Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Apple Meatloaf


During the holidays, sometimes you might have someone staying with you, so you need an easy dish that will feed an extra person.  This is a quick meatloaf that serves three, instead of our usual two, with a touch of sweetness from the autumn apple. 
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp butter
  • 3/4 C shredded peeled apple
  • 1/2 C soft bread crumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 4 tsp ketchup
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • dash ground allspice
  • 3/4 lb lean ground beef
1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a small skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. 
2.  In a large bowl, combine the apple, bread crumbs, egg, ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, and allspice.  Stir in onion.  Crumble beef over misture and mix well.  Shape into a 6"x5" loaf.
3.  Place in an 8" square baking dish coated with nonstick spray.  Bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 40-45 minutes or until no pink remains and a meat thermometer reads 160°F.

Robyn's notes: I don't normally get very excited about meatloaf.  It's fine, but it tends to feel kind of blah.  This was a pleasant surprise.  The apple lends just the right amount of sweet, as well as keeping the meat moist.  For myself, in future, I'd leave out the onion entirely.  Since I can't eat onion I have to pick it out of the final dish, which is fine, I'm totally used to it, except that the shredded apple and finely chopped sauteed onion look identical in the cooked loaf, so it was very hard to pick out the right things.  Watch me demonstrate this recipe on youtube!

*** 3 Stars: Good. At least one of us liked this enough for me to make it again, but not often