Mini Meatloaves on Mashed Potatoes with Brown Butter Carrots

We have had a few cool days which put me in meatloaf mode.


This recipe calls for 2 pounds of ground pork and 2 pounds of ground beef. You can easily cut this recipe in half.


Soak some stale bread in 1 cup of milk.


Saute' about 8 strips of diced bacon until it is crisp.


Remove the bacon and set it aside but leave the bacon grease in the pan.


Dice one large onion.


Saute' it in the bacon grease. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of salt and a tablespoon of pepper.


Squeeze the milk from the bread and crumble the bread into the meat. Add 5 tablespoons of mustard.


Add the crumbled bacon and 2 eggs. Add the cooled onion mix.


Add a diced poblano pepper. At this point I fried a small piece to test for seasoning. I decided to and a bit more salt. Mix this very thoroughly.


I use my ring and tamper to shape these.


It's a good idea to cover your pan with heavy tin foil to save you from a messy cleanup.


Wrap each meatloaf with a piece of bacon. I like to use thin sliced bacon for this. Bake them in a preheated 350 degree oven until the reach 165 degrees. This takes about 45 minutes.


While they are baking, make some gravy. To a heavy pot, add a mix of vegetables. I used celery, onions, and carrots. Toss them with several tablespoons of olive oil and cook then over medium high heat.


You want them to turn very dark brown.


When they are brown, sprinkle them with 4 tablespoons of flour.


Stir this around until the flour taste cooks away. This will take 1-2 minutes.


De-glaze the pan with a cup of red wine. Make sure to turn up all the dark brown bits. Stir in 4-5 cups of beef broth.


Add 2 tablespoons of Kitchen Bouquet.


Add 2 tablespoons of Vegeta. You can skip this step if you don't stock this in your pantry.


Add 3 bay leaves and cook until it begins to thicken. Strain the gravy and pour it into a pitcher.


The meatloaves are ready at about the same time that the gravy is done.


Make some mashed potatoes.


Slice some carrots into sticks and brown them in a bit of butter with a sprinkling of salt over high heat.


Serve each meatloaf on top of a big scoop of potatoes. Pour some gravy over the top and sprinkle with fresh parsley. Serve with the browned carrots on the side.

These went out to my a bunch of my neighbors and the Blog Tech got his share too!


I find that people really enjoy having individual servings of things that are usually served family style.