Meat Loaf Revisited

This author was conceived, generated, born and raised by meat-eating parents and ancestors, and gets sick on those diets that feature too much argenine and too little lysine among the proteins. Vegan and vegetarian diets have a noble kind-to-animals aspect, but alas, one diet does not fit everybody. We’re with them philosophically, but to survive we must supply the nutrients our own bodies need.
 
Even the much recommended Mediterranean diet allows red meat one day a week. At Chez Watkins, where gourmet cooking rules, we also like varying the flavors in our meat dishes. We eat fish and chicken a couple of times a week each, lean red meat about once a week, and beans, peas, and lentils the rest of the time. We balance the proteins with brown rice. There’s the thrift factor, too: beans and rice yield more servings per buck than any meat.
 
The best, leanest meats and the costliest are tenderloin steak and bison. The least expensive is ground pork. But pork is also the fattest, and it’s not good fat like you get in Omega 3-rich salmon. The cheapest of lean--well sort of lean--red meats is ground, grass-finished beef. It fleshes out a spaghetti sauce, and a little goes a long way. For economy you can substitute ground pork for one-third of the beef. As meat loaf, the meat can be extended and fat per serving reduced by adding cooked rice, herbs, spices and an egg. Flavor can be varied in the choice of herbs and seasonings.
 
Standard meat loaf recipes extend meat with diced bread, a no--no to people who are sensitive to gluten. Here’s a meat loaf carnivore can eat, and feel good.
 
Gluten Free
MEAT LOAF
6 Servings
Preheat oven to 375 degrees,
Bake at 350 degrees
Mix well:
1 pound leanest ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon dried crushed marjoram
1 teaspoon kelp granules
1/4 cup Madeira or other red wine, or water
 
In a shallow baking dish, form a flattish loaf, or divide the mixture among three 10-ounce Pyrex or ceramic custard cups. Bake 40 minutes, or until no pink shows when the meat loaf is cracked open with a fork.
 
Variations: add your choice of one or two of these: 1/3 cup minced onion; 1 cup grated carrot, 1 teaspoon scrubbed, grated peel of a lemon; 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley or 1 Tablespoon dried, crumbled parsley; 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves instead of the marjoram in the recipe above.