Meatloaf Sandwiches

You know, I really wondered about this one. I found the recipe in one of my favorite places, the Everyday Foods magazine, and at first I thought, this sounds like a fun use for leftover meatloaf. And then I read it more closely and realized that the recipe called for making the meatloaf specifically for the sandwiches.

Hmm. Meatloaf-making is not a short process. It's not hard, but it's not short. So in my house, that automatically turns it into a Sunday dinner. So I did a little bit of agonizing about serving the family sandwiches for Sunday dinner. We are a little fast and loose about where and how we eat during the week (eat dinner on the couch while watching Glee? Sure, we can do that!) but on Sundays I do insist on the dining room, the candles, all family members present and accounted for, etc. So...sandwiches? The dog promised me it would be okay, so I went for it.

And oh my goodness. This meatloaf is laced with both horseradish and shredded cheddar cheese, so it is already way ahead of most of its meatloaf brethren. The recipe calls for letting it sit for abut 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven, so by the time it makes it into the sandwich it is still plenty warm, but firm enough to stay intact as you lay it upon some nice country bread and anoint it with ketchup, thin sliced dill pickles and a layer of romaine lettuce.

Meatloaf Sandwiches. It's what's for Sunday dinner. Oh yes.

MEATLOAF SANDWICHES, adapted from Everyday Foods

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
• 1 cup crush saltines (15 crackers)
• 1 cup grated cheddar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons horseradish
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Country style bread
• Lettuce
• Sliced dill pickles
• Ketchup

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat and add onions. Cook 5 minutes until softened. Add tomato paste and stir constantly for 3 minutes.

3. In large bowl, combine beef, onion mixture, crackers, cheese, horseradish, Worcestershire, salt and pepper.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment and shape beef mixture into a 9 inch loaf. Bake unti cooked through, about 45 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes.

5. Cut into thick slices and place on bread with pickles, lettuce and ketchup.

Click here for printable recipe

Boeuf Bourguignon, or Julia and Kate

If you haven't yet seen the movie JULIE AND JULIA, turn off the computer, stand up, and proceed directly to the nearest movie theater. Just make sure you eat something first, because this movie is not one to see when you are hungry. We saw it the weekend it opened, late Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty much 2 hours and 15 minutes of sheer heaven for me. Julia Child, Meryl Streep, food blogging, cooking, pounds and pounds and pounds of butter. I think now I understand what my tolerant Southern husband means when he rhapsodizes over Star Wars. THIS is a culinary Star Wars, and if Meryl Streep doesn't win her millionth Oscar for this, the Academy is going to have to answer to ME. (That should scare them.)

Anyway, the only thing I wanted to do when I walked out of the theater was make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. And because it was 7pm on Sunday, and I didn't have Julia Child's recipe, nor any of the ingredients, nor the five hours needed to make it, we went out to eat instead. And I pouted all week long until the weekend rolled around again and I had a clear window of time to shop, and cook, and cook, and cook.

Which is good, because this recipe takes FIVE HOURS. Which always injects just a teeny bit of pressure, because you really, really, really want to come out with something great at the end if you are going to spend FIVE HOURS making it. Not to mention the huge laundry list of ingredients that we needed to assemble first, including a chunk of unsliced bacon with which to make the "lardons" that go in this dish. Yes, I now know what "lardons" are. So there. And by the way, you can get a chunk of unsliced bacon at the deli counter. I think ever since this movie came out the deli counter guy is used to doling out unsliced bacon chunks.

Anyway. This is now the time where I have to admit that I did make one major departure from Julia's recipe, because one of the major ingredients in Boeuf Bourguignon is mushrooms. And, for me, mushrooms are the enemy. You may be friends with them, and I wish I could be, but I just...can't. And this recipe calls for a pound of them, and for all I know Boeuf Bourguignon translates into "beef dish that absolutely must be made with mushrooms," but there is only so far I can go, even for Julia, and mushrooms are not one of those places. So I am so sorry, Julia, but I substituted baby peas. Mea culpa, but there you have it.

OK, so I had my chunk of bacon, and my baby peas, and my bottle of Burgundy, and my five hours, and off I went. I even had some more dough from my baguette-making experiment of the day before, so in the midst of the Boeuf Bourguignon I also made another one of these to go with it:

Because that is just the kind of all-around French chef that I am.

So, to make an already too-long story short, after 5 hours of chopping and braising and simmering and baking and straining and stirring, all with my faithful and ever-hopeful dog by my side (she did eventually get the bacon rind, which I think in her doggie mind made the whole 5 hours worth the wait)...I was done! Moment of truth. I ladled it out, surrounded it with a ring of parsleyed rice, poured a glass of what was left of the Burgundy to fortify myself, and we dug in.

Oh my. Oh Julia.

Worth every last second of those 5 hours and more.

Recipe link below. Thank you, and good night.

Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon