Ina’s Meatloaf with a Toasted Garlic Sauce

Meatloaf is a dish Ina Garten and I agree on - a basic comfort food all cooks should and can gain easy mastery of, and will engender great appreciation for.  No time to make the sauce?  No problem, just rub on a mix of ketchup and sriracha onto the surface of the loaf (with your clean hands) before baking and go do what you have to do as the loaf bakes away.  This is an easy mix-bake-walk away opportunity.  But if you can, do take the time, because this toasted garlic sauce really elevates this dish to a whole new level.
1 onion, finely diced
4 small celery stalks, finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb ground beef - I used 85%
1 lb ground pork
2 eggs
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
large palmful fresh parsley, minced, divided in half
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, minced
1 tsp coarse kosher salt
1`/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup milk

Sauce:
2 cups chicken (or beef) stock
1 rounded Tbsp corn starch plus 2 Tbsp water
1/3 stick butter at room temperature
10 cloves garlic, peeled

Preheat oven to 375F. Heat a dash of olive oil in a skillet and sauté the onions, celery and carrots for about 10-12 minutes, until beginning to brown, and well softened. Add the garlic and cook another 2-3 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the onion mixture with the remaining ingredients (only half the parsley) with your hands.

Mix very, very gently, being careful NOT to squeeze the meat together, but rather just to fold the mixture together. This ensures a light, flakey meatloaf, rather than a dense, tough meatloaf.

Form meatloaf into a uniform rectangle wither in a casserole or a greased rimmed baking sheet.

Bake about an hour, until the beef is cooked through to at least 160F in the center as read by an intent read thermometer.

While the meatloaf bakes, make the sauce. Toss the garlic in a small sauté pan with a dash of olive oil. Slowly cook the garlic over low heat, watching them and turning them often as they turn gold - but not browned. See Cook's Note.

Be careful not to burn the garlic - this is a slow patient process of about 15-20 minutes.

As the garlic cooks, bring the stock to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan. Reduce by about half - this also will take a good 15-20 minutes. Whisk in the butter. Now whisk together the cornstarch and water and then whisk into the stock oven a gentle boil. Whisk as the stock tickets. Add the garlic and the flavored oil to the stock, along with the other half of the parsley.

Set sauce aside over very low heat until the meatloaf is done.

When meatloaf is cooked, remove from the oven and cover with foil. 

Allow to stand for at least 10-15 minutes to allow the loaf to re-absorb its juices before you attempt to slice it.

Slice into 1-inch thick slices. Serve with sauce. Serves 4-6.

Cook’s Notes: Pan toasting garlic cloves is a test of patience, an attribute I am told I might not be rich in :-)) Here I think I browned the cloves just a bit too much, but they were still delicious and aromatic. Too much browning can make them bitter, so beware.

I think a rimmed baking sheet is the container of choice as it allows all surfaces of the loaf to bake evenly. I think a casserole focusses heat too much only on the top - I’d go with the rimmed sheet pan rather than the casserole.

The classic meatloaf meat mix is 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground pork and 1/3 ground veal. I rarely see ground veal, and am uncomfortable with how veal are raised, and don’t really believe it adds so much to this dish. So I go with 50:50 mix of pork and beef - and wow is all I can say. Your choice.