Great new cookbook find

Sometimes at lunch or on the weekends I love to go up to Barnes and Noble and just browse through the cookbooks and magazines. I can sit and read a cookbook like a book. It's strange, I know, but I find it somewhat soothing, and I love to find new recipes to make. This week I stumbled upon a great new cookbook called The Comfort Table by Katie Lee Joel (wife of Billy Joel).



Katie was raised in the South with very humble beginnings and very early on developed a love of food and cooking. Since some of her nearby family lived on farms much of what she learned to cook with was fresh grown, organic ingredients, which she emphasizes in the book (and which I try to do in my own cooking). I realized while reading the book that her meatloaf recipe is almost exactly like mine, and it's delicious so I thought I'd share. The only difference is that I use lean ground turkey as opposed to ground beef, and I exclude the red pepper.

Katie Joel's Meat Loaf
Serves 6

INGREDIENTS
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced (about 3/4 cup)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium red pepper, finely diced (about 1 cup)
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray lightly with oil.

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onions, garlic and bay leaf until the onions are tender, about 3 minutes. Add the red pepper and cook until the red pepper is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and thyme and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and let the onion mixture cool. Discard the bay leaf.

In a large bowl, combine the beef, eggs, bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of ketchup, the Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and the cooled vegetables. Use your hands to mix everything together.

Transfer the mixture to the center of the baking sheet and form into a loaf. Coat the meat loaf with the remaining 1/2 cup ketchup.

Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (depending on the shape of your loaf), until the meat loaf is firm. Let set for about 5 minutes before slicing.