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Here are 2 my friend e-mailed me...

Spicy Sausage Meatloaf Patties with Italian Barbecue Sauce

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray


I was making my annual Christmas Pasta for the holiday and my mom and I bought duplicate meats so we had lots of leftover hot and sweet sausage and ground beef. Well, the next day, this recipe was born.


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped and divided
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
Salt and pepper, for seasoning, plus coarse black pepper for finishing sauce
1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 pound bulk hot sausage
3/4 pound ground sweet sausage
1 egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs, 3 generous handfuls, Italian or plain
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano, a couple of handfuls
1/8 pound pancetta, 4 slices, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Splash red wine
1/2 cup beef stock
1 can petite diced tomatoes or stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot sauce
Serving suggestion: green salad


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Heat a small skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot, saute the red pepper, half the onions, celery and carrots together, 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper then remove to a plate to cool.

Mix ground beef and sausages with egg, bread crumbs, cheese, and cooled vegetables. Form 4 large oval shaped patties no more than 1 1/4 inches thick then drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Place in the oven on a cookie sheet and bake 17 to 18 minutes, until cooked through.

Heat a medium sauce pot over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of EVOO to the pan and the pancetta. Let the pancetta crisp up a bit and render fat, then add onions and garlic and cook until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add a splash of red wine to deglaze the pan. Stir in the beef stock and tomatoes and season sauce heavily with coarse black pepper. Add Worcestershire and hot sauce and reduce heat to warm.

Serve meatloaves with Italian barbecue sauce on top and green salad alongside.




Dad's Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

Tomato Relish:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Meatloaf:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks by hand
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 bacon slices


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes to create a base flavor. Throw in the red peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften. Now add the tomatoes; adding them at this point lets them hold their shape and prevents them from disintegrating. Stir in the parsley, ketchup, and Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes to pull all the flavors together. Remove it from the heat; you should have about 4 cups of relish.

Place the torn white bread in a bowl and add the milk to just barely cover, swish the bread around in the milk and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients for the meat loaf together.

This is where you get your hands dirty! In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork with 1 1/2 cups of the tomato relish, the eggs, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the soaked bread to the meat mixture. To test, fry a small "hamburger" patty of the meatloaf until cooked; the patty should hold together but still have a soft consistency. Taste the patty for seasoning.

Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Transfer the meat mixture to the center of the cookie sheet and form into a log about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Coat the top of the meatloaf with another 1/2 cup of the tomato relish. Lay the bacon across the top lengthwise.

Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the bacon is crisp and the meatloaf is firm. Rotate the meat loaf while it's baking every now and then to insure that the bacon browns evenly. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool a bit before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side. Unbelievably moist!