Second Helpings

A Simple Recipe

Paul and family came over today and after a debate about what everyone wanted to eat, it was a unanimous decision that I should make a meatloaf. Oh Joy. So off I went to the kitchen to check out ingredients and off hubby went to the shops to acquire the missing ones. Actually, I don't mind making meatloaf; there's something very satisfying about manhandling a great lump of goo, which relieves inhibitions.

I know meatloaf is a popular dish on the other side of the pond, but as far as I know it's still not common here. Sis and I are the only people I know of who actually make them. This is a result of having an American father who cooked many unusual and exotic dishes for us when we were children, while the rest of our mates were being brought up on stew and dumplings.

My Dad is as tight with his recipes as he is with his money. He'll give us a rough guide to his menus but I suspect there's always some secret ingredient he refrains from sharing. Our meatloaves are good, but never quite match the ones we remember him making.

Over the years of making friends via the internet and having access to recipe sites, I have gathered together many different recipes for a meatloaf and tried them all. None have been failures, but none quite match my Dad's either. Damn him.

Recipes vary a great deal as do the ingredients which can include mincemeat, garlic, mushrooms, dried soup, onions, eggs, mustard, sausagemeat, horseradish, tomato sauce, cheese, mixed herbs, orange juice, steak sauce, parsley, tabasco and Uncle Tom Cobbly and all.

So, I'm after your meatloaf recipes and hope you'll not exclude your secret ingredient like my father does. I promise to try them all and award a meatloaf merit circle to the one I like the most.

It's sad when all you have to blog about is your dinner. Having already exhausted the price of carrots, it's difficult to come up with something equally as riveting, but I promise to try harder next week. I've already made a note on my shopping list to spend a little quality time with the exotic vegetables in the supermarket. Watch this space.