Gochujang-glazed meatloaf with delicata squash
Fifteen minutes of prep, and the squash needs no peeling whatsoever.
At a Glance
Story
Delicata squash is the one you do not peel. Its skin is thin enough to go tender in twenty minutes and it holds the half-moons together, so you get an edge with some chew against a soft middle. Peeling it costs you ten minutes and a set of slices that collapse into mush on the pan.
Ingredients
- 10 oz ground beef
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 scallionsthinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tsp gochujang
- 1 delicata squashhalved, seeded and cut into half-inch pieces
- 1 red onioncut into half-inch wedges
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp ponzu
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- olive oilsalt, pepper
Method
Two trays, two racks, one temperature. The glaze is split so half of it never sees the oven.
- Oven to 450°F, racks in the upper and lower thirds.
- Squash and onion onto a sheet pan with the sesame oil, salt and pepper. Toss, spread out, and onto the lower rack for 21 to 23 minutes.
- Stir the ketchup with as much gochujang as you want. Season. Set half aside.
- Line a second pan with foil and oil the middle. Mix the beef, scallion whites, panko and egg, seasoned, with a light hand. Shape into a loaf about 7 by 3 inches. Spoon the unreserved glaze over it. Upper rack, 16 to 18 minutes, to 160°F. Rest at least 2 minutes.
- Roasted vegetables into a bowl with the scallion greens and the ponzu. Toss.
- Slice the loaf, spoon the reserved glaze over the slices and scatter the sesame seeds. Vegetables alongside.
Reserving half the glaze is not fussiness. Glaze that has been in a 450 degree oven has lost its sharpness, and the raw spoonful at the end is what makes it taste of gochujang rather than of sweet ketchup.
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