Family Style: Eden’s Pink Palace Meatloaf

After I graduated from Santa Clara, I came to share a house in Cupertino with 6 others. We dubbed our place “The Pink Palace” as it was shockingly pink. It had a very small kitchen and with 4 of us who liked to cook a system had to be devised to avoid chaos. The system basically came down to once a week a member of the house would cook or grill dinner for all the residents. My night was Wednesday so I tried to keep my meals easy to prepare and typically made Spaghetti. The house rapidly tired of spaghetti and revolted, leaving me one night with ground sirloin and hungry mouths to feed. This tangy moist meatloaf was the result.

Ingredients (makes 2-4 x 8 loaves)

• 2 lbs Ground Sirloin
• 4 Celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 large Onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups fresh Italian Batard or Sourdough Breadcrumbs
• 3 Eggs
• 1 cup Stubb’s Smokey Mesquite Bar-B-Q Sauce (original recipe used Whole Foods Tangy Barbeque Sauce)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.
3. Divide into 2 balls.
4. Place in 9x13 baker and shape into 2 loaves.
5. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
6. Rotate loaves and bake another 15 minutes.
7. Cover loaves and bake for another 15 to 30 minutes or until done. Test with meat thermometer to ensure meat has reached an internal temperature of at least 140 degrees.