Meat Loaf Patties with Pan Gravy

It seems like I have been cooking things I really don't care for lately, but I am convinced if I can find that superstar recipe there will be absolutely nothing my family and I don't like.  I guess it doesn't always hold true, but meat loaf is another one of my nemeses.  Don't like.  Don't want to.

I did, however, find a recipe that makes the meat loaf bearable.  It is a little involved, but really quite easy.

Meat loaf patties

1 1/3 lean ground sirloin (or just regular beef, as I used)

3 T. bread crumbs

1/8 cup milk (just a splash)
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. grill seasoning blend

1 rounded T. tomato paste

1 med., finely chopped onion (reserve 1/4)

Place ground sirloin into large mixing bowl and create a well in the center.  Fill with bread crumbs and dampen with milk.  Pour egg over bread crumbs and add grill seasoning, tomato paste and 3/4 of the onion.  Mix until combined.  Form into four large oval patties (or as many smaller ones as you wish).

Pan fry meat loaf patties in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 7 minutes on each side under a loose tin foil tent.  This reflects the heat and allows steam to escape.  Removie patties to a platter and follow recipe for the gravy.

Three-condiment Pan Gravy

Pan drippings from meat loaf

2 T. butter

1/4 onion (reserved from meat loaf recipe)

2 T. flour

1 - 1 1/2 beef stock

1 T. ketchup

1 T. steak sauce

1 rounded tsp. spicy brown mustard

After removing patties from skillet, add butter and onion to pan drippings and reduce heat.  Cook for two minutes, then sprinkle with flour (watch carefully to not burn up drippings).  Cook for another minute, then whisk in one cup of beef stock.  Bring to a bubble.  If gravy is too thick, add stock.  Stir in ketchup, steak sauce and mustard.  Remove from heat and drizzle over meat loaf patties.

Serve with mashed potatoes drenched with the gravy and your favorite green vegetable.

A Brisket (or roast)

One of my least favorite things to eat has been any kind of roast.  The taste is dry and has a "roast-y" flavor I have never enjoyed.  It ends up rolling around in my mouth, chewing and chewing and then a big wad in the side of my cheek that never gets swallowed.

My Beloved husband has always loved a good roast, however, and in trying to be a model wife I have searched out recipes I thought he would enjoy and hoped I might be able to tolerate.  The following recipe is one I found in my Jewish cookbook for brisket.  Since I didn't have a brisket, I swapped it out for a chuck roast.  In serving it for our shabbat meal, even I had to say that I really and truly enjoyed it.  It was tender, falling off the bone, and for the standard "roast-y" taste, the sauce covered it up and made it into an almost bar-b-que flavor.

Try it out!

Beef brisket (or a chuck roast)

1 (10-ounce) bottle teriyaki sauce

1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Place the brisket in a baking pan (or I used a crockpot).  Cover with ketchup and pour entire bottle of teriyaki sauce over it.  Pour onion soup mix on top of meat and sprinkle over it with brown sugar.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees (2 1/2 hours for 7 pounds of meat) (for about 2 to 3 pounds, cook for about 1 hour).  In a crockpot with about 2 to 3 pounds of chuck roast, as I used, cook on low for about six hours.

Please note, a brisket takes longer to cook than a roast, so make sure you account for that.