TONYS ITALIAN MEATLOAF

Good morning all! This is actually my Grandma Meatball's* recipe. What was remarkable about the old timers, was they never measured anything. It was always a little of this, a little of that, and it always came out tasting fantastic. So in this recipe, ingredients are listed but exact measurements are not given, except for in a few instances.

TONY'S ITALIAN MEATLOAF

2 LBS GROUND CHUCK
1 cup ITALIAN SEASONED BREAD CRUMBS (Progresso or any other brand. Must be seasoned b.c. not plain)
RED WINE
ROMANO CHEESE
FRESH CHOPPED PARSLEY
GARLIC
SALT
PEPPER
1 EGG
OLIVE OIL


start out with 2lbs ground chuck (NOT ground round, not ground sirloin, use ground chuck). Some of you might like to use 1lb ground chuck and 1 lb ground pork. Its up to you. Personally I like an all beef meatloaf.

wet the 1 cup of bread crumbs with the red wine until bread crumbs are moist. Make sure the entire cup of bread crumbs is wet and no dry areas are left. you might want to dilute the wine with equal measures of water. if your mixture comes out to watery add in a little more bread crumbs until the right consistency is achieved. Mix the bread crumbs in to the meat.

add cheese (I usually use 1/2 cup), 3 TBSP fresh chopped parseley (use fresh not bottled, you'll thank me later) garlic , salt, pepper. Mix all ingredients into meat.  Beat one egg add to meat. Work all ingredients evenly into the meat. Place meat mixture in refrigerator for 3 hours so all flavors are nicely released.

preheat oven to 350.

Remove meat from fridge. Make one tiny size meatball from the mixture and place in small frying pan with a little bit of olive oil. When meatball is fully cooked, cool, and taste. If your mouth explodes with flavor you're good to go! If not, whatever you feel is missing ingredient wise, add more of till meat taste is to your liking.

Lightly oil bottom of casserole dish. Shape meat mixture into loaf, place in casserole dish, rub a little olive oil on top of meatloaf,  cover meatloaf loosely with tin foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove tinfoil during last 15 minutes, so the top of meatloaf browns.

Remember cooking should not be an exact science all the time. Sometimes a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, really works! Trust your instincts. ENJOY!


* When I was a child (we're talking from 3 yrs old on) whenever I went to Grandma's house, there was always a pot of meatballs on the stove and she would always call me to the stove for a tasty meatball. So to every one else she was Grandma Mary but to me she was always Grandma Meatballs.