Meatloaf Cupcakes are a Handheld Dinner

February 28, 2013

Meatloaf cupcakes are a handheld meal. A variety of ground meats are combined with a vegetable puree, breadcrumbs, and parmesan. The mixture is then formed into balls and placed in a cupcake pan to bake. You can glaze these individual meat loaves with teriyaki sauce or ketchup. After baking, the meat cakes are "frosted" with mashed potatoes and topped with thinly sliced green onion.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the meatloaf:
1/2 pound ground veal

1 pound ground chuck

1/2 pound ground pork

1 small carrot, roughly chopped

1 small onion, roughly diced

2 stalks celery, roughly diced

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

cup milk

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

For the potato frosting:

7 1/5 ounces box instant mashed potatoes

Milk, per instructions

Butter, per instructions

Beet juice from canned beets

To garnish:

Green pepper, very finely diced
6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk and set aside.

Sweat the vegetables in olive oil until softened. Transfer to a deep bowl and use an immersion blender to puree; alternatively, puree in food processor.

Mix the three meats, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley and vegetable puree in a large bowl until an even consistency is reached.

Place meat mixture in greased muffin tins and bake until brown and shrunken away from the sides, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from tin and cool on rack.

For the “frosting”:

Prepare one sachet of instant mashed potatoes according to package instructions. To prepare the other, substitute beet juice from canned beets for the water called for in the instructions. Allow to cool.

Transfer each batch of mashed potato into a separate pastry bag (or Ziploc bag with a snipped-off corner) with your favourite pastry tip. Pipe onto cupcakes and decorate with diced green pepper and bacon sprinkles.

Reheat in oven or microwave before serving.