Anthony Bourdain was one of my favourite chefs & food writers. I have watched and re-watched all episodes of Parts unknown & The Layover and I was so sadden by his untimely death. Knowing of my admiration, Micheal did gift me one of Bourdain's cook books, Appetites.
Whilst this is not the exact recipe as can be found on page 220 of Appetites, I did take some inspiration from it, in particular in the decision of adding mushrooms to my meatloaf. Bourdain's admittedly used it to create a gravy, but the inspiration was there nonetheless and I would truly suggest his cookbook - unless you are veggie or vegan, in which case you might find it a little meat heavy.
Yields about 12-14 slices
Ingredients:
- 750g of ground beef (I used lean beef at 5% fat)
- 1/2 white large onion, chopped finely
- 3 ribs of celery, chopped finely
- a small handful or coriander, chopped finely
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
- 3 medium eggs
- 125g of bread crumbs (I used golden, as I had them in the cupboard)
- 8 -10 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 1 1/2 tablespoon of oil (I used olive oil)
- salt & pepper to taste
Method:
Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan and add the onion and celery. Season with salt & pepper. Once the vegetable are a couple of minutes away from being soft, add the coriander and the thyme. Mix regularly. Once cooked, remove for the pan and place it in a bowl to cool.
Pre-heat the oven to 175 C.
Using the same pan to preserve the juices & flavour, add a drop of oil (if required) and cook the mushrooms for the meatloaf filling. Adjust salt & pepper. Once cooked, place on the side to cool.
Once the onion & celery mix is cool, add the beef, the eggs and the breadcrumbs; adjust with salt & pepper (remember there is a large portion of meat so, be a little more generous than you think with the seasoning). Using your hands, mix and combine together all of the ingredients in the bowl until they stick together uniformly.
To roll my meatloaf I have used an unconventional tinfoil method, which just seemed to help with placing my filling inside. If you are making the meatloaf with no filling, you can skip the tinfoil and just grease a loaf tin and distribute the meat mixture inside, pressing down to obtain a packed meatloaf.
Place a large rectangle of tinfoil on a flat surface or large chopping board. Spread about half the meat mixture on the foil, paying attention to the length of your loaf tin when deciding your measurements. Try to get a long rectangular shape so there will be less, re-shaping once it is filled.
Spread the mushrooms on the meat layer, trying to keep a little edge free - this will prevent the filling falling out when closing the roll.
Place the remaining half of the meat mixture on top to cover the filling. Now close off the edges with the meat mixture to encase the filling completely. With the assistance of the foil, try to roll up the loaf in a more sausage-like shape. I found it helpful to wrap the tin foil edges over and almost roll the meatloaf out on the flat surface.
Once you are happy with the shape, place the meatloaf in a loaf tin, cover with the foil and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, check your meatloaf - add a sprinkle of oil if it has dried out or you can use the juices from the mushroom pan. Remove the foil and place it back in the oven for a further 30-40 mins.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before slicing. I have left my original foil underneath so it made it easier to remove from the tin without breakage.
Some extra tips
For a little tasty extra, you could try add a little sausage meat to the mixture - maybe even a little bit of spicy sausage.
You could also dress up your meatloaf with a coat of shortcrust pastry to make it a little fancier looking and add some crunch!
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