flat pie plate and chill in refrigerator while you prepare the meat mixture.

Combine ground meat, egg, milk, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and herbs in large mixing bowl. Combine thoroughly with spoon, fork or your hands (don't squish it but keep your fingers open like a fork…you want a loose mixture, not a solid mass). Add chilled vegetable mix and combine. Hand-form into loaf on roasting pan. Bake 45 min.-1 hr. until instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part reads between 140-150° (cookbooks all say 160°, but I find that results in drier meatloaf, so you decide for yourself). Remove from oven, tent with foil and allow to rest for 15-20 min. while you mash potatoes and make the salad. Slice and serve.

A Meatloaf By Any Other Name

Though it wasn't traumatic enough to be called an "issue," it took me years to come around on the subject of meatloaf. And I can't blame my mother; it wasn't her fault she was so traumatized by her dietetics professors in college that "trichinosis" was a word used in conjunction with "meat" in our household. And apparently I wasn't the only one, as contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood alludes to in his introduction below.

Polpettone

It sounds better than meatloaf. Depending on your formative years and early meatloaf experience, you probably either love or hate it. If the latter is true for you, an overly dense, leaden version likely put you off. Try mine.

For a pound of ground meat* (beef, or a mixture of beef with pork or chicken; I used buffalo and yak from Pine Mountain recently), finely chop half an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, a carrot, a celery stalk, and enough green cabbage to give you about a cup. I chop the vegetables coarsely then process in the Cuisinart for a few seconds. Cook in a bit of olive oil for about 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.

Combine the ground meat, cooked vegetables, a couple of eggs, a cup or so of bread crumbs, half cup or so of freshly grated Parmigiano, sea salt, and pepper. If you like, toss in a bit of marjoram, thyme, or oregano; a few slices of finely diced mortadella make it even more Italian. Use your hands to mix thoroughly, then form a freestyle loaf on a sheet pan or cast iron skillet. Top with a few slices of bacon or other fatty pork if you like, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Let the loaf cool off a little before slicing.

[* When making Jim's recipe, I adjusted the amounts as follows: 2 lbs. ground meat (I used half beef, half pork), 1 med. onion, 2 large cloves garlic, a carrot, one stalk celery, 1 c. cabbage, 2 eggs, 1 c. bread crumbs, 1/2 c. Parmesan, then the rest of the recipe as is (without the mortadella, though that sounds like a great idea). And I always mix mine with a spoon or hefty fork, since squishing it with my hands tends to make a denser loaf. Using two pounds of meat for the loaf would normally serve 4 for dinner unless you're pigs like we are, the three of us polishing it off easily. - KAB]