Pollettone alla Toscana

I've been reading Life is Meals in the morning and evening, and it's such a lovely way to book end the day. There are food stories of all kinds - favorite meals of literary figures, dinner party menus gone awry, dining etiquette through the ages, interesting facts about seafood and vegetables, and everything in between. There's one entry per day for a calendar year. I have lots of fun checking in on special personal dates to see if there is some sort of cosmic connection to the event (my birthday, for example, has a brief history of ice cream!).

This recipe from the book was so good. It's essentially a dressed-up meatloaf. The ingredients list is long, but you likely have most of it already. In the book, the recipe calls for you to roll into a log-shape and cook it in a pan, but that seemed like too much work to me. I put it in a loaf pan and baked it, and it came out beautifully.

Pollettone alla Toscana
Recipe adapted from Life is Meals (originally adapted from Marcella Hazen)

You will need:
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound groud pork
1 tablespoon milk
2 inch square of white bread (I use Udi's)
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 slice finely chopped prosciutto
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1 lightly beaten egg
1/2 cup unflavored bread crumbs
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons oil
1/3 cup red wine
5 oz. baby cremini mushrooms, sliced

Mash the bread into the milk with a fork until smooth and creamy. Place ground meat into a bowl, and add milky bread, onion, salt, pepper, prosciutto, cheese, garlic, bread crumbs and egg. Mix thoroughly by hand. Shape meat into loaf and place in loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

When the meatloaf is nearly done (after 35 minutes of cooking), add butter and oil to a sauce pan turned to medium heat. When melted and slightly foaming, add in mushrooms and wine. Saute for five minutes, then reduce heat to low until meatloaf is ready. Slice meatloaf and put mushrooms on top.

Serve with tarragon mashed potatoes, a green salad and Downton Abbey on the side.