Lars’s Meatloaf

A Little Personal History:

6 awesome friends arrived in town for a “Meatloaf” concert. We decided to meet up for dinner & memories at my place the next day. What to do? Let’s make some Meatloaf!!!

Description:

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef

• ¼ cup Lars’s ketchup
• 2 Tbs. firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. Lars’s Champagne Mustard Sauce
• 1 tsp. prepared horseradish
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper

• ¼ cup tomato juice
• ¼ cup dark beer
• ¼ cup chopped peeled onion
• ¼ cup green bell pepper, diced
• ¼ cup red bell pepper, diced
• ¼ cup corn kernels
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 3 teaspoons Lars’s Cajun Blast Seasoning
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp. dried sage, crumbled
• ¼ tsp. dried leaf rosemary, crumbled

• 2 Tbs. Lars’s Secret Hamburger Sauce
• ¾ cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup Lars’s Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup bread crumbs

• 1 Tbs. Butter or oil spray
• 4 -12 slices bacon

• 1 medium tomato – sliced
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Procedure:

1. In a large mixing bowl, break up ground beef. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar, salt, mustard, horseradish and pepper. Blend thoroughly and refrigerate.
3. Combine tomato juice through rosemary in large skillet. Blend together over medium-low heat for 3 minutes. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine hamburger sauce, milk, eggs, Worcestershire sauce and bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly
5. Transfer everything to large bowl with beef and mix thoroughly.
6. Cover a cookie sheet with a large sheet of aluminum foil. Grease foil with butter or oil spray and mold mixture into loaf. Place bacon strips on top of loaf and over sides as necessary. Fold foil around loaf, use second sheet of foil to cover if necessary. Refrigerate 2 hours, or overnight.
7. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
8. Place foil rapped meatloaf on cookie sheet in oven and bake for 1 hour.
9. While meatloaf is baking, remove ketchup mixture from refrigerator, slice tomato on cutting board and marinade by transferring to ketchup mixture .
10. After meatloaf has baked for 1 hour, open foil , drain any juices. If necessary use turkey baster or similar to extract juices.
11. Arrange marinated tomato slices on top of or arrange around meatloaf.
12. Spoon or ladle ketchup mixture over meatloaf and bake, uncovered, an additional 30 minutes.
13. If you want melted cheese on top of loaf, evenly sprinkle grated cheese over loaf and bake for last 10 minutes.
14. Serve immediately.

Advanced Preparation:

• Steps 1 – 6 can be done the night before and refrigerated.

Tips, Notes, and Variations:

• Shredded carrots may be used by equal amount for meatloaf stuffed vegetables above if you don’t have or wish to substitute.
• Red wine can be substituted for dark beer but only if women are involved
• When extracting juices (step 10), you can save to use later as the foundation for some great beef gravy!!
• Lars’s linked ingredients can be substituted with comparable commercial products.
• Use meatloaf leftovers sliced in sandwiches or crumbled in sauces or chili.