Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Cupcakes

By Paul Briand

Meatloaf and bacon: It’s a combination that’s very hard to resist, especially when it’s packaged together in this unique recipe I found on Yummly via the Flipboard app.

Come on, how can you not immediately fall in love with the notion of a bacon wrapped meatloaf disguised to look like a cupcake?

I served it for a big family dinner, (the recipe serves 12) and I substituted the white mashed potatoes with whipped sweet potatoes as the topping. And I didn’t use a piping bag as suggested; I just dolloped the potatoes on with a spoon.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
1 onion, finely diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 (8-ounce) can tomato paste
2 tbs brown sugar
1 1/2 tbs Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
12 slices of bacon
4-6 potatoes
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbs butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees;
2. For the meatloaf: Line your muffin tin with the bacon so that each tin is circled by one strip;
3. Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, salt, pepper, tomato paste, sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce;
4. Form the meat into 12 equally sized balls and place them into the bacon-lined muffin tins. Fold the top of the bacon over, if needed;
5. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the meat is cooked through and the bacon is crisp;
6. For the potatoes: While the meatloaf is cooking, dice he potatoes and boil them in salted water until they’re soft;
7. Drain the potatoes, place into a mixing bowl, and mash them with a fork until they’re completely smooth;
8. Add your butter, cheese, milk, salt, etc and mix until fully combined;
9. Move your mashed potatoes into a piping bag (or a zip-lock with an edge cut off) and save it until the meatloaf is ready;
10. Once the meatloaf is ready, remove from oven and pipe them with the potatoes;
11. Turn the oven up to 400-500 degrees and re-heat until the tops of the potatoes are golden brown.

Click here for recipe card.

Barbecue Meatloaf

By Paul Briand

I’m not sure what the best part of this dish was -- having it hot out of the oven the night it was made, or having the leftovers in sandwiches the next day.

It was a big hit both times, which speaks to how much we liked this take on good, old fashioned, old reliable meatloaf.

This one comes via Food.com, and I liked creating the barbecue sauce essence from scratch.

Note: I didn’t need a two-pound meatloaf, so I used a pound of meat (combination of ground beef and turkey) and used one slice of bread instead of two, but kept everything else in the recipe pretty much the same in terms of quantities.

Ingredients

2 lbs ground beef (or a combination thereof of pork or beef, or maybe veal)

2 tablespoons prepared mustard ( cheap old yellow will do)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 small onion, minced

1 garlic cloves

2 pieces bread, torn into small pieces

bacon fat ( for pan-greasing)

For the sauce:

3 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees;

2. Grease a loaf pan;

3. In a medium-large mixing bowl, put all main ingredients in and mix until it’s sticky and combined;

4. Put into the loaf pan, smooth the top out a bit if you would like. Bake for an hour or until it reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer;

5. While it’s in the oven, mix up the sauce ingredients. Just before meatloaf is done (10 minutes or so), spoon/brush sauce over the top, return to oven and let it go in there for the remaining time/temperature.

Click here for a recipe card.

Meatloaf - the TV "Throwdown"

By Paul Briand

"Hello, my name is Paul, and I'm addicted to the Food Network."

If there isn't a support group -- like Alcoholics Anonymous or Gamblers Anonymous -- for Food Network junkies, there ought to be. We can be a desperate lot, watching the culinary experts like Emeril and Bobby Flay when we ought to be doing something more productive. But I view my Food Network viewing as being very productive. In the same way that a good book can inspire me to write, a good cooking show inspires me to cook.

I have three Food Network favorites: "Emeril Live," "30 Minute Meals" with Rachel Ray, and "Throwdown with Bobby Flay." And the more I watch Guy Fiori, who hosts "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and "Guy's Big Bite," the more he's growing on me.

Each brings something a little different to the table. Emeril Lagasse is a little high end, but I like to watch and learn from his technique. A lot of people dump on Rachel Ray's cooking methods, but I like the 30-minute recipes and the in-the-kitchen shortcuts. I especially like Bobby Flay and his "Throwdown" -- the challenge to go one-on-one against someone else's recipe. He'll choose a popular dish from a local restaurant -- like the meatloaf from the Colucci Bros. Diner in Hyannis, Mass. -- and go to their location in an attempt to one-up them with a better recipe of the same dish.

Since I'm not taking copious notes during a cooking show, I'm often left wondering whether I might be able to find the recipe for a dish that I found intriguing and might want to try in my own kitchen for my own eats at home.

I did some rooting around in the Food Network web site to determine just how easy it is to find a specific recipe. Trust me, they have lots and lots of recipes that are accessible right from the home page. But I wanted to know how easy or difficult it might be to find a recipe for the meatloafs I saw on "Throwdown" this week

There are two ways to do it. If you know the name of the show, you can sort through by name ("Throwdown") and either the episode topic ("meatloaf") or the week that the show aired. You can also click on "TV Schedule" and sort through the information until you find the episode and the recipe you were seeking.

Here are the two recipes from the meatloaf throwdown, with due credit to the postings on the Food Network:

Colucci Bros. Meatloaf
Ingredients
Salad oil
1 carrot, small to medium dice
2 stalks celery, small to medium dice
1 medium onion, small to medium dice
2 pounds ground beef
2 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
Dash Worcestershire sauce
3 slices bread
1/2 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs
Ketchup

Directions
1) Preheat oven at 375 degrees F.
2) In a medium-sized saute pan, put 2 dribbles of salad oil and heat over medium-high heat.
3) Add the carrots, celery, and onions and saute, about 5 minutes. Put aside and let cool.
4) In large bowl put the carrot mixture, ground beef and remaining ingredients, except for the bread, the bread crumbs and ketchup.
5) Soak the bread in cold water, then squeeze water out (like a sponge) and drain it. Add to the ground beef and mix. (A stand mixer is may help make it easier).
6) Add the bread crumbs and mix.
7) Roll into firm loaf, spread ketchup over the top, and place into preheated oven for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, or until cooked through.
Take out and serve hot.

Bobby Flay's Meatloaf
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large zucchini, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 yellow pepper, finely diced
1 yellow onion, finely diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground veal
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 cup panko (Japanese) bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Romano
1 1/2 cups ketchup, divided
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions
1) Pre-eat oven to 425 degrees F.
2) Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat.
3) Add the zucchini, peppers, onion and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook until almost soft, 5 minutes.
4) Stir in the garlic and 1/4 teaspoon the red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds. Set aside to cool.
5) Whisk together the eggs and herbs in a large bowl. Add the meat, bread crumbs, cheese, 1/2 cup of the ketchup and 2 tablespoons of the balsamic vinegar and the vegetables and mix until just combined.
6) Mold the meatloaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
7) Whisk together the remaining ketchup and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl then brush the mixture over the entire loaf.
8) Bake the meatloaf for approximately 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
9) Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing.

By the way, each "Throwdown" episode has two local judges to determine whose recipe is better. In the battle of the meatloafs, the Colucci brothers beat Flay.