Another new recipe

I never, ever make meatloaf. I use to like it as a kid, but now that I cook all the meals the idea of taking a huge chunk of ground beef and baking it like a loaf of bread, just seems/sounds very strange. That being the case I've never looked for or tried out any meatloaf recipes.

Well, after getting my most recent Williams-Sonoma catalog I was inspired by their cheesy meatloaf recipe. Not only did it appear to have more substance then just a hunk of meat, but it also claimed to be full of cheesy chunks.
So I tired it. The recipe required you to first saute carrots and celery (and mushrooms, which I omitted) in olive oil. While that was sauteing I cut up chunk of mozzarella cheese. Then I mixed up breadcrumbs, cheese chunks, ground meat, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs, sauteed veggies and shaped it all into a loaf in my baker. I then topped it with more breadcrumbs mixed with shredded mozzarella cheese and baked it for an hour.
Yummy, yum. I will never view meatloaf with the same boredom again. It was delicious.

I know it's corny to post pics of food and how you made it. But I'm really trying to get inspired to cook new recipes. And posting about it makes it all the more fun for me.

Here is the exact recipe if you want to make it yourself:

Ingredients:

4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 celery stalks, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 oz. dried wild mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup hot water,
chopped, soaking liquid reserved
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/4 cups fresh bread crumbs
1 Tbs. plus 1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded, plus 6 oz., cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 lb. ground beef (80% lean)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. minced fresh thyme
Mashed potatoes for serving (see related recipe at left)

Directions:

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 350°F. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with 1 Tbs. of the oil.

In a deep sauté pan over medium-high heat, warm 2 Tbs. of the olive oil. Add the carrots, celery and onion and sauté until tender and starting to caramelize, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Let cool for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the bread crumbs and 1/3 cup of the mushroom soaking liquid and soak for 5 minutes. In another bowl, combine the remaining 3/4 cup bread crumbs, the 1 Tbs. parsley, the remaining 1 Tbs. olive oil, shredded cheese, salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, using your hands, gently mix together the ground beef, soaked bread crumbs, vegetable mixture, eggs, the 1/4 cup parsley, thyme, cubed cheese, salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and shape into a 10-by-5-inch loaf. Cover the top and sides of the meat loaf with the cheese-bread crumb mixture.

Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat loaf registers 165°F, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let the meat loaf rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with mashed potatoes. Serves 8.