Miss Handbag's Meat Loaf

I dug this out of my old blog, from July 2004.  This is a world famous meatloaf  from my friend Lynn, who is a writer for the NY Times.  She doesn't use the internet (no, really) and wrote it out, rather romantically, on a 3x5 card, like a lady from the WI.  At the top she wrote:

Dear Miss Whistle: feel free to put this in your sure-to-be-a-bestseller cook book. Love, Miss Handbag.

Miss Handbag's Meat Loaf

(I always double this or even triple the recipe)


3/4 cup minced green onions

1/2 cup " white or yellow onions

1/2 cup " carrot
1/4 cup " celery

1/4 cup " red pepper
1/4 cup " green pepper

2 tsp " garlic

4 tablespoons butter

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1lb lean chuck (ground)*

1/2 lb lean ground pork

1/2 cup catsup

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

3 eggs beaten

* I use grassfed or organic beef


Preheat oven to 350. In a skillet saute onions, carrot, celery, peppers and garlic in the butter until very soft and beginning to brown. Cool to room temp. When cool, stir in black pepper, cayenne, cumin and nutmeg. In a large bowl combine vegetables with ground chuck, pork, catsup, breadcrumbs and eggs. Form into a loaf pan (or whatever shape suits you) and bake for 70-80 minutes. It can take longer (especially if you double the recipe) so check by the clean knife method.

Note: you can double up on ingredients if you're missing something -- for instance, 1/2 cup red pepper, if you don't have green. 
Meat Loaf is forgiving. 


Enjoy! (It's addicting)