By Brayden is one hundred and forty-four weeks old. Eden is two weeks old. The second postpartum-week has been the small settling-in stretch. The freezer-meals are deploying. Mama is in her third postpartum-week-at-our-apartment. The apartment AC has been working steadily since the Friday-of-Eden’s-first-week repair.
The pot roast meat loaf is a small Sunday comfort-casserole — a beef-and-pork meatloaf-mixture seasoned with the same flavor-profile as a pot roast (onion, garlic, Worcestershire, red wine, a small amount of beef-broth), baked in a loaf pan at three-fifty for sixty minutes, finished with a small brown-gravy poured over the slices at the table. The dish is the small intersection of pot-roast-flavor and meat-loaf-form.
The technique question on a flavored-meat-loaf is the moisture management. Standard meatloaf can come out dry if it is over-baked. The fix is using ground beef and ground pork in a 70-30 ratio (the pork-fat keeps the loaf moist), plus an additional small amount of milk-soaked-bread-crumbs as the binder.
Sunday I made the meat loaf. Mama had two slices. Dustin had three. Brayden had a small portion. Eden was in the small bouncer next to the kitchen table sleeping through the whole meal.
Mama is in residence at the apartment for the small late-pregnancy-and-postpartum stretch. She is the small steady-presence the small family-of-soon-four needs. Her cafe-coverage has been arranged with Cody handling the small operational-lead during her absence. The arrangement is the small carefully-negotiated logistics-puzzle that has been months in the planning.
The technique-detail I always lean on: the freezer-pre-batch is the small late-pregnancy mother’s small future-self-gift. Every meal banked is a meal the small postpartum-mother does not have to cook. The small inventory grows week by week. By the small due-date the small freezer-bank is the small infrastructure the small first-three-months will run on.
Pot Roast Meat Loaf
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 15 min | Total Time: 1 hr 35 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
- 1 packet (1 oz) dry onion soup mix
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into wedges
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or a large roasting pan.
- Mix the meat loaf. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, onion soup mix, breadcrumbs, milk, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper. Mix just until combined — don’t overwork it or the loaf gets dense.
- Shape the loaf. Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape and place it in the center of the prepared pan.
- Prep the vegetables. Toss carrots, potatoes, and onion wedges with olive oil, dried thyme, and a pinch of salt. Arrange them around the meat loaf in the pan.
- Add the broth. Pour beef broth into the bottom of the pan around the vegetables (not over the loaf) to keep everything moist and create a pan sauce as it cooks.
- Roast. Bake uncovered for 1 hour 10 to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the internal temperature of the meat loaf reaches 160°F and the vegetables are fork-tender. If the top of the loaf browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil after the first 45 minutes.
- Rest and serve. Let the meat loaf rest 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon the pan juices over the vegetables and sliced loaf before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 420 | Protein: 32g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 680mg