Spicy Meat Loaf

January 2012 Recipe #2 Spicy Meat Loaf

Ingredients:
Cooking Spray
1 chopped onion
6 tablespoons spicy ketchup
1/2 cup of panko
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1 lb ground beef
1 large egg white

This recipe serves four people or, if you're like me, is dinner and 3 nights of left overs. I got this recipe from Cooking Light magazine. My father used to make meat loaf when I was a kid. He would make it still in his blue shirt he wore as an MTA employee. Sometimes he would put in a thin strip of mozzarella cheese in the middle of it. My brother and I used to love that. I was going to attempt doing that here but it seemed like a mean thing to do to a Cooking Light recipe. Plus, panko is not as mold inducing as bread crumbs. It's a pretty easy recipe. Everything you need is in the picture below. I changed the ketchup to ketchup with tabasco sauce because I like spicy food and wanted to give it a little extra flavor.

Instructions:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. 2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Combine onion, 3 tablespoons ketchup, and remaining ingredients in a bowl, and gently stir just until combined.
3. 3. Place meat mixture on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; shape into an 8 x 4-inch loaf. Brush top of loaf with remaining 3 tablespoons ketchup. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. If the meat isn't crispy enough for you throw the broiler on High for 5 minutes or desired doneness. Let stand 10 minutes; cut into 8 slices.

Final Product:

I like my meat loaf a little crispy so I put the broiler on high for 5 to 10 minutes. The end result is a slightly spicy hunk of meat that makes for a good meal. Looking back I would have added some more spice with sriracha sauce, but all in all it's a good meal that requires very little effort. 

Leftovers:

I nuked the leftovers and the end results were less than impressive. If I owned a convection oven I would have put it in there to get the meat crispy. Next time I will have to do that or just put the left overs in the oven. 

1. 3 out of 5 stars