Bag'o Meatloaf *Update*

We do like to be on the cutting edge.
Yesterday we posted about using The Paper Chef's bags.
Today... The New York Times posted about them.
Plus, our readers have some additional ideas about using these cool little bags.

Bag'o Meatloaf

I had a revelatory moment in the kitchen. I was thinking I would like to have a meatloaf sandwich. The problem was...I didn't really want to have eat the meatloaf before it became the sandwich. Then it hit me. Why didn't I just make a planned over meatloaf and cut out the "dinner" part of the meatloaf experience.



Since I cook a lot on Sundays, it seemed natural to stick a meatloaf in the oven and then just throw it in the fridge. But then there is the problem of cooking meatloaf. Even though I have one of those meatloaf pans that supposedly holds the meatloaf out its greasy residue, it is a pain to clean. Then I had a second revelation. At the big Food show in D.C. I was given some "en papillote" bags. It seems that The Paper Chef took the difficult origami out of the "en papillote" and just made paper bags suitable for cooking salmon. I had been looking for a way to use these nifty bags and then I thought, why not bag my meatloaf. The paper bag would make nice sandwich sized slices and the paper would wick away most of the fat. I would be left with a baking sheet to wash and a cold meatloaf without that congealed fat issue.


I made my meatloaf. I took The Paper Chef Bag and gentle pushed out its square corners to give me a more rounded loaf. I put my meatloaf mix in the bag and shaped it a bit. The length of the bag allowed me to just wrap it around and place it on the baking sheet, also providing extra paper to wick away the fat.

I baked it and then removed it to a rack to cool and allow any residual fat to drip off. I too some extra paper towels and dabbed the meatloaf. When it was cool, I just wrapped the whole thing in foil and tucked it in the fridge. the next day I unwrapped the foil, removed the bag and sliced the meatloaf.



I don't think I will ever make meatloaf any other way.

While The Paper Chef might take exception, I am sure a plain brown paper bag would work, or just plain parchment, it you wanted to wrap up the meatloaf and tie it off with string. Either way, it makes a great sandwich.

Egg-and-Spinach-Stuffed Meat Loaf

I rarely get a magazine and cook something from it that day, but yesterday I got my copy of Saveur and found a nifty meatloaf recipe from Lobel’s Meat Bible by Stanley, Evan, Mark, and David Lobel. I had most everything I needed to make it, so I set out to give it a try.

It was a detailed recipe to make a "meatloaf" more in the style of a terrine. I was running late so the detailed finesse of the recipe gave way to a rustic twist. Who uses recipes anyway?

Here is the recipe, followed by the lovely Saveur results, followed by a few shortcuts.

Egg-and-Spinach-Stuffed Meat Loaf

3 slices crustless white bread
Kosher salt, to taste
16 oz. spinach leaves, stemmed
12 oz. ground beef chuck
12 oz. ground pork
4 oz. thinly sliced mortadella, minced
1 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary leaves
1⁄4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
2 eggs, lightly beaten, plus 3 hard-boiled eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
Freshly ground black pepper, 
to taste
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄2 cup beef broth
1⁄2 cup white wine

1. Tear bread into small pieces and transfer to bowl of food processor. Process until finely ground; set aside. Bring a 4-qt. saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add spinach and cook, stirring, until just wilted, 15–30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer spinach to a bowl of ice water. Drain spinach and squeeze it with your hands to remove excess water. Set spinach aside.

2. Heat oven to 400°. In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs with the beef, pork, mortadella, cheese, rosemary, nutmeg, beaten eggs, garlic, and onions, and season with salt and pepper. Transfer half of the meat mixture to a 9" x 13" baking dish. Using your hands, form meat mixture into a 4" x 8" rectangle about 1" thick. Arrange half of the spinach on top of rectangle in a 2"-wide strip down the middle. Arrange the hard-boiled eggs end to end on top of the strip of spinach, and top eggs with remaining spinach. Using your hands, shape the remaining meat mixture on a sheet of parchment paper into a rectangle roughly 4" x 8" and lay it over the spinach, eggs, and meat. Press the meat gently around the eggs to form a uniform loaf, pinching top half of meat together with bottom half and smoothing any seams.

3. Brush meat loaf with oil and bake for 30 minutes. Pour in broth and wine and continue cooking meat loaf, basting every 10 minutes or so with liquid, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the loaf registers 155°, about 20 minutes more. Using a spatula, transfer meat loaf to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Strain cooking liquid; set aside. To serve, cut meat loaf into thick slices, transfer to a serving platter, and spoon some of the reserved cooking liquid over the top.

I went a bit more rustic, as you can see from the big hunk of onion. I didn't have any mortadella. I couldn't bear to drag out the food processor so I just crumbled my bread, which was a large hamburger bun and roughly chopped everything. When you make the flat layer on the bottom, I find it is easier if you actually pat it flat and then build up the edges so you start with a "troth" for your spinach and eggs. Again, I just patted the top and left out the parchment paper. I have parchment paper, but I was going for the meatloaf of least resistance! So, mine didn't look quite a terrine-y as the Lobe's.

But it was ever so tasty.