Find comfort in meatloaf

A meatloaf in the refrigerator or freezer is like money in the bank. There’s a sense of security if you have it ready to bake, or baked and ready to serve cold, or sliced in sandwiches.

Toronto food writer and TV cook Claire Tansey includes this recipe as one of the more than 125 in her new book, Uncomplicated: Taking the Stress Out of Home Cooking (Penguin, $32). Her loaf takes 10 minutes to mix and about an hour to bake. She calls it “classic comfort food,” adding that you can double it for a crowd, mix and refrigerate it 12 hours in advance of baking, reheat it once baked, and freeze it for up to a month, then thaw and bake. She believes grating instead of chopping the onion and garlic allows them to “disperse” into the meat more evenly.

Tansey, one-time food director at Chatelaine magazine, likes to serve this loaf with mashed potatoes and acorn squash, the halves of squash oiled and sprinkled with curry powder before baking. Besides curry powder, she limits her pantry seasonings to these eight: cumin, coriander, cinnamon, chili powder, flaked chilies, pepper, smoked paprika and dried thyme. And don’t skimp on salt, she recommends.

With a well-stocked pantry, the other essentials to efficient family cooking are decent equipment such as rimmed baking sheets, two sizes of non-stick frying pans, three knives (chef ’s, paring and serrated) and parchment paper.