Monday, August 4, 2014

Retro Dinner

Last week we had a retro-style family dinner, reminiscent of something my parents would have made on a weekday when I was a kid.  We had meatloaf with mashed potatoes and creamed corn.

To cater it more to our grownup tastes, the meatloaf was loaded with toasted coriander seeds and cilantro, and we topped it with a homemade cilantro pesto.


Cilantro Pesto

1-2 bunches of cilantro (stems and all, washed, trimmed a bit)
1/2-1 bunch green onions
white wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper

Toss the cilantro and green onions into a good blender or food processor.  Add salt and pepper.  Drizzle in some white wine vinegar and olive oil.  Blend.  Add more vinegar and oil as needed to reach desired consistency.


We made the meatloaf with a pork and beef mixture, a couple of eggs, a squirt of mustard, some toasted and then ground coriander seeds, sauteed garlic and red onion, a whole lot of cilantro, a bit of paprika, and a splash or two of cream. 

90 minutes later we had this beauty ...


We absolutely love meatloaf.  It was so good topped with the cilantro pesto, but it's also pretty darn amazing just topped with ketchup.  I think we'll be making meatloaf a lot this fall.  It's the perfect meal for a crisp autumn evening (or a hot summer day if you live in our house).


The best side for meatloaf is mashed potatoes with creamed corn.


When you mix all three, you get a bite of perfection.



What are your thoughts on meatloaf?  
Do you think it's weird because of the word "loaf"?  
Did you have meatloaf growing up?  Have you ever made it?

1 comment:

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Um, yum. It looks amazing. And I love mashed potatoes so combining that with the meat loaf and the pesto sounds amazing. I don't like the name meat loaf as loaf sounds weird when talking about meat, but I like eating it. It's not something I've made in a long time, though, but I should this fall!