“Make meatloaf great again!” Anonymous
In an effort to fight off boredom of “sheltering-in-place” during the “great 2020 pandemic,” I am trying recipes from my library of cookbooks. This particular recipe was inspired by Ree Drummond in her 2009 book, THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS. As I am notorious for doing, I made a few subtle changes and I’ll note those later. I could not have been more pleased with the final results and this will now become my “go to” recipe for meatloaf!
Please note that the original recipe is double of what you see here; since I was feeding two instead of eight, I decided to cut everything in half. I used freeze-dried chopped Parsley because I had no fresh and couldn’t go shopping. I substituted an 1/8 tsp of cajun seasoning for the original “dash or two of hot sauce”. And finally, I suggest you use partially pre-cooked bacon because the raw sliced bacon will not brown because it is covered with the tomato gravy.
Last, but very important is a note about leftovers … this meatloaf (leftover) makes a fantastic lunch served sliced either cold or heated on toast; believe me … it was my lunch today!
Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, tear the bread into large chunks and pour the milk over it allowing it to soak for several minutes. Over the soaked bread, place the ground beef, Parmesan cheese, salt, seasoned salt, pepper, and parsley. Top this mixture with the eggs. With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined.
Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan which will allow the fat to drain during cooking. Lay the bacon slices over the top of the loaf and then tuck them underneath the loaf. Next, make the tomato gravy by combining and mixing the last four ingredients in a small bowl.
Pour 1/3 of the gravy over the loaf and smear it all over the top and sides of the loaf using a basting brush.
Bake for 45 minutes; then apply another 1/3 of the gravy over the loaf. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot using the remaining gravy as a sauce
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