Spicy Sriracha Meatloaf

Most of my favorite recipes are cobbled together from things I have on hand, so meatloaf should be one of my go-to's because it's extremely flexible, happy in all shapes and sizes and oven temperatures, and plays nicely with most of the bits and pieces that end up in the fridge. But I don't turn to it as often as I should. 

The other day, I found myself with ground beef, leftover brown rice, and the end of a block of Romano cheese. Meatloaf should have been a no brainer.

But I hesitated. 

Meatloaf is easy to make, but it's just as easy to make it boring, and we'd been stuck in one of those weather patterns in Berkeley where clouds, fog, and damp drizzle couldn't muster the energy to drag themselves over the hills and out to the desert to dry. With so much lethargy in the air, the last thing I wanted was boring on a plate.


Finally, I couldn't delay putting supper on the table any more, and I remembered a recipe in Molly Stevens' All About Roasting where she mixes sriracha with mayonnaise and drizzles it over scallops before roasting. The flavor profile was amazing. The mayonnaise and the sriracha mingled taking the raw eggy taste out of the mayo and mellowing the hot sauce,. I wondered if it would work with beef.

It did, and so this recipe was born.

There's a reason this post doesn't come with a picture. A better photographer probably could have taken tonight's dinner and communicated "tasty" without some trick like focusing on the serving utensils rather than the food, but it would have taken some artistic wizardry. Meatloaf is...well...pretty unsexy, but when it's cold and rainy, it's just the thing.


Spicy Sriracha Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef
1/4 c. brown rice, cooked
1/4 c. breadcrumbs
2 T. mayonnaise  or 1 egg
2 T. Romano cheese, finely grated
1 T. sriracha (more or less to taste)

0. Preheat oven to 425.
1. Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a fork until just combined being careful not to over-mix.
2. Press the meat mixture into an 8 inch baking pan. (I used a cast iron skillet.)
3. Bake until browned on top, firm to the touch, and no longer pink in the middle. Approximately 20-25 minutes. If the meatloaf is cooked but the top is not browned, it can go under the broiler for a minute or two.

Serves 4-6