Meatloaf Masquerade

I was perusing youtube.com and came across an episode of "The French Chef." Featuring Julia Child making Pate en Croute. It was by far one of the most fascinating things I'd ever seen prepared. The basis of the dish is to use French pate which is ground meats, typically pork and veal, with onions and other seasonings, and pork fat. The purpose of the fat, per Julia, is to ensure a moist and juicy pate when cooked. Then the pate is cooked in a pastry shell, free-form, quite like an Italian calzone. This episode was quite interesting. I was dying to make it. However, the thought of literally putting that much fat into any kind of recipe made me fairly ill. So I decided to make it my way. Since Pate is essentially a French meatloaf, I decided to make the recipe using my own meatloaf - something, for the record, I have never made before in my life. Having eaten it many times, though, I felt confident that I could pull it off.

I used 2 lbs of ground sirloin 80/20. I normally prefer the 90/10 extra lean, but in order to preserve some of the "French-ness" of the original recipe, I wanted to go just a little higher in fat. To ensure a high level of moisture, I added sautéed peppers, onion, and seeded tomatoes. I threw in some seasonings, and some pressed garlic with bread crumbs and eggs. I'll list the exact proportions below.

The pastry shell was the hardest part. I am used to making traditional pie crust, but for the right texture in this recipe, eggs needed to be added to the cold water mixed into the dough. While this is not an uncommon ingredient in pie crusts, I had never used it before. As a result, I feel the dough should have been colder, and rested longer before rolling it out for the meatloaf.

So for Meatloaf Masquerade:
2 lbs ground sirloin
2 Tomatoes - seeded and chopped for sauté'
2 Peppers - 1 Yellow, 1 Orange - or any colors you desire - diced
1/2 Sweet Onion - diced
2-3 Cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2 Eggs
1-2 Cups of seasoned bread crumbs
1-2 tsp of Kosher salt
1-2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup of Frangelico Liqueur - variable, it can be omitted, or another liquor can be used.
Season to taste with basil, oregano, and parsely

Like I said before, I had never made a meatloaf before, so this was uncharted water. I simply put the ground meat in a bowl and cracked two eggs into it. With my bare (clean) hands I mixed in the eggs with the meat. I added the bread crumbs sort of "eye-balling" it, but approximately 1 1/2 - 2 cups was used. I set the meat aside and then went on to the veggies.

I wanted to incorporate as much color as I could to the meatloaf so that when it was sliced, it would look eye catching, as well as mouth-watering. I diced the peppers and onions and threw them in a frying pan with the chopped, seeded, tomatoes. I let everything soften with some butter and more garlic for about 10 minutes, then combined the veggies with the meat and mixed them, this time with a wooden spoon, and approximately 1/4 cup of Frangelico.

Dough:
I used my pastry dough recipe from my quiche posting the only difference was I added two yolks and beat them into the ice water and poured it all into the food processor. 1 Cup of ice water with two yolks. It worked well, but this dough will have to rest in the fridge for about an hour and a half.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22pAuJA7zA8

By all means refer to the Grande Dame herself on the rolling out of the dough and the formation of the "Pate'." Above, I have included a picture of how I rolled out the dough and free-formed the meatloaf in the center. Then I simple folded the dough around the meat, much like a calzone. ***Make certain though, that you poke holes into the bottom, top, and sides of the dough once the whole thing is formed. If not, it will likely explode once it is in the oven.

For the rest, I simply followed Julia's instructions as far as the baking, glazing, and serving. I did not, however, have enough dough to properly decorate it. One tip I would like to pass on. I followed Julia's instruction about using foil cones to vent the meat and see the "juices" while it was cooking. It was useful of course, but even more useful was the meat thermometer I inserted in the middle. This was the most accurate way I could determine that the meat was cooked. It was a hit! I told my grandmother about it and she has consented to me making it as an appetizer for Easter dinner. I cannot wait.