..and the secret ingredient is ketchup!

This weather in New Jersey has been strange.  Last month we had balmy weather with beautiful sunny days.  Now it's back to being cold and rainy again.  There is something to be said with global warming messing up the weather.  And when it's cold and wet, comfort food is always what drives the cooking.  Looking through a variety of recipes, I came across one that looked simple enough (and I had the majority of ingredients already.  The secret ingredient seemed to be ketchup in the recipe's I looked through.

Software:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons spice mixture (3 tbls paprika, 2 tbls salt, 2 tbls parsley, 2 tbls onion poweder, 2 tbls garlic powder, 1 tsp black pepper, 1tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil, 1tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp  celery salt)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup fine dried bread crumbs
• Glaze:
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Hardware:
Global 8-Inch 20cm Cook's Knife
Cutting Board
Measuring Spoon Set

Mixing Bowls Large Blue

Haeger Natural Stone Baking Dish, Square: Blue

   Chop the vegetables up and add them to a large skillet with the vegetable oil.  Add the spices (garlic, salt, basil, thyme, pepper) and cook until they are soft and golden.  Turn off the heat and set aside.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Next in the first mixing bowl, combine the meat together til the pork, veal and beef are blended well together.  In another bowl, mix the ketchup, heavy cream, spice mix, dijon mustanrd and worcestershire sauce together.  Then dump everything together into the 'meat bowl' (in my case the blue bowl) along with the vegetables from the stove as well as the breadcrumbs.

Mix well together until you get a blend.  If you have an extra pair of hands like I did, it makes it that much easier.  Spread the mixture into your casserole dish  and smooth it out.  Top it off with the glaze (ketchup, brown sugar and worcestershire sauce mixed together). 

Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes.  There will be a pool of excess grease coming out.  Let rest for about minutes before serving.  Freeze or refridgerate any left overs.