Every Friday night, I have fellowship meetings (also called large group) at my church. Each week, it's a different group's turn to prepare dinner.
For Halloween, we decided to have a spooky-themed potluck dinner. I've always wanted to try making
Not Martha's meat hand. So Mel and I decided to bring that :-) Who doesn't love meatloaf shaped into a creepy hand?
I love meatloaf and I'm always on the prowl for a better recipe. This time I tried the
Pioneer Woman's recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 lb of ground beef per meat hand - I used two pounds
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 6 slices of Italian bread
- A bunch of baby carrots
- Half a large white onion
- Worcestershire sauce (I add a lot)
- Seasonings - I used garlic powder, basil, paprika, spicy brown mustard, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt
The one thing that sets this recipe apart from the rest is that in lieu of bread crumbs, you soak slices of bread in milk for about 15 minutes. It seemed weird to me too but if it's good enough for the Pioneer Woman, it's good enough for me.
I put both the onion and carrots in the food processor. I've never done this before but I think it really made a difference. One thing I did was put the veggies in a paper towel and press out the water. There was a lot of liquid in there.
Then, seasonings and veggies were unceremoniously dumped into a bowl.
A small part of the onion was reserved for the hand's wrist bone and finger nails. Yummy. I used kitchen shears to cut the perfect manicure ;-)
Then add the meat, soggy bread, Worcestershire sauce, and eggs into the bowl. Squish, squish, squish. I actually don't enjoy this part but the homogeneous end-product is very satisfying.
Then it was time to mold the hand!
Not Martha used a handy mold but since I didn't think of this in advance, I had no time to order one. So I molded it myself taking care to keep the hand uniformly thick throughout so the meat doesn't burn in some areas. Excuse the blurriness - these were action shots!
Since we had another pound of beef left, I decided to make a meat foot too :-D I used a coil of onion to make the ankle bone. Mel's foot was my inspiration - the resemblance is uncanny. Trust me.
Then it was time to slather everything in a mixture of ketchup and Cohen's special BBQ sauce.
I decided to make one meat loaf cheesy because some people prefer that. So, I added Parmesan cheese to the foot, making it hairy. Yummy.
Then, we popped these body parts into a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 65 minutes. While they were baking, Mel made mashed potatoes. Delicioso!
We let the papas cool for 10 minutes or so before filling a small ziplock bag and using that to pipe between the fingers. Next time I'll cut a smaller hole for neater piping.
The onion wrist bone popped out while baking, so I suggest pressing it in super deep.
For the foot, we ran out of time so I simply spread potatoes on the bottom of the dish and placed the foot on there. I forgot to take a picture with it on the mash but here it is, fresh out of the oven. I wish the cheese got more burnt and melty but oh, well.
Kim brought these cute mini pumpkin pies and creepy brownies with hands crawling up from the brownie grave. Adorbs! The hands are sans brownie because well... everyone loves brownies.
The new recipe is a winner. I think the milk and bread thing plus the extra egg (I usually only use two) really did the trick. It was moist and flavorful.
Our friends are in town and we got to hang out with their wonderful baby girl. FB, meet Kayla. She might be your BFF or girlfriend one day, depending on your gender. What a great little personality. Check out those cheeks! LOVE.
A good end to a rough week.
