Dark Days Challenge - Meal #1

Hmmm, so before I decided to announce a personal eat local challenge and hold myself accountable, we had our first all local meal of the fall season. The search for ingredients was pretty painless, between the steer in the freezer, my trip to the Edmond’s market and a stop at the grocery store, we had everything we needed.

Our friend Kevin was up for the evening, so we fed him too. He even kept my wine glass full while I cooked – now that’s a true friend!

The menu included meatloaf – possibly the quintessential American comfort food. Of course I think I was in college when I had it for the first time. I’m not sure why, but my mother never made meatloaf for us. Why, mom, why? Anyway, I’ve been on a quest for the past few years for the perfect meatloaf recipe and I think that I’ve finally come up with it after much trial and error.

Our menu for the evening was meatloaf, mashed spuds, roasted acorn squash and salad. I had a bottle of local Washington wine to go with it, and the guys had some sort of local Canadian whiskey. All of the ingredients were from within 200 miles except for the following: ground pork (pastured, organic, Wisconsin), salad dressing (organic, California), beef gravy (non-organic, jarred) and the condiments (salt, pepper, oil, ketchum, vinegar – all of which were already in our cupboards).

*****

40 Minute Meatloaf
Serves 4 to 6

• 1 lb. ground beef  (Whidbey Island)
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1/2 medium onion – chopped  (market)
• 3 cloves garlic – minced  (market)
• 1/3 cup milk  (Bow)
• 1 extra large egg yolk  (backyard)
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs  (stale bread, Everett)
• 1/3 cup parsley – chopped  (front step)
• 2 tbs oil  (used butter, Bow)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbs brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees, heat oil in non-stick skillet until shimmering.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the beef, pork, onions and garlic. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, yolk, bread crumbs and parsley;
3. Combine milk mixture with meat mixture, mix well. Form meatloaf mix into 6 small loaves, about 4″x2″x2″.
4. Put the loaves into the skillet and brown on top and bottom.
5. While the loaves are browning, whisk together ketchup, vinegar and sugar. Place browned loaves on broiler pan, top each with 1/6 ketchup sauce and put into oven.
6. Cook at 500 for 8 minutes, adjust heat to 450 and cook an additional 10-20 minutes until thermometer inserted into center of loaf reads 170.
7. Let rest 5 minutes and then serve.

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