Meatloaf With an Italian Inspiration

Usually I go to the market or grocery store for inspiration, buy whatever looks most tantalizing and head home to make dinner. Other times, I have a more-or-less fixed idea of what I want, but haven’t fine-tuned it.

The other day, I wanted meatloaf, but not any old meatloaf. I didn’t want an American-style version, bland yet comforting. I grew up on that: It was fine, cooked not in the oven, but on a rack in our trusty electric skillet, set on low and covered for an hour and a half. That meatloaf emerged moist, with its signature stripe of bottled chile sauce running end to end down the center. We ate it warm for dinner, or had it cold for lunch on white bread slathered with Miracle Whip.

What I longed for was an Italian-influenced meatloaf (I had just been to Italy for a week’s holiday) but not necessarily an authentic one. I considered making classic polpettone, but that seemed like too much of a project.

I had in a mind a meatloaf that conjured the feeling of an Italian-American red sauce restaurant. My fantasy was big, flavorful and not at all subtle: a kind of tasty meatball, but bigger, cheesy, drowned in sauce and baked.

Certainly a recipe exists for such a meatloaf, but I devised my own. The ingredient list began with a pound of ground veal (or beef or turkey), a pound of ground pork, some dried bread cubes soaked in milk and a couple of eggs — so far, so normal.

To this mixture, I added salt and pepper, red-pepper flakes, crushed fennel seed, grated Parmesan, chopped parsley, oregano and cubes of provolone. I also blanched and finely chopped some broccoli raab — a little voice told me to. The mixture was highly seasoned and delicious (I cooked a small patty to check) and rather wet, which is what you want for a moist meatloaf. I molded it into an oval and placed it in a baking dish.

Now it needed a bold red sauce, which I made quickly with canned tomato purée and canned crushed tomatoes, to be poured generously over the loaf. Not stopping there, I topped the whole affair with grated pecorino and provolone and a fistful of dried breadcrumbs.

I can report success. This meatloaf is loaded with flavor and has a retro red-sauce essence — so much so, I nearly considered serving it with a side of spaghetti.

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Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Total time: 2 1/2 hours

1 pound ground veal, or substitute ground beef or turkey

1 pound ground pork

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Healthy pinch of red-pepper flakes

1 teaspoon crushed fennel seed

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup dry bread, cut in 1/2-inch cubes, soaked in 1 cup milk until softened

2 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

5 ounces cooked broccoli raab or spinach, blanched, squeezed dry and chopped (about 3/4 cup)

1 cup pitted green olives, roughly chopped

1 ounce grated Parmesan (about 1 cup)

5 ounces provolone, cut in 1/4-inch dice (about 1 cup)

5 bay leaves

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup diced onion

1 whole garlic clove

Salt, to taste

2 1/2 cups tomato purée

1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes

Pinch of red-pepper flakes

1 basil sprig

1 ounce grated pecorino (about 1 cup)

4 ounces grated provolone (about 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs

Basil leaves, for garnish (optional)

1. Put veal and pork in a large mixing bowl. Add salt, black pepper, red pepper, fennel seed and nutmeg. Knead mixture with hands to incorporate.

2. Add soaked bread with milk, eggs, parsley, oregano, broccoli raab, olives, Parmesan and provolone. Mix again with hands and knead to make sure all ingredients are distributed evenly. Pat mixture into a free-form loaf and place in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Press bay leaves on top. You may complete this step several hours, or a day in advance, of baking.

3. Make tomato sauce: Put olive oil in a nonreactive pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic clove and a little salt, then cook, stirring, until translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato purée, crushed tomatoes, red-pepper flakes and basil sprig. Simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Sauce may be made in advance, if desired.

4. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spoon sauce over meatloaf, letting it spill over into the baking dish to surround loaf. Sprinkle top of loaf with grated pecorino and provolone, then sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then cover, reduce heat to 350 and cook for 30 to 45 minutes more, until internal temperature is 150 degrees. Let rest at least 10 minutes before slicing. Top each serving with a good spoonful of sauce and garnish with basil leaves, if using.