PW's Meatloaf

It's time to cook with PW again :-) This week it was Melanie's turn to pick the recipe, she chose Pioneer Woman's meatloaf. I am going to keep my full post here on this blog today but will also add it to my Cooking blog (for prosperity sake) ;-)

I like meatloaf but I don't make it often and I don't have a favorite recipe, so I was eager to give this a try. Check out Mel's blog for the recipe. The first thing that is different to any other meatloaf I've made is that PW uses white bread soaked with milk. Usually the recipes I've tried just tell you to add dry bread crumbs or oats as the filler.

Here's all the ingredients in a bowl . . .

that's simply all you do to make the loaf... get your hands in there and squish it all together, here's mine all mushed up. . .

next you take this out and put it on a roasting pan. Can I just add here that this was the trickiest part for me. I'm sure my mixture was too 'mushy' I could hardly pick this thing up, in fact I COULDN'T pick this thing up. I had to dust it with flour just to get a hold of it. But eventually I got it on the pan and I layered the bacon over the top. . . .

then I tucked the bacon underneath like PW tells you. I was hoping this would stop the meatloaf from just spreading out (which I think it did). Then you make a mixture of 1 cup ketchup and 6 tblsp of brown sugar to brush over the top.

I actually only had 1/2 cup of ketchup left, so I added only 3 tblsp of sugar and it seemed plenty enough for the top (with some left over to brush on during the cooking). It's already looking good isn't it?

You bake this for 45 minutes then brush on more ketchup and bake for another 15 minutes! That's just an hour total - for a 2lb meatloaf? The recipe I usually do is for a 1lb meatloaf in a bread pan and I cook that for 1 hour. I seriously doubted this 2 lb thing would be cooked in one hour and I think I was right. I took it out after a total of 1 hr 5 mins, and poked it with a knife in the center, the juice still looked a little pink to me so it actually went back in for 20 minutes. That's a total of 1 hr 25.

The Verdict: I was glad I gave this some extra cooking time and I was very happy with how it turned out. I love the taste, you can definitely taste the Parmesan cheese in it (something else I've never put in other meatloaves). And the bacon and sauce on top is super yummy. The whole house smelled like bbq while it was cooking, I could hardly wait to taste some. I made this in the afternoon, by the time Jason got home from work it had been in the fridge for a while, but I cut him a thick slice of it, 'zapped it' in the microwave and made him a meatloaf sandwich (like PW suggests), he LOVED it. An hour later he went back for another slice.

Would I make this again? Absolutely! I never got a chance to have it as a meal with mashed potatoes and corn so I would do it that way next time I make it. Also I think I will try halfing the recipe and making a 1lb loaf and try it in the loaf pan just to see the difference. I'll let you know if/when I do that. So this one's definitely a keeper.... Hop on over to visit Mel and find out what she thought.

Next week it's my 'recipe pick' and I've chosen a pasta dish. . . but which one? You'll have to come back next Tuesday to see :-)

I'm linking this to Tasty Tuesday over at Jen's blog. Be sure to visit the link and see some other wonderful recipes. I love the new 'image' Mr Linky :)