I'm trying to reconstruct -- and improve -- my mother's meatloaf recipe. I remember that it started with ground beef, plus ground lamb and ground pork; it probably had Lipton's onion soup mix as well. My version started with onions and many crushed garlic cloves sauteed with diced carrots in butter and sherry, to which I added freshly dried oregano, and julienned basil, which I let cool for a bit. I mixed the three meats with two eggs and some bread crumbs, then added the vegetable mixture, shaped it into a loaflike object, and cooked it at 350 degrees F, until the internal temperature reached 160 degrees F, let it sit for five minutes or so while I finished up the rice and cooked corn, then served it.

My test subjects enjoyed it, and said that the lamb flavor was prominent and good. I think more garlic and basil, and perhaps some hot pepper flakes and celery sauteed in the vegetable mixture, next time. Maybe studding the loaf itself with small cloves of garlic?

Tags: cooking, domesticity