Suggested to be paired with Navarrouge

The first and important step when making this comfort food is to open a bottle of Navarrouge and pour some for yourself and your friends while cooking! Then, make sure you reserve a little wine from the bottle for the sauce. This unpretentious dish takes advantage of the savory fresh Black Chanterelle Mushrooms but if those are not readily available, Portabellas are a great substitute.

For the Meatloaf:

• 1 1/2 Lbs lean ground beef
• 1 1/4 cup breadcrumbs ground fine
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup onion finely diced
• 1/3 cup mushrooms (Black Chanterelles or Portabellas), diced
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2/3 cup fire roasted tomato chunks

For the sauce:

• 1/4 cup Navarrouge
• 1/3 cup finely diced shallots
• 1 tbsp roux^*
• 1/2 cup chicken stock or beef stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• Pinch of ground sage
• 1 tsp. butter

Melt the butter in the sauté pan, over medium high heat and sauté the onions and mushrooms until sweated and the onions looking semi-translucent. Cook the onions first and then add the mushrooms about a minute later. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then transfer the mixture to a plate and allow it to cool.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, thyme, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs. You can use a spoon, but the real way to get a good mix is to use your hands, so roll up those sleeves, dive right in and mix things up really well. Add the cooled mushroom and onion mixture along with the chopped parsley and continue until all ingredients are blended well.

For this recipe a 6" deep round baking dish was used but feel free to use a traditional meatloaf pan. Coat the bottom and the sides of the pan with Extra Virgin olive oil. Spoon in chunks and some liquid from the fire roasted tomatoes. Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes are recommended but other high quality canned tomatoes may be used, or you can roast your own. Bake the meatloaf covered for 20 minutes at 375 degrees and then uncovered for 17 minutes. Broil the top for 3 minutes, or until brown. Let cool shortly, then put a plate on top of the serving dish. Flip upside down and the meatloaf will slide out with the tomatoes neatly positioned on the top for slicing.

For the sauce, heat the chicken stock in a saucepan. Sauté the shallots in butter on medium high and add a pinch or two of chopped mushrooms. Add the wine and watch out, there will be a possibility of flambé as the alcohol from the wine burns off. Reduce for a minute or two. Spoon some of the chicken stock in and stir, then return the mixture to the rest of the chicken stock, and simmer. Whisk in roux slowly until a gravy-like thickness is reached. Spoon the gravy around slices of meatloaf when serving.

Serves 4.

^* To quickly make roux, put 1 tbsp butter and melt in a pan over medium heat. Add unbleached white flower to the mixture until a paste forms, stirring frequently. Allow the mixture to cook for 2-3 minutes. The result should be a thick paste, on the verge of caking, with a slight golden hue. Remove from heat and whisk in small amounts at a time to the sauce while both mixtures are warm until the sauce is velvety smooth.