Lilian’s Kale Meatloaf

This recipe is actually one that I created myself, (not my mom's recipe), with the goal of getting my toddler to eat kale, spinach, or collard greens. When he was a year old he used to love any and all food, including veggies, which is mostly what we fed to him his first year of life. Then he started to get pickier as kids tend to do. Pretty soon it became hard to get him to eat anything except meat and dairy. The innovative solution I came up was to "hide" greens inside of meatloaf. That is the story of how I accidentally created something healthy and truly delicious.

If you're reading this, you're probably not a toddler, and you may have no toddlers in the house. Luckily the toddler test of food edibility can be a barometer for everyday deliciousness. My Kale Meatloaf isn't really about toddlers. My husband loves it too. Really, anyone I've ever fed it to has loved it. Meatloaf can be so dry and monotonous, especially if you use lean meat, which most people want these days. Greens are a great way to introduce moisture and texture into the dish. I think greens make for a pretty damned nice presentation as well. The meatloaf slices will be marbled and colorful, instead of looking like the usual meat brick.

So many of the meatloaf recipes online want you to slather your meat in ketchup, which I just don't understand. Ketchup is such a powerful flavor; first of all because it's tomato paste, but also because ketchup tends to have a ton of sugar in it. I think of ketchup as a condiment, something to be used sparingly, not slathered over every inch of an otherwise great meatloaf. I think the reason people have taken to doing this may just be the basic flaws inherent in meatloaf: dryness and texture. But ketchup is a false friend at best, and a mistake at worst. If you get quality meat, you should taste it, savor it. Try putting greens in your meatloaf instead. I promise you will never go back to ketchup.

If you haven't made meatloaf before, just think of it as a cross between meat and cake. Hence the name, I guess... The point is, you're making meat, and you're using bread, eggs, and milk to glue the meat together into a loaf. Perhaps it's easier for you to think of it as a cross between meat and bread. If you understand the fundamentals of what a meatloaf is, you'll see that it's a wonderful opportunity to improvise. As long as you've got your meat and your glue, you can incorporate all sorts of unexpected ingredients easily. The only thing to consider is whether these ingredients will release moisture, and if so, just cook them first, before adding them your meat base.

Remember that it's 1:2:1:1. For every package of meat, you'll want about two slices of bread, one egg, and one splash of milk. You'll always start by cutting the bread into chunks, and soaking the bread chunks in egg and milk. Once the bread has absorbed the egg and milk, it should form your glue. As always, I use sprouted bread, which is much richer in protein, with fewer carbs than bread. That's because grain sprouts are little plants, which convert the seed carbs into protein as they grow. If you're using sprouted bread, you may want to use three slices of bread per package of meat. It also depends on the size and kind of sprouted bread. Don't worry about one slice versus two slices. It will be alright either way.

There are a couple of ways that I've made this recipe before. I can't say there's just one right way to do it... it's more about what you're in the mood for. If you don't have scallions, use an onion. Sometimes I've got two packages of greens in the fridge, which I'd like to use instead of one. That's a lot of greens to pack into a loaf. With the bulk of the onion, the glue may not hold. If too much bulk is a concern, use scallions instead of onions. They pack the same punch flavor-wise as onions, but without the bulk. I've also used shallots instead of onions. I've used fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. Fresh garlic vs. garlic powder is less about bulk than flavor. Sometimes I think the flavor of garlic powder pairs better with meat instead of garlic chunks.

When forming the meat into a loaf, try to keep it from getting to big in terms of diameter. You're better off making a very long and skinny meatloaf than a short fat one. I've even made a ring-shaped loaf on my cast iron tray, when I made a double recipe and couldn't go any further on length. If you keep your meatloaf under three inches wide, it tends to cook quite nicely in about twenty minutes. If you make your loaf too fat, it will just take forever to cook. By the time the center is done, your outer edges may be dried out and your top may be burnt. That's really where you can accidentally go wrong with meatloaf, is size. Size does matter, and a thinner loaf is better.

There are all sorts of things you can sprinkle on top of the meat loaf. Bread crumbs, sesame seeds, nut flours. I started to use almond flour, because I had some lying around, which I was not using fast enough. I like the nut flours because they brown easily and they add a nice little crunch. Sesame seeds would be delicious too. If you're going to use sesame seeds, it may be interesting to try soy sauce or teriyaki sauce instead of mustard as a flavor enhancer, but then you'll definitely want to ditch the additional salt. Do you see? How fun it can be to mix and match with meatloaf.

The last thing I should point out is about the greens. I like kale or collard greens the best. But there is nothing stopping you from using spinach or any other kind of greens you can think of, really. Spinach is much quicker, if you buy it pre-washed, than kale. Kale you've got to cut the stems away. With spinach, you can just use the whole leaves as they are. The secret to greens is to cook them before you add them to your mixture. Get your onions or scallions nice and browned, then cook your greens with the onions. If they release too much moisture, you can drain that away before adding the greens to the meat.