We recently polled readers on our Facebook page about what comfort food recipes they’d love to see made “naked”. One of the requests was meatloaf. A classic.
Here’s a veggie-packed version made with wild or grass-fed ground meat, without any grains or other gnarly fillers. We like to enjoy this with a hearty green side salad, a roasted root or squash mash of some sort (we’ve recently been making Kabocha squash mash, which is delicious), and a heaping spoonful of cultured veggies.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons ghee (buy here)
1 medium sized onion, diced (approx 1 cup)
2 sticks celery, diced
8-10 mushrooms, diced (approx 1 cup)
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, grated
2 tsp paprika (buy here)
2 tsp dried oregano (buy here)
2 tsp granulated garlic (buy here)
1 tsp ground cumin (buy here)
2 tsp dried thyme (buy here)
2 lbs grass-fed bison, beef, venison, or boar – or a combination of any of these (use FarmMatch to connect with a grass-fed meat farmer close to you)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup pecans, preferably presoaked and dehydrated or slow-roasted
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
Equipment you’ll need:
1 large skillet (like this)
good cutting board (like this)
good chef’s knife (like this)
large mixing bowl (like this)
glass loaf pan (like this)
Preheat oven to 395 degrees F.
Heat ghee in the large skillet over medium heat. Add onions to pan and sauté lightly for 2 to 3 minutes to soften. Add celery, and sauté another 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, zucchini and carrot and continue to sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add paprika, oregano, granulated garlic, cumin and thyme. Stir to mix well and remove from heat.
In a large bowl, mix the ground meat with the vegetable and spice mixture and sea salt. Stir to mix well. Put the pecans in a plastic bag, and either use a wooden spoon or rolling pin to crush them. Add to meat and vegetable mixture, and stir in.
Grease your loaf pan with the butter, and spoon the meat and vegetable mixture into the pan, pressing down to remove any air pockets. Cover loosely with some aluminum foil.
Bake at 395, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil. Continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until cooked the whole way through. Make sure to check every 10 minutes or so to avoid overcooking. Note: the center will be the last to finish cooking, so make sure to check there.
Remove from oven and let cool, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Turn loaf onto a cutting board, and serve with a big green side salad and roasted root mash.
Enjoy!
More meatloaf recipes you may like:
Slow-cooker Breakfast Meatloaf
Sally Fallon’s Meatloaf Recipe
I always add an egg or two to meatloaf – I assume it’s needed as a binder but I admit I never tried it without eggs – yours holds together ok without any egg? I’ll have to give this a try – your recipe looks great!
@Joe – it held together fine without egg. Egg probably would have made it sturdier, but it was fine like this. let me know what you think!
I always use lettuce to line the pan when I make meat loaf. It makes it a little more moist and also gives it a great taste without the butter. Try it next time. I think you might like it. I thought everyone made meat loaf this way since I grew up learning from my nonna to do it like that.
@Lia – what a great trick!! Will certainly try this.
How about a little liver grated in …I’ve found for my lamburgers and taco meat recipes…which I typically make in 2 pound batches…that I can get away with about 1/4 pound of grated liver and no one has ever noticed 😉
@Karen – LOVE this suggestion 🙂 Will do that next time.
Just an FYI: After calling the spice company Simply Organic, they say they cannot guaranteed their spices to be gluten free, Celiac safe, because of cross contamination. For people who have Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, I have been using Market Spice spices in Seattle without trouble, their spices are gluten free.
This was SOOOOO good! Thanks for the great recipe!
So glad you liked it Erin!!