2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
2 T tomato sauce, thinned with water to make 1/4 c
1/2 c chicken soup stock
2 eggs
1/2 tsp unflavored beef gelatin
1 T worcestershire or Thai Kitchen fish sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
2/3 c crushed saltine crackers or gluten- free crackers
1 c white cheese, finely grated
1 tsp parsley
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Saute onion and celery in a little butter until tender. Add garlic, thyme, and paprika, and cook one minute more until garlic has blended. Add the tomato sauce and stir up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Transfer to mixing bowl and cool. Beat eggs in a 1 cup glass measuring cup, add chicken stock to make 1 cup; whisk together. Sprinkle gelatin over and let stand 5 minutes. To the onion mixture in the mixing bowl, stir in worcestershire or fish sauce, mustard, saltines, parsley, salt, pepper, and finally the chicken broth mixture. Mix with ground beef and cheese until thoroughly combined. Shape into a loaf and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 55 to 65 minutes or until the meat is done. While the loaf is cooking, prepare the glaze.
glaze
1/2 c ketchup
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
2 T maple syrup
Combine glaze ingredients in a small saucepan; simmer over medium heat until thick, about 5 minutes. Spread half of the glaze over the cooked meat loaf, place under the broiler and cook until glaze is bubbly; about 5 minutes. Pull out meat loaf and spread evenly with the remaining glaze; place back under the broiler for 5 minutes more. Remove from oven; let meat loaf stand before slicing.
Gluten restrictions: regular saltines are made from wheat flour; the last time I made this, I ground about 1/2 box of almond Nut Thins crackers and measured them, and it came out to 2/3 cup; it worked wonderfully well. Use Thai Kitchen fish sauce or homemade worcestershire sauce in place of commercial worcestershire sauce. Most commercial mustards and ketchups are made with white vinegar made from wheat, so to keep it gluten-free, use homemade dijon mustard and ketchup.
MSG restrictions: The original recipe called for tomato juice; I used thinned tomato sauce since most commercial tomato juice has MSG added to it. Or, blanch a fresh tomato, slip the skin, and puree it in the blender to get unadulterated tomato juice. The original recipe also called for soy sauce instead of worcestershire sauce or Thai Kitchen fish sauce. Since worcestershire sauce is made with soy sauce, we used the Thai Kitchen fish sauce instead. The meatloaf was wonderful. Also, be careful about MSG in commercial dijon mustard and ketchup.
