Ultimate Meatloaf

So, maybe a year ago I was at my parents house for the weekend. I woke up Sunday morning just starving for breakfast. Rather than get out of bed, I turned on TV and the Food Network was on. Tyler Florence, better known as the host of Food 911, was just coming on and he started making meatloaf. Rather than getting up to get myself some food I watched Tyler make meatloaf, and ever since I've been craving that meatloaf. Now, about a year later, I finally made that meatloaf.

This recipe has two great things about it:

1. The milk soaked white bread gives the meatloaf a really creamy texture. I know that a lot of people know this trick for meatballs or meatloaf, but back home, when my mom made meatloaf, she never used this trick.

2. Ketchup and Worschester sauce. I use at least one of these ingredients in almost everything that I make. Tyler knew all about it. That's what caught my eye about this recipe.

This recipe has two parts: The Sweet Relish and the Meatloaf. Start out with the relish, then add some of it to the meatloaf and save the rest to serve with the meatloaf.

Tomato Relish:

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Meatloaf:

3 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks by hand
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes to create a base flavor. Throw in the red peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften. Now add the tomatoes; adding them at this point lets them hold their shape and prevents them from disintegrating. Stir in the parsley, ketchup, and Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes to pull all the flavors together. Remove it from the heat; you should have about 4 cups of relish.

Place the torn white bread in a bowl and add the milk to just barely cover, swish the bread around in the milk and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients for the meat loaf together.

This is where you get your hands dirty! In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork with 1 1/2 cups of the tomato relish, the eggs, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the soaked bread to the meat mixture. To test, fry a small "hamburger" patty of the meatloaf until cooked; the patty should hold together but still have a soft consistency. Taste the patty for seasoning.

Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Transfer the meat mixture to the center of the cookie sheet and form into a log about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Coat the top of the meatloaf with another 1/2 cup of the tomato relish.

Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the bacon is crisp and the meatloaf is firm. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool a bit before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side.

Tyler also used bacon that he put on top of the meatloaf, but I'm not all about that so I didn't do it. Additionally, you don't have to use beef and pork. You can also substitute ground veal, lamb, chicken or turkey for one or both of those. For me, the supermarket didn't have any ground pork, so I used beef and veal. In retrospect, I probably should have used turkey.

I've been eating this meatloaf for days. It makes great leftovers, especially on a sandwich.