Recipe: Spicy Italian Sausage Meatloaf with Ketchup Glaze

SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE MEATLOAF

"Man, I love meatloaf. And not just for the nostalgia of it. Truth is, we didn't make it a ton growing up. But I DID love it in those frozen TV dinners. I even loved it covered in that horrific-looking gel they called sauce. Now, of course, I prefer my meatloaf made of actual, you know, meat. And not just any meat the gift that is spicy Italian sausage. If your fingers aren't, at some point, slopping up the saucy sides of the pan, you have some serious restraint."



Makes 6 servings
PREP TIME: 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes

3 slices white sandwich bread, fresh or left out for a day
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup roughly chopped mushrooms
1 pound hot Italian sausage (bulk, or casings removed)
1 pound ground beef
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely grated carrots
1 large egg
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE GLAZE:
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or grease it with butter.

In a food processor, process the bread to fine crumbs (1 cup). Transfer the bread crumbs to a large bowl, cover them with the milk, and let soak for 5 minutes.

In the processor, mince the mushrooms until fine.

Add the minced mushrooms to the bread crumbs along with the sausage, beef, onions, carrots, egg, Worcestershire sauce, salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Gently mix with your hands, until just combined. (If you mash it up too much, the meatloaf gets tough. A tough meatloaf gets no love.)

Place the meatloaf mixture in the prepared pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the ketchup and brown sugar and coat the top of the meatloaf with it.

Bake until the meatloaf is cooked through and the glaze is slightly dried, about 1 hour. Let cool slightly before slicing. Some liquid will pool in the bottom of the pan. Some will be absorbed back into the meatloaf as it cools; sop up the rest with bread!

Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Clarkson Potter
Source: Cravings by Chrissy Teigen with Adeena Sussman. Photographs by Aubrie Pick.