"Family Food"

I remember making meatloaf as one of my son's favorite comfort foods. He teased me by calling it "meat apart," since my recipe didn't always hold together in an easy-to-slice loaf. He loved it anyway and to this day he calls it "family food" and asks for it whenever he comes for a visit.

Those crumbly meatloaves were years ago and now my son lives miles away, much too far to drop in for a simple dinner. Now our visits tend to center around holiday gatherings, with rich food traditions that do not include humble meat loaf. Easter is just around the corner and already I am looking forward to seeing my family and feasting on our ritual ham dinner.

One of the things I enjoy about buying the food for SHARE is putting together our holiday dinner packages. I found a special spice cake roll for the Easter Dinner that is just delicious! Because our distribution day comes two weeks before Easter we will take special care to select fresh produce items that will maintain their freshness, like potatoes, apples, etc. SHARE's Easter Dinner Package will make it easy and affordable to enjoy a truly festive meal with people you love. What could possibly be richer?

Order your Easter Dinner online by March 11th for pick up at a SHARE host site near you.

Here's my recipe for meatloaf, which actually does hold together quite well if I am patient enougnt to let it rest a bit before slicing. Enjoy!

Paulette's Meatloaf (AKA "Meat Apart")

Serves 4-6, with leftovers for meatloaf sandwiches

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery rib, diced

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

8 oz tomato sauce

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 lb each ground pork sausage and ground Italian sausage

1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (I make this in my coffee grinder from the heels of whole grain bread)

2 large eggs, beaten slightly

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2 In a large heavy skillet cook the onion, celery garlic and mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat, stirring for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in salt and pepper Worcestershire sauce and 1/3 cup tomato sauce. Cover the skillet and let sit about 5 minutes.

3 In a large mixing bowl combine the meats, eggs, vegetables, bread crumbs and parsley. (I usually mix this with my hands--try not to over-mix) Form into a loaf and put into a rectangular baking dish.

4 Stir together the remaining tomato sauce and brown sugar. Spread over meatloaf.

5 Bake the meatloaf for one hour. Cover with foil and let rest at room temperature for 5 minutes before slicing.