classy but trashy

Classhy Prince n' Pauper T.V. Dinners

MeatLove

Part 1- Plating Challenge

I headed down to Santa Cruz last weekend in an effort to get some quality time with a bunch of my favorite people. Seeing as I had so much fun sharing my Lurkin' Turk'n challenge with Katie, I thought it would be neat to bring the shown on the road and make a meal my friends and I could all enjoy together. And what better dish to serve to an army of hungry hard working, hard partiers than meatloaf?! So I threw a jar of my trusty herb salt into my weekend bag and hightailed it down on the CalTrain.

After catching up on the latest episodes of “United States of Tara” with my BFF, Natalie, we headed to the local Safeway for supplies. Choosing this week’s frozen dinner proved slightly more complicated as many of the brand options came with the same side dishes from last week. Seriously, there’s only so much mashed potatoes and corn off the cob I’m willing to manipulate here, folks! With that in mind I was able to finally settle on the Marie Callender’s Meatloaf and Gravy- those extra carrots and green beans mixed in with the requisite corn kernels really went far to set Ms. Callender ahead of the pack. Also, I can’t say that I’ve ever indulged in her particular brand of TV dinner, so I was ready to see what she had to offer.

This, apparently, was what she had to offer:

It smelled horrible! Nat’s comment was “Dude, you’re funking up my house!” Meantime her dog, Rudy, was beginning to freak out-- and for good reason—had any other humans (or dogs for that matter) walked into the house they too would have thought someone had forgotten about a can of Purina in the oven. So with that Nat poured each of us a glass of that adorable “Bitch” wine from Whole Foods and I got to the task of making Marie’s slop look presentable.

Having traveled only with said salt from my own cupboards, I had to get creative for my garnish. I ended up tromping through last season’s garden behind the house and choosing some celery leaves to lie on the plate. From there I began forming the mashed potato rounds. This proved to be much easier than it should have been as the “potatoes” were quite doughy. Next I hand cut out each of the meatloaf rounds before peeling off the congealed skin of the gravy (blech!) and glazing the tops of all the rounds with it. Two of my meatloaf bites got mushroom toppers and the third had a slice of onion. Finally I finished the plate with a pile of the mixed veggies in the corner. My result was a whimsical composition which varied significantly from the more classical stacking I had employed last week.

While it certainly looked like a fun and non traditional way to eat meatloaf,the

odors still emanating from the microwave were enough to deter any taste testing from occurring on this particular plating challenge- well, except for Rudy, that is!

Stay tuned for Part 2...
MeatLove Cooking Challenge!