Meat Loaf With Tomato Relish

Meat Loaf is one of those recipes that everyone makes differently. My kids were always asking me to write down my meat loaf recipe but I found it was hard to put down on paper exact measurements because I don't know that I ever made it exactly the same way twice. Just like Spaghetti Sauce or a good stew, you just throw in a little of this and add a bit of that. Oh I had the basic ingredients that I would add each time but I also experimented a lot over the years too.

This is a meat loaf recipe that I don't make as often as my personal one because it takes a lot of prep work but every now and then when I feel like changing things up a bit I will make this version. It comes from Tyler Florence of The Food Network and I saw him make it a couple of years ago. He said this was his dad's recipe for Meat Loaf. The only thing I changed in this is Tyler's recipe calls for putting a few strips of bacon on top of the meat loaf and baking it until it is crispy. I don't add bacon to mine but everything else is the same.

MEAT LOAF WITH TOMATO RELISH
==== Tomato Relish ====
extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 clove garlic
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, & diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
3 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
salt & freshly ground black pepper

==== Meatloaf ====
3 slices white bread
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 eggs or 1/2 Cup egg substitute
leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut crusts off of the bread and tear into chunks.

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.

Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the meatloaf is firm. Rotate the meat loaf while it's baking every now and then to insure that it cooks 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!