Greg Atkinson’s Meat Loaf

A few years ago when I worked at Ye Olde Chaine Bookstore, Sasquatch Books pimped out Greg Atkinson’s West Coast Cooking to us. Or had us pimp it out. The deal was, whichever store sold the most copies would get a prize. Or something. That’s how the book came to my attention. I did buy a copy using my employee discount at some point. I haven’t been inspired to use it all that much, though I’m not sure why. I don’t recall getting any bad results from using it, other than his version of rice pilaf which I thought was pretty bland.

One recipe I did like was his meat loaf recipe, and I got a hankering for meat loaf this week. So I made it last night.

This is my adapted version. For the real version, you’ll need to find your own copy.

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound mild Italian style bulk pork sausage
• 1 onion
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• ¼ cup mushroom broth
• ¼ cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• bacon

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Grease a 2 quart casserole pan
3. Chop the onion in a food processor
4. Add eggs, bread crumbs, broth, ketchup, salt, pepper, thyme, and nutmeg.
5. Pulse food processor until everything is mixed well
6. Combine beef, sausage, and onion mixture in a mixing bowl
7. Mix meat and onion by hand (spoon sucks for this)
8. Press into an (artisan bread) shape in the casserole pan
9. Lay bacon slices over the top
10. Bake for approximately 1 hour

What really makes this is the addition of sausage as well as the abundance of onion. Also, it’s very easy, though that’s not unusual for a meat loaf.