Vegans and Vegetarians BEWARE! Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

If you missed my bacon wrapped salmon recipe, you may not know that I like bacon. Well, I do. I don't eat it as often as my blogged recipes suggest. But when I'm bored with an entrée I try wrapping it in bacon and Tah-daa! it 's a new meal!  I won't take credit for this recipe. Tyler Florence talked about it on the FN around the holidays. So I tried it. Sadly, I couldn't find a recipe on the FN's website to link it so I will describe the basic techniques with photos. Like most of my cuisine, I don't measure or follow a recipe so this is for intermediate and expect cooks that can wing it in the kitchen. Or, find a meatloaf recipe that looks good to prepare that part and then follow this technique for cooking.

SIDE NOTE: What main ingredients do you all use in your meatloaf? I use onion soup mix, spicy brown mustard, ketchup, meatloaf mix (blend of pork, beef, and veal), worcestershire sauce (I had to look up the spelling for that one), and italian bread crumbs. I remember an episode of "Roseanne" where she used corn flakes, but I thought it was Frosted Flakes and that weirded me out so I never tried that, lol.

1. Ok, mix all your ingredients until well blended. Prep a cookie sheet with a large piece of aluminum foil. It needs to be large enough to fold over the loaf lengthwise and then fold up ends to create a pocket.
2. Place 5-6 bacon slices side by side on the foil.
3. Place your loaf on top of the middle of the strips of bacon.
4. (See pic below) bring ends of bacon to meet on top of meatloaf.
5. Fold foil over the loaf lengthwise and then fold up ends to create a pocket (See pic below).
6. Bake in preheated oven at 400º for about 45min. 
7. Carefully open foil (hot steam will come out) and then broil for a few minutes to brow the bacon.

 Enjoy! Sorry, it smelled so delish, I forgot to take a finished photo before cutting into the meatloaf. I served with collared greens and cornbread muffins.

Yummy Baked Salmon

Everything is better with bacon! Well, these days, I know a lot of people have eliminated pork from their diet. So, if you do not eat bacon, this recipe is just as delicious without it. So skip that ingredient if you want. I love seafood but do not care for the gamey taste of some fish. I think of salmon as the chicken of the ocean. Both salmon and chicken take on the flavors of your seasoning well, and allow you to prepare in so many ways. For my salmon, I used frozen Alaskan Keta Salmon fillets from Target. But fresh salmon is preferred.

Ingredients:

• desired number of salmon fillets

• Old Bay, Lemon Pepper or your favorite seafood seasoning

• bacon* (optional) 1 slice per fillet, if you don't use bacon you will need a pat of butter or margarine per fillet

• aluminum foil

• Lawry's teriyaki ginger marinade OR Kikkoman LITE teriyaki (yellow orange top) 

• 1 tsp lemon juice per fillet

1. Defrost salmon if frozen 
2. Preheat oven 350º
3. Tear off a large enough piece of aluminum foil to create a "pocket" for your salmon. You can probably fit 2 fillets per pouch. If you individual pouches, then you can season to the various tastes of your family members/dinner guests. Maybe some want bacon and some don't?
4. Place fillet(s) in the middle of aluminum foil. Place pouch on cookie sheet before placing in oven.
5. Pour about a tsp of lemon juice on each fillet. I spread with my hand to penetrate fillet.
6. Then add about 1 tbsp of teriyaki marinade per fillet. Spread to cover.
7. Season. I used a little Old Bay (maybe to spicy for kids) and lemon pepper.
8. * (optional) wrap slice of bacon (Oscar Meyer is what I used) around the fillet

9. Bring the long sides together to meet over the fish. Fold seam over twice. Then fold up ends to create your pocket.

 

10. Bake for 20-30 min depending on fillet sizes.

11. If you have wrapped in bacon, open the pouch. Be careful, the steam and foil is HOT!

12. Broil (do not walk away, it will burn) for 2-3 min for desired bacon crispiness.

  

I served my salmon with dirty rice with green peas. I used the liquid that cooked off the salmon and poured over my rice. No reason to let that goodness go to waste. Let me know how it turns out! 

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