Farmers Market Meatloaf

1 pound ground beef, preferably Badger Brook
3/4 cup torn up pieces of day old country style bread
½ cup milk
1 egg lightly beaten
½ cup cheese (I used a combo of mozzarella and romano because that’s what I had, the original recipe said parmesan)
Salt and pepper

Veggies (substitute freely)**
1 bunch garlic scapes, finely chopped
1 cup or more chopped chard
A few sprigs oregano, destemmed and chopped

Put the bread in a bowl and pour the milk on it to soak while you chop veggies etc. Stir a few times so it gets all soaked.

Mix everything up. Don’t overmix or it makes the meatloaf tough. Put in a buttered loaf pan and bake at 350 for about an hour. Enjoy.

*** This was loosely based on the meatball recipe in Alice Waters’ Book The Art of Simple Food. I like this recipe as a way to use up miscellaneous veggies. You can use all sorts of combos, but use at least one allium (garlic, onion, etc.), at least one green (chard, parsley, spinach, etc.). The original recipe I based it on called for a small onion, grated, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon each chopped oregano and parsley, plus cayenne. I made it with the combo listed above and it was awesome (Deb and Vince’s beef helped a lot I think). I used a whole big bunch of chard, choppe (6 cups maybe?). I think that was too much chard for a true meatloaf, and so it fell apart when sliced. Using less chard or maybe cooking it first probably would’ve helped the meatloaf hold together better. But it was still really, really good. The kids ate it up and asked for seconds.