Meatloaf (served with Brown Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Peas)
Approximately 10 servings
4 lbs lean ground beef (we recommend good quality ground round)
2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (about 4 slices of good quality white bread lightly toasted and made into crumbs)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 large or 1 medium onion, minced
3 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 T Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Place meat mixture in a 9 X 13 baking pan (we use a metal lasagna pan) and form into a large oval shape in center of pan, kind of resembling a loaf of rye bread. There should be several inches between the edge of the meatloaf and the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours.
About 40 minutes before meatloaf finishes baking, start boiling your peeled, cubed potatoes. When cooked, pour off water and mash with butter, cream, salt and pepper to taste. About 15 minutes before meatloaf comes out of the oven, steam some green peas – frozen are fine! Add a little butter to them after steaming.
When meatloaf is done, remove from pan, place on platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Remove excess fat from pan and put metal baking pan directly on cooktop. Using spatula, scrape all the browned gooey pieces from the bottom of the pan and add beef stock (about 3 cups). While stirring, add 2 beef bouillon cubes until dissolved, then add some garlic powder, a few dashes of Worcestershire, salt and pepper until seasoned to your liking. In a shaker bottle with a top (a Good Seasons salad bottle with lid is perfect for this!), put a few spoonfuls white flour and add about 1/4-1/3 cup beef stock from the container, NOT the pan. Note: To avoid lumps when making gravy, you must mix cool or cold liquid with flour! Shake bottle until flour is completely dissolved and there are NO lumps. Bring the drippings and stock in the pan to a boil. Slowly pour the flour mixture into the center of the boiling stock while using a sauce whisk to quickly incorporate the flour into the bubbling stock and thicken to make gravy. If gravy isn’t thick enough, make more flour/stock mixture and gradually add until gravy is thick enough. Just remember if you add more liquid, you need to add a little more seasonings or your gravy will be bland. Sample the gravy and adjust seasonings according to personal taste.
Slice meatloaf to desired thickness. We like to slice ours about 1 inch thick and then cut each slice in half. Serve with a generous helping of mashed potatoes, peas and gravy.