Sheet-pan meatloaf and roast vegetables
Shaped free-form on a tray, not packed into a tin, and better for it.
At a Glance
Story
A loaf tin steams the sides of a meatloaf. Shaped by hand on an open tray it is exposed on every surface except the bottom, so the glaze sets into a proper lacquer and the outside browns rather than going grey and wet. Keep it to about three inches wide and it cooks in twenty minutes instead of an hour.
Ingredients
- 10 oz ground beef
- 1 egg
- 12 oz potatoescut into medium dice
- 2 carrotshalved crosswise then quartered lengthwise
- 2 cloves garlicgrated to a paste
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup Parmesangrated
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 1 ½ tsp Calabrian chile paste
- 1 tbsp capersroughly chopped
- 1 lemonzested then quartered
- olive oilsalt, pepper
Method
The dressing on the vegetables is what stops this being heavy. Sharp, briny and poured over while they are still hot enough to drink it in.
- Oven to 450°F. Potatoes and carrots onto a sheet pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out and roast 21 to 23 minutes, until browned and tender to a fork.
- Meanwhile, whisk the lemon zest, chopped capers, the juice of two lemon wedges and a good slug of olive oil in a large bowl. In a second bowl, stir the ketchup with as much chile paste as you want.
- Oil the middle of a second sheet pan. Mix the beef, egg, Italian seasoning, panko, half the Parmesan and the garlic paste, seasoned, with a light hand. Overworked mince goes springy.
- Shape it into a tight loaf about 3 inches wide on the oiled patch. Spoon over half the spicy ketchup, keeping the rest back. Roast 18 to 22 minutes, to 160°F. Rest at least 2 minutes.
- Hot vegetables into the bowl of dressing, tossed. Slice the meatloaf across, spoon over the reserved ketchup, and finish both with the rest of the Parmesan and the last lemon wedges.
Both trays go in at the same temperature, so if your oven takes two shelves this is genuinely one dish's worth of work.
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