Day 186: Macloaf

Yield: 16 cupcakes
Time (Start to Finish): 1.5 hours

Ingredients:
1 cup tomato sauce
1 egg
1 small yellow onion
1 Tbsp butter
2 pounds 90% ground beef
¾ cup quick oats
salt and pepper

ketchup

5 cloves garlic
4 Tbsp butter
¼ cup heavy cream (may need more)
5 med creamy yellow potatoes
salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Chop the onion and cook on a skillet with the Tbsp of butter until it is caramelized or until it is browning. The longer the better, but I just let it brown
3. In a blender, blend the tomato juice and the onion until it is smooth
4. In a bowl, mix the meat with the egg, the onion tomato mix, oats, and liberal salt and pepper with your hands until it is combined
5. Line a cupcake tin with papers. I had to line a 12 one and a 6 one
6. Fill each tin with the mixture so it rounds over the top. They won’t overflow.
7. With a brush, brush each cupcake with ketchup and bake for about 30 min or until they begin to brown
8. While they are baking, boil the peeled cut potatoes in salted water.
9. I recommend ricing the potatoes when they come out or using a potato masher, but ricing makes them the most smooth.
10. In a skillet, chop the garlic super fine and add to the pan with the 4 Tbsp of butter and heat, letting the butter cook the garlic, and before the butter turns brown, pour into the potatoes. Add the cream and salt to taste. You can add more butter or cream to make it creamy, but you want a thick, creamy pipe-able texture.
11. Get a piping bag and with a star tip, fill and pipe the mashed potatoes onto each cupcake
12. Serve with ketchup and corn and end with home made chocolate pudding…a perfect meal!

Rating: 5 strawberries
Notes: This meal is a touchdown! The papers peel off the cupcakes, but that is ok. It was a brisk February day, and the cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom which is my favorite time of year. Mac told me about this meatloaf idea months ago, and I finally had the time to pull it off. I did a variation of my grandfathers meatloaf recipe, an Annie original mashed potato recipe, and it just worked out perfect. Everything fell into place. I heated up a can of corn with some cayenne pepper, and made some chocolate pudding from my smore’s pudding recipe with whipped cream for dessert. It felt like I was right out of Stranger than Fiction. I love meatloaf, and this left a lot for tomorrow. Also, when my roomie Alley came home and asked what kind of cupcakes I made and I said meatloaf, it was a pretty funny situation. Enjoy these and thanks for the idea Mac!