Moroccan Meatloaf

When I was growing up meatloaf was something my whole family enjoyed. Well, all except for me. For some reason, I just did not enjoy the all-American family staple of a good meatloaf. All though my mom was a wonderful cook, for some reason the meatloaf just did not take with me. My sister and my dad however, devoured it. Even now, as a mom, and chief chef only chef at our house, my whole family, again, loves meatloaf. Except me. Oh, I'll eat it. But if I'm totally honest, I prefer it doing the backstroke in a nice pool of dark, rich gravy. And come to think of it, my affinity for the sauces and gravies might just be the reason I'm needing to make friends with the eliptical machine. Anyway, back to meatloaf.

My family will eat it hot and steamy for supper and then again, sliced nice and thick, the next day in their sandwiches. If any is left after that, it will get eaten cold with a dollop of ketchup and shake of salt just for snack. In my culinary quest to find yummy, homey, fairly easy meatloaf recipes that would somehow make me fall in love with the concoction, I came across a recipe for Moraccan Hamburgers. But wanting to fill my family's pleas for the meatloaf, guess what I did with it instead?

Surpise, Surprise. My family loved it. Me? It was different, I'll give you that. And tasty. It looked lovely with it's flecks of green. It was good, but I'm still not in love with the lowly little meatloaf. It has cilantro, which I'm really trying to like, 'cause to be cool and "chef-y" one must learn to cook with cilantro. But in all honesty, to me it tastes like soap in my food. But all in all, it was a real nice change.

Of interesting note in the recipe, I strongly suggest getting ground cumin. I was not able to lay my hands upon a package of that at the time, only the cumin seeds. Feeling very "Rachel Ray", I bought it anyway and thought I'd zip it up into the ground stuff by putting it through my small food processor. Not a good idea. Even though I used the tiny processor, it just did not grind it at all, and the cumin seeds let go of some kind of oil that totally wrecked the plastic on the bowl part. When I tried to wash it out of the bowl, all it did was spread it. I tried everything from scrub sponge to stainless steel cleaner to SOS pads. I now have a scratched, cloudy bowl. Thank goodness it was on my $9.99 processor, not the big one.

So for those of you willing to try new things, I give to you:

MOROCCAN MEATLOAF (note: there is a 1-2 hour chill time)

-2 lbs. (1 kg) lean ground beef

-1medium onion, finely chopped

-1/3 cup finely chopped, fresh parsley

- 1/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

-1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

-1 large egg

-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed

-2 teaspoons paprika

-1 teaspoon ground cumin

-1 teaspoon salt

-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

-1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Combine all ingrediants thoroughly. The easiest way is with your clean washed hands. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 1 - 2 hours.

Shape into one large loaf lenghwise in a 13 x 9 baking dish or 2 smaller loaves width wise, side by side, in 13 x 9 baking dish.

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour and 15 minutes for the large loaf or 55 - 65 minutes for the smaller loaves. Let sit 5 minutes before slicing.

**If you still haven't entered my giveaway you can scroll on down or just go here