The Best Easy Meatloaf for Friday Night Dinner

My favorite meatloaf recipe was developed by Ben Mims, who is the cooking columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He’s enjoying a stellar career in food. I’ve known Ben since his early days at Saveur magazine in New York City.

When my son and I founded our now-defunct website, Special Fork, we recruited Ben as one of the bloggers for our site. He created this delicious meatloaf recipe for us.

At first look, this recipe may seem more complicated than the kind where you simply mix all the ingredients together. But there’s really just one more step: you cook some of ingredients first, then add it to the meat mixture. This technique seems to heighten the flavors and ensures that the seasonings disperse more evenly.

Recipe Notes from Ben

This was Ben’s thinking when he developed the recipe, directed towards “cooking newbies”:

“This recipe, in particular, is a winner because it can be made a day ahead of time, and then simply popped in the oven, and in an hour, you’ve got dinner. A flavorful mix of onions, garlic, herbs, and Worcestershire sauce are cooked first, and then cooled off.

“Once mixed with the meat and binders, it’s formed into a loaf (this recipe works great as burgers too), and wrapped up until you need it. A slathering of ketchup on top keeps it moist and offers that taste of familiarity to the dish you’d forgotten you loved so much.”

Here’s another easy recipe for Friday night family dinners.

Our Friday Night Dinner Tradition

This meatloaf has been perfect in rotation for Friday night dinners. We have kept to a Friday night family dinner schedule since Miss T, now nine, was born. My son suggested the idea to ensure we could lock in a weekly time to see the baby.

Now that our two grandchildren are older, they are tasked with setting the table. Miss T started at age three, when she would do us the honor on tip toes. Now Little N has been recruited. There are good reasons to keep the kids involved, for their personal growth.

The “”reward” for setting the table is the power to decide where everyone will sit, using homemade place cards!

Make-Ahead Meatloaf

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary leaves
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 6 tablespoons chicken stock
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup ketchup

Method

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and just beginning to brown, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste, and cook, stirring to incorporate, until lightly caramelized, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce; let cool to room temperature.

Place the ground beef in a large bowl, along with the breadcrumbs and eggs, and then pour in the cooled onion mixture. Using your hands, toss mixture until evenly combined. Transfer to a foil-lined 9- x 13-inch baking pan, and form into a flat loaf, leaving about 1 inch of free space around the sides. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 12 hours, if making the next day.

Heat oven to 325°F. If meatloaf has been refrigerated, let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Uncover, and spread the top with the ketchup in an even layer. Place meatloaf in oven, and bake until cooked through and an instant-read thermometer reads 160°F, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving

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