My husband is the meatloaf maker in our house. It isn't that I can't make a good meatloaf, but why should I when his is so good?
His normal recipe combines beef, fresh onion, cream of onion soup, Worcestershire sauce, egg and oats topped with ketchup. Simple, yet moist and flavorful. Crave-ably flavorful. Paired with green beans and mashed potatoes, it is one of my favorite meals. And the loaf makes an excellent sandwich -- hot or cold.
He recently decided to change it up by stuffing the loaf with mozzarella cheese.
Fearing the loaf would be too moist, he omitted the cream of onion soup, and sauteed the onion.
The experiment was a success.
The smooth, creamy, melted-cheese-filled loaf was a welcome change from his classic recipe. And it made awesome sandwiches the next day.
Joe likes to top the meatloaf with plain ketchup, letting the tomato and beef flavors shine. I find that a touch of brown sugar and a generous grind of black pepper added to the ketchup complements the loaf quite nicely.
Joe's Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatloaf
1/2 white onion, diced
Vegetable oil
2 pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
Salt and ground black pepper
1 cup oats, plus more as needed
1 (8-ounce) ball fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Saute onion in a bit of vegetable oil until softened.
In a large bowl, combine beef, onion, Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt, pepper and the 1 cup oats and mix well. If mixture is too moist (it should be wet and sticky but not soupy), add more oats.
Press half of beef mixture into the bottom of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
Layer the mozzarella cheese over the beef mixture, slightly overlapping slices.
Press remaining beef mixture over cheese.
In a small bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar and a generous grind of black pepper and mix well. Spread ketchup mixture over meat. Bake until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let loaf cool 10 minutes before serving.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Food on 03/15/2017