ChezCindy: Individual Mini Meat Loaves

 

A few years back, I wrote a post featuring glazed carrots served with individual meat loaves, making a note that the meatloaf recipe I use most often is from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.  Today I decided to post a meatloaf recipe, heavily influenced by Ms. Garten's recipe with just a few tweaks.  

These mini meat loaves are comfort food.  The recipe can be made into 1 large loaf.  But I prefer the mini loaves because of the meatloaf to ketchup ratio.  The baked ketchup glaze on the mini loaves allows for a bit of ketchup for every bite of meatloaf.  

Hat's off to Ms. Garten for her cookbooks and recipes bringing joy to so many of us for all these years.  I have every cookbook she has written.  All are fabulous and well used in this house.  She has taught us all to enjoy cooking and certainly to enjoy sharing food with loved ones. 

 

Individual Meat Loaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups chopped yellow onions

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

3 large eggs, beaten

1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup ketchup

Prepare a large sheet pan by lining it with a sheet of parchment paper.  Set aside.  Measure out 1 cup of ketchup into a small bowl.  Set aside to top the meat loaves.  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Working in a large skillet over medium heat, add in the olive oil and the chopped onions.  Sauté the onions for 5-7 minutes until soft, but not browned.  Add in the dried thyme, fresh parsley, Worcestershire sauce, stirring to combine, cooking for 2 minutes.  Add in the tomato paste, stirring and cooking for 1 minute.  Add in the chicken stock, stirring to combine.  Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.  

In a large mixing bowl, add the ground beef to one side of the bowl, leaving a space to add the remaining ingredients.  Next to the ground beef, in the space left open, add in the beaten eggs, bread crumbs, and salt.  Using a fork, stir these ingredients together, not disturbing the ground beef.  Now, slowly stir in the ground beef using the fork to combine all the ingredients until just combined.  Use a light touch here so as not to overwork the mixture.   

Divide the meatloaf mixture into 6 eight-ounce portions, lightly shaping each into an individual meatloaf.  Place each mini meatloaf onto the parchment lined sheet pan.  Top each meatloaf with an equal amount of the ketchup.  

Place the sheet pan into the hot oven, baking the meat loaves for 35 minutes, until the internal temperature is 155 - 160 degrees.  Remove from the oven.  Serve hot with your favorite side dishes.