Saturday, December 29, 2012

Caribbean Meatloaf

Finals are over.  Way over.  Finally.  After Christmas with families, and time with friends, I'm ready to write another post.  I miss talking about food here.  I've been getting my kicks by discussing it in conversations, but I have been eagerly awaiting my return to this medium of communication.

So let's talk about meatloaf.  I only really had it once, when I was young.  There was lots of ketchup involved, and I really liked it.  But my mom never made it.  I decided to try making some recently, but of course I couldn't make any regular meatloaf.  Caribbean Meatloaf sounds way more exciting.  Can I get an amen?  Cilantro makes everything better, first of all, and we wanted it spicy and as delicious as possible.  Caribbean cooking usually provides all of those things.

Please share if you have other ways to jazz up meatloaf!

This particular recipe is gluten free (if you get gluten free oats), and does not contain milk (It's almost paleo-friendly, but I bet these bottled sauces and chutneys have some processed stuff in them.)

I started with this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/caribbean-meatloaf-340351.  Then I modified it a bit.  Meaning quite a bit.  Matt and I ate it all week for dinner, and it was filling and delightful.  This is one recipe that even after eating for a week, neither of us was tired of it.

Changes to the online recipe included adding MUCH more cilantro, and nixing the onions.  I'm not into that.  I nixed the pineapple too, because we didn't want it sweet.

Ingredients:

-5 lbs ground beef
-1 cup old fashioned oats (Make sure it's gluten free if you're avoiding gluten.  Trader Joe's oatmeal is gluten free, fyi.  I just love Aldi's price for oatmeal, so I buy it there even if it's not gluten free)
-1 egg
-1/2 cup mayonnaise
-2 tbsp soy sauce (original recipe called for worcestershire, but we didn't have any)
-3 jalapenos, seeds removed, minced
-1 bunch cilantro, chopped
-4 tbsp coriander chutney (less if you want less heat - this has serranos in it.  You can find this at international foods stores in the Indian section.)
-1 tsp cayenne pepper
-5 garlic cloves, minced
-1 1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp powdered mint (or fresh if you like)
-2 tbsp caribbean jerk seasoning
-1 cup coconut milk (full fat)
-pickapeppa sauce (for serving.  Seriously this stuff is the best.  I also recommend pouring it over cream cheese and eating it with crackers until it's all gone.)

Directions:

-Heat oven to 350 degrees.
-Combine the oats, coconut milk, egg, soy sauce, jerk seasoning, cayenne pepper, salt, mint, coriander chutney, and mayonnaise in a bowl until  well combined.  Let this mixture sit a few minutes so that the moisture soaks into the oats.
-Combine the meat with the jalapenos, garlic, and cilantro.
-Add the wet mixture to the meat mixture and mix lightly, but thoroughly.
-Shape the meatloaf into a large casserole dish (glass worked well for us).
-Bake 1 and 1/2 hours, checking on it after the first hour.  Continue cooking until the center of the loaf reaches 160 degrees (I recommend a meat thermometer.  Alternatively, you can keep cutting sections to see if it's pink.  We don't want pink meat - unless you got good quality stuff).
-Let it stand 5 minutes before slicing (for some reason)
-Slice and serve with pickapeppa sauce (this stuff is like a caribbean worcestershire.  Yum.)

I hope you all enjoy this.  As always, feel free to tweak it to your own tastes!  I'd love to hear how you all get creative in the kitchen!  And I also recommend using what you have!  Don't worry about having every single ingredient. :)

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