Spicy Meatloaf, Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes, and Buttered English Peas

This episode of Dinner Bromantic was nearly postponed. Lance had a rough couple of days at work (3 double shifts in a row). So I called Lance Sunday to plan the meal, and he said, "give me 20 minutes to put a couple beers to my face and I'll call back." So I gave Lance some time. I was almost really bummed because I'd been thinking about this dinner all weekend. I even got an assortment of chilis from the local farmers market. I think my wife was getting a little tired of hearing about "Dinner Bromantic." So, about 20 minutes later Lance asks me to pick him up from Ruby Tuesday. I headed there, picked him up, and we went to Publix for the goods.

Here is what you will need:

Bread crumbs, 3lbs ground beef, turkey, pork or veal (we used beef), about half a pound of pepper jack cheese, about a cup of shredded parmesan, 3 eggs, 5 large cloves of minced garlic, frozen or fresh peas, 1 stick of salted butter, 8oz heavy cream, handful of each of the following: habanero, cayene, and sweet red chili peppers, one large onion (we used a red one but might use a vidalia next time), salt and pepper.

So here it is.......be sure to read our suggestions at the end.

For the Meatloaf:

3lbs of ground beef

2 cups of pepper jack cheese

1 handful habaneros

1 handful sweet red chili

1 handful cayenne chili

1 large red onion diced

1 ½ cup bread crumbs

2.5 large cloves fresh chopped garlic

Dash of salt

Dash of pepper

3 large eggs

Mix well in a bowl

Form loaf in baking pan and cover with foil

Pre heat oven to 375 bake for 1 hour (remove foil the last 15 minutes for some good browning)

For the Mashed Potatoes:

10 red potatoes 1/2ed then quartered

Boil in a bath of lightly seasoned salt water

When cooked strain and return to pot

Add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese, 2.5 large cloves of minced garlic, and a 3/4 stick of real salted cream butter.

Mash contents

For the Peas:

4 cups fresh or frozen peas

Season well with salt, pepper, and 1/4 stick of butter.

Cook covered on medium stirring occasionally until meatloaf is ready.

***Comments at the bottom***

Lance begins by chopping our variety of chilis.

The prepared loaf, all 3lbs of it!

Cut potatoes cooking in a salt water bath.

The finished garlic parmesan mashed potatoes.

The finished loaf.

Spice meatloaf, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, and buttered and seasoned peas all plated up!

Our Analysis:

Lance and I both really enjoyed creating this dish. The flavors came together delightfully. We believe that each part of the dish complemented the other. I'm not usually a "sample each dish at the same time" kinda guy, but once you take a bite of the meatloaf, you take a bite of the mashed to cool the heat, then finish it off with creamy perfectly seasoned fork full of peas. We really don't want to change anything about the mashed or the peas, however my wife said the mashed was a little strong for her taste. So if you don't care for a strong flavor of garlic, ease up a bit. As for the meatloaf, we think it lacked something. I just kept hearing Gordon Ramsay's voice in my head telling me "It's bland!!!!" The peppers and onions gave it a great crunch and flavor in itself, but I got to think about how my dad had always used a bit of Italian salad dressing in his meatloaf. So next time, we are going to try about 3-4 tablespoons of white vinegar in the loaf. We hope you enjoy and please let us know what you think.