Venison Meatloaf + Old Bay Brussels Sprouts (Retro Recipe)

I was raised by an amazing single mom. During the week my grandmother was my caregiver, but on the weekends I wasn’t visiting my father, my mom tried her damnedest to be the mother she wished she had time to be. I had a blast helping her make dinner and dessert (usually some sort of comfort food followed by dark chocolate chip cookies) on a Friday night, dancing as we did so. These nights were joyful and often accompanied by fingernail painting and classic movies. We were essentially living an episode on Gilmore Girls. These laughter filled evenings felt more like a slumber party with a friend than a night in with my mother, and this feeling is one I’d like to pass on to my children one day.

One of the staple recipes my mom made was a 50’s style meatloaf with, as she calls it, “an egg surprise.” I’ll try to recreate that delightfully retro dish here, in honor of my mom and our weekend dinner/ joy fests.

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground venison (my mom used beef or turkey but I’m still using up the venison C procured during his last hunting trip)
1 onion
1 cup matchstick carrots
4 hard boiled eggs
2 regular eggs
2 slices of toast crumbled
Barbecue sauce (use your favorite)
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Oregano
Cajun seasoning
Cumin
Garlic powder
*Note on spice measurement: Although I used about a tablespoon each of the spices, this kind of heavy seasoning is only appropriate for wild game. If using beef, turkey, etc. season lightly.*

Accompaniment: Sriracha or Mang Tomas (both sauces are easily found at Asian markets)

Performance:
I began by hard boiling four eggs. * I’ll give a quick lesson on how to perfectly hard boil eggs every time—I placed the eggs in a small pot of cold water then brought the pot to a boil. Once the pot started boiling I set my timer for 12 minutes. When the time was up I drained to eggs, then plunged them into an ice bath to halt the cooking process. And that my friends, is how you make perfect hard boiled eggs every time.* While the eggs were boiling I diced up an onion and sautéed in olive oil it until golden in a medium pan, then transferred it to a large bowl. Then, I unwrapped and placed my ground venison into the large bowl with the onion. Next, as a precaution, I donned some nytril gloves because frankly, I didn’t want to be picking raw meat, raw eggs, and spices out from under my fingernails until kingdom come. I cracked 2 eggs into a separate smaller bowl, whisked, then added them to the venison. I toasted two slices of wheat bread, tossed them into a large Ziplock bag, and handed the bag of toast to C to scrunch into breadcrumbs (he thought this was fun) then add it to the venison and eggs. I then had C shake in the matchstick carrots, salt, black pepper, white pepper, oregano, Cajun seasoning, cumin, and garlic powder. I squished and mixed everything until it was fully combined, then greased a glass meatloaf pan with olive oil. Next was the fun part—I smoothed half of the mixture into the bottom of the pan, then placed the four hard boiled eggs, end to end, into the mixture. I then placed the remaining mixture on top of the eggs and smoothed it into a dome shape. Finally, I smothered, and I do mean smothered, the entire meatloaf with barbecue sauce. I slid the meatloaf into the oven at 350 degrees for one hour and the internal temperature was 155 degrees.

C and I sliced the meatloaf, tasted, and giggled at the pure comfort food pleasure. We complemented it with two awesome Asian sauces called Sriracha and Mang Tomas (it was fun to take a forkfull of meatloaf and dip it into either the spicy Sriracha or the sweet and savory Mang Tomas), Old Bay Brussels sprouts, and a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a good Friday night. 

Bonus Side Dish: Old Bay Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
Olive oil
Old Bay seasoning
1 microwave safe Ziplock bag

Performance:
Make sure the Brussels sprouts are clean, then place them in a Ziplock bag and toss it in the microwave for 5 minutes. When the time is up, carefully transfer to a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning, and mix. It’s the quickest, easiest, tastiest side dish ever.