Meatloaf muffins, custom meatloaf, or genius slider brainwave (you call it!)

How's that for a non-commital title? This recipe is based on something I came across on the website of Canadian Living, or Chatelaine, or some other magazine's website that men aren't supposed to read. I check these things out now and then because it's good to know what the other side is thinking (or what they want you to think they are thinking) and there are cool recipes sometimes (or they just pop-up on Google -- I can't remember because I am a man).

ANYWAY, this idea is genius and I took it to a slightly higher level with some extra twists inspired by complaints/demands/I-mean-kind-suggestions from my daughters. The basic idea of the recipe is to make meatloaf in a muffin tin so that you get individual servings without having to try and slice the damn thing. The genius of this is that it means you can customise each of those servings so that everyone's (everyone minus any vegetarians, that is) preferences can be taken into account. So hang-on, and lets have some fun!

The basic recipe calls for: a pound of ground beef, an egg, 1/2 cup of crumbled crackers, 1/4 cup of ketchup (any recipe with ketchup in it is borderline in the ``real-recipe`` department, but trust me), 1 tablespoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce, some crumbled oregano (honest officer, it's oregano), some salt, some pepper, a carrot, half an onion, and a couple of cloves of garlic. It sounds like a lot of stuff (and it is) but the assembly is pretty easy (so please trust me a little more!).

The first thing to do is finely chop your onion, grate the carrot, mince the garlic, and get it all sauteing over medium heat in a splash of olive oil. The idea is to gently soften it all up.

While that's going on, put the ground beef, crackers, egg, oregano, pepper, salt, ketchup, Worstershire, and mustard in a bowl. This is the "base" that everyone (except the vegetarians) can agree on.

Mush that around for a bit, and then take out a palm sized piece and...

... pop it into a muffin tin and tamp it down a little. My youngest daughter can detect an onion at 50 paces, so I do two "muffins" before I put the onion/carrot/garlic mixture in with the beef.

After the first two no-onion versions are done, I add the carrot/onion/garlic saute and mix that in and make the rest of the meat muffins. I decided to make a couple of bacon-wrapped versions too.

This idea came from the latest Fine Cooking (number 109) which has bacon-wrapped meatloaf on the cover, and...

...an unbelievably awesome meatloaf spread inside. Buy it for inspiration! It's genius!!

(If you bought your bacon in a slab from Piggy Market -- and you should! -- you`ll need to dig out your MAC razorblade-that-masquerades-as-a-kinfe to slice it thin enough.)

Now, my oldest daughter likes the onions and carrots, but doesn`t like the ketchup topping called for in the recipe, so here is another way to customise. Top some of the muffins with ketchup, some with nothing, put hot Russian mustard on some if you like, or Tobasco, or BBQ sauce, whatever. The options are endless!! See how great this is?! (I`ll leave it to you to figure out how to keep track of what`s what.)

I also decided to try and make a couple of small patties. I had this brainwave today while chatting with Little My at Loblaws. I thought it would be a great way to make little slider patties (like 24 of them all at once!). You could bake up some biscuits and make mini-burgers. If you tried this stunt in a frying pan, it would be Hell, but this way they all finish at the same time and don`t fall apart (and can be customised!!).

I should have asked you to heat the oven to 350 earlier, so do it now if you didn`t read the whole recipe before starting.

Pop the muffin tin into the oven for 35 minutes (or until each meat muffin registers 170 F in the centre -- classic disclaimer). It`s a good idea to put a baking try under the muffin tin if you`re not fond of grease fires. The recipe says to grease the muffin tin first, but seriously if you have any kind of decent beef I don`t think this is necessary.

Remove from the oven, marvel at your adaptable and delicious creations and gently take them out of the muffin tin. Tongs work great for the muffins, but a spoon is better for the more delicate sliders. (The only drag about this recipe is that you have to clean the damn muffin tin -- but trust me, it`s worth it!)

Serve with rice and steamed broccoli (or make those little burgers I am dreaming of) and enjoy!

Peace to y`all!