Guilty Indulgence — Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

I have a few vegetarian friends, a few friends that can’t eat carbohydrates and several diabetic friends – all who I hope occasionally read this site – and I have never felt guilty about posting a recipe until now.

This artery clogging gluttonous guilty pleasure of a meatloaf is insane. Meat and pork wrapped in bacon (the gift from the gods)? Oh, there’s not a single healthy thing I can think to say about this. The measly one carrot, celery stalk, half and onion – they don’t even count as vegetable here. They just add to volume of meatiness. And, of course, meatloaf and mashed potatoes are blood brothers and go hand in hand so that was on the table too…

When you can’t find me for the next week it is because I died trying to run off the guilt of enjoying this meal.

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

from http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 stalk of celery
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 large carrot
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 pound all natural sausage
• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 pieces of white bread, crusts removed and torn into small pieces (or 1 cup panko bread crumbs)
• 1 14 ounce can evaporated milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup canned tomato sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor fitted with the steel blade attachment, pulse together carrot, onion, and celery until fined minced. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet set over medium heat and cook the onion mixture until softened, about 5 minutes. Allow to cool.

In a small bowl, place bread or breadcrumbs and pour over evaporated milk. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine meats, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, salt, cheese, tomato sauce, garlic, and cooled onion mixture with 2 forks. Mix in breadcrumb mixture.

In a large loaf pan, lay one end of a slice of bacon on one end of the pan, so the other end comes up over the side. Lay the next slice over the first slice so that it overlaps, and the end comes up over the other side of the pan. Repeat until the whole bottom of the pan is lined with bacon. Place meatloaf mixture on top of bacon and fill to the top. Take the ends of the bacon and wrap them up over the top of the meat mixture.

Bake for 1 hour, pull from oven and carefully drain off a bit of the fat. Return to the oven and bake for 30 minutes more.

Cooking notes:

• I added 1/2 of a red pepper to the onion mixture cuz that’s just how I roll.
• I didn’t have evaporated milk on hand so I used 1 cup buttermilk in its place.
• I had to use 2 loaf pans with the amount of meat.