Sunday Night Dinner: Sun-dried Tomatoes

This week I decided to move away from the fresh produce I’ve been buying at the market to try one of the numerous other products sold there: sun-dried tomatoes.  Sun-dried tomatoes are actually pretty easy to make at home—just cut up a few tomatoes, remove the seeds, toss with salt, and bake the heck out of them!  If you prefer to dry them in the sun, though, it could take 4-10 days…

I love sun-dried tomatoes, but I wanted to do something different than the typical pasta dish, so I found this delicious meatloaf recipe here—VERY flavorful and definitely a new favorite 🙂  The original recipe makes 2 loaf pans that each serve 6, but that’s way too much for me.  Instead, I halved the recipe and formed the meat into 6 mini-loaves.  I baked 2 and froze 4 to take out for dinner another time, so not only is the recipe tasty, it’s also convenient for me!  I also found the ketchup in France to be surprisingly good…

 Ingredients:
1 egg (lightly beaten)
½ medium onion, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh basil leaves)
¼ cup sundried tomatoes, diced
½ cup ketchup plus extra for top
½ cup oatmeal (or seasoned breadcrumbs)
1 pound ground beef

Instructions:

1. Add all of the ingredients except the meat to a large bowl and thoroughly combine with a spoon.

2. Combine ground beef with the mixture—I used my hands!

3. Divide the mixture in whichever fashion you prefer—6 mini-loaves, 1 large loaf pan (sprayed lightly with cooking spray), or even meatballs.

Two to bake and four to freeze

4. Spread additional ketchup on top, if desired.

5. Bake in a 350F (180C) oven—40 minutes for mini-loaves, 1 hour for a large loaf, less for meatballs.

To accompany my mini meatloaf, I made baked fries seasoned with oil, salt, pepper, and paprika (baked in a single layer on a cookie sheet in a 425F oven for about 20-25 minutes) and simple steamed green beans (also from the market) with butter.

DELICIOUS

I froze my 4 remaining loaves by leaving them on a baking tray in the freezer overnight and then wrapping them in saran wrap and placing them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.

 

French word for today:
tomber en panne (tom-BAY en PAHN)- to crash (in a computer sense)
Le système est encore tombé en panne. Il faut que je redémarre l’ordinateur.
Windows crashed again.  I have to reboot my computer.