Well I again didn’t realize it was blog night (aka Monday) until 10:30am! I was busy making a silly surprise for someone that I will probably post eventually. The good news though is that despite being one day late I have another recipe for you! This one’s another winner! I calculated today and I’ve been vegetarian for 3 years and 5 months! And I only recently found out that a lot of cheese isn’t vegetarian…
Turns out that a lot of the super fancy hard cheeses and even the cheap cheeses like American are made with enzymes from cow’s rennet which comes from the lining of cow’s stomachs. They have ways of making cheese from vegetable rennet or microbial rennet, but the fancy hard cheeses with controlled names and origins (like Parmesan) have standards that require them to be made with animal rennet. My guess is that the cheap cheese manufacturers choose to use animal rennet as well because it’s probably dirt cheap as a byproduct from the meat/dairy industry. Sigh. But don’t worry! This meal has 0 cheese in it and is still darn delicious!
This is my take on a vegetarian meatloaf. I’ve told you about my infatuation with lentils as a meat substitute and this one is my lentil magnum opus. It’s also a great excuse for something vegetarian to serve with mashed potatoes (sidenote: my kids LOVE mashed potatoes – they get that from me). It took me several tries to get this one to stick together properly and not be too mushy. Don’t expect the consistency of meat. It’s going to be quite a bit softer.
Look at that loaf.
Lexi’s Lentil Loaf
Ingredients
- 1/4 tbsp of butter
- 1.5 c brown lentils, dry
- half an onion, minced (about 2/3 cup)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp ketchup + more for the top (probably like 3/4 cup!)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1tsp parsley
- 1/2c bread crumbs
- 1 egg
Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a small loaf pan with butter. Rinse lentils and add to a large pot. Cover with water by 2 inches and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and simmer for 30-35 minutes stirring occasionally. Drain and mash with the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in all other ingredients except the ketchup reserved for the top. Press into greased loaf pan and cover the top with ketchup. Bake in oven for an hour (or until center reaches 170F). Remove from oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slice and serve with mashed potatoes.
This loaf makes my mouth water.
