Magnificent Meatloaf Sandwich

I have a history with meatloaf. When I was in elementary school I wrote a short literare work called The Gunk on My Plate. The gunk in that story was my mother's meatloaf. It goes without saying that my mother wasn't thrilled. Fortunately for me, meatloaf was never served again. I remember hating that meat concoction so much, it was so dry and boring. The only thing offered to lubricate the bites of ground beef and bead crumbs was a slathering of catsup. I addtional despise catsup! It was just a no win situation.

Still having memories of the torturous meatloaf dinners of the past, I've never tasted the stuff again. That is until a recent dinner at Williamsburg's Rye. On the menu there was a meatloaf sandwich made of beef, veal, pork, duck, mushrooms, with crispy buttermilk onions. This slice of meatloaf was nothing like the meatloaf of my childhood. This meatloaf sounded awesome, and it was! That sandwich converted me! For goodness' sake, I'm now choosing to cook meatloaf!

I found my inspiration recipe, which I ended up pretty much following word for word, via Epicurious. This recipe features some unusual ingredients such as prunes, celery, and carrots. These veggies and fruits offer that desired sweetness obtained by using a more conventional sugary catsup. I highly recommend the recipe below, it's great on its' own and excellent as a sandwich with a little bit of horseradish, fresh ripe tomato slices, and some greens! Enjoy the recipe after the jump.

Magnificent Meatloaf
Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs 
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1  finely chopped medium onion
• 4 minced cloves of garlic 
• 1 finely chopped celery rib 
• 1 finely chopped medium carrot
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 5 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
• 1 pounds ground beef chuck
• 1 pound pork sausage
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 hand full chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in the middle of the oven.

Soak bread crumbs in milk in a large bowl.

Cook onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low, cook until carrot become tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, allspice, salt, and pepper. Add to bread crumb mixture.

Finely chop bacon and prunes in a food processor until they from a paste. Add to onion mixture. 

Remove meat from pork sausage casiings and add to onion mixture as well as the beef, eggs, and parsley. Mix together with your hands.

Pack mixture into a 9- by 5-inch oval loaf in a 13- by 9-inch shallow baking dish or pan.

Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meatloaf registers 155°F, 1 to 1 hour and 15 minutes . Let stand 10 minutes before serving.