Half of a Leftover Meatloaf, grilled Mushroom and Swiss sandwich.
The Best Mushroom and Swiss
In the last post, I gave you my recipe for a Grilled Meatloaf. Well, now I’ve got leftover meatloaf and you know what that means… It’s sandwich time. But not just any old meatloaf sandwich will do. I’m going to show you how to make the best Mushroom and Swiss sandwich, ever, and it’s going to be grilled.
Half a loaf of Artisan bread.
Grilled Bread
I’ve recently discovered my love for grilled Artisan bread. It add so much more depth to a grilled cheese or any sandwich for that matter. Use any bread you want but, if you’re going to grill it, I highly recommend using Artisan bread, buttered and seasoning with an all purpose seasoning and garlic. Another benefit to using this bread is that the shape is consistent with a slice of meatloaf.
Cold, sliced leftover meatloaf.
Cold Leftover Meatloaf
This meatloaf is the exact same meatloaf I filmed in the last post and video recipe, Grilled Meatloaf. It marinated in the refrigerator for a few days so, the flavor is going to be off the hook, once it’s reheated. I generally just cut off a half to 3/4 inch slice off the loaf and sear both sides in a pan. That’s just enough to reheat the meat, all the way through, with out over cooking what’s already been pre-cooked.
Sliced Button Mushrooms and grated Swiss Cheese.
Mushrooms and Swiss
I keep this recipe simple with some standard sliced Button Mushrooms and some grated Swiss Cheese. I saute the mushrooms in butter and olive oil, a clove of garlic, a few herbs, salt and pepper for approximately 5 minutes. Then I remove the mushrooms from the heat and top them with the grated Swiss Cheese.
A hot pan with sauteed sliced mushrooms.
Grilled Mushroom and Swiss Ingredients:
2 Slices Artisan Bread 6 oz Mushrooms, sliced 4 oz Swiss Cheese, grated 1 slice Leftover Meatloaf, 1/2″ 1 tbsp Olive Oil 2 tbsp Butter 1 Clove Garlic 2 tbsp Mayonnaise Salt and Pepper to taste
I also use a few shakes of Goya All Purpose Garlic Seasoning on each buttered slice of bread before grilling. Be sure to watch the short video tutorial and I’ll show you exactly how to make this Leftover Meatloaf, Grilled Mushroom and Swiss sandwich.
Grilled Mushroom and Swiss with Leftover Meatloaf video tutorial by PoorMansGourmet.
1″ inch slice of Meatloaf with a Hoisin Sauce glaze on a blue plate.
The Best Meatloaf
Most folks agree that you haven’t really had meat loaf until you’ve had it grilled. I originally wrote this recipe using an oven but a grill follows the same basic principles. Set you’re temp, keep the lid down and watch the clock and that’s basically all you have to do. My recipe, however, excludes ketchup. If you’ve got a problem with that, just top it with a Ketchup glaze at the end instead of my Hoisin Sauce and no one’s the wiser. I can promise you this, though, this recipe is tender, moist, flavorful, it will still stay on your fork and it makes the best leftover sandwich’s.
Raw ground beef and pork sausage in separate packages.
Meatloaf not Beef loaf
One of the things I learned, long ago, was to mix sausage with Beef in any recipe with a ton of ingredients and this recipe is no different. I mean, that’s one of the secrets to my Chili recipe and it is phenomenal. There is a 2 to 3 standard ratio that I use being 2 parts sausage to 3 parts beef and you’ll see that reflected in the ingredients. After all, we’re making Grilled Meatloaf, not beef loaf.
If you’ve ever tried my Chili recipe, you might notice that the ingredients are very similar to this recipe, too. I’ve simplified each recipe with the addition of taco seasoning but there are also a few other herbs and spices to fine tune it to the point to where they’re distinguished. Though, some things just shouldn’t change.
Chopped and sauteed onions in a large pan on the stove top.
Raw or Cooked Onions
Technically, once the Grilled Meatloaf is cooked, the onions are cooked as well but they usually go into the meat mix raw. Barf! I don’t know what it is about raw onions, in this recipe, but I can’t stand them cooked that way in meatloaf or on pizza. This is crazy to say because I love onions. In fact I’m a huge fan but, for some reason, I just can’t stomach them in a meatloaf recipe. That’s why I recommend sauteing them first. It’s just a personal preference but I find that there is a much more enjoyable flavor and texture, doing it this way, too but whether you choose to do it this way will be up to you.
Raw Meatloaf, all mixed, shaped and uncooked in a cake pan.
Mixing the Meatloaf Ingredients
There’s really nothing special you have to do to mix the ingredients correctly. Other than the sauteing of the chopped onion, that I’m recommending, all you have to do is mix everything together into one big mush, then shape into a loaf on a baking tray or sheet.
You may find that the meat mix is very wet and you might be tempted to add more bread crumbs but this is folly. In order to maintain moisture, the meat loaf must be like this. A dried out Meatloaf is just as bad as any dried out or over cooked Roasted Turkey!
Grilled and glazed Meatloaf in the roasting pan on the grill.
How to Grill Meatloaf
Grilling Meatloaf really isn’t much different than baking it in the oven. You need to establish a 350° Fahrenheit temp, with the lid down, and cook over indirect heat. The other difference is, just rotating the pan half way through cooking and I demonstrate everything you need to know in the video tutorial.
Because I use a propane grill, it’s easy to focus my heat from 1 out of the 3 burners by turning the front burner on only, then cooking the meatloaf over indirect heat over the other two burners, not lit. The only thing I might recommend, if you’r using gas too, is adding some chips to the lit burner to get the smoke flavor affect going. That’s the only thing I wish I did differently in the video, just to add more smoke flavor. If you’re using charcoal or smoker anyway, you’re already set!
Fully Grilled Meatloaf, cooked and cooling down on a cutting board for slicing.
Grilling Meatloaf Ingredients:
1.5 lbs Hamburger 1 lbs Pork Sausage, breakfast 1 Onion, chopped and sauteed in Olive oil and salted 1 pkg Taco Seasoning, original (2 oz ) 1 tbsp Adobo Sauce, from Chipotle Peppers 1 15 oz can Diced Tomatoes 1 tbsp Cumin 1 tbsp Mexican Oregano 1 tsp Coriander 1 tbsp Worcestorshire Sauce 1 cup Bread Crumbs 2 Egg 2 tbsp Brown Sugar 5 Cloves Garlic, chopped
Hoisin Sauce for Glaze
Mix all of the ingredients together and shape the meat into a loaf in a cake pan. Grill or bake at 350° Fahrenheit, 45 minutes, add glaze and bake at 400° Fahrenheit for 15 more minutes. If you want to see how I make a Mushroom and Swiss with Leftover Meatloaf, CLICK HERE!
Full 36 Bottle wooden wine wrack against a small wall in my kitchen.
The Easiest Way to Bottle and Store Wine
This is the Fourth installment to my “How to make Wine” video and blog post series. If you’ve missed the other posts and video tutorials, refer to the link above to get caught up. So far we’ve gone through the “Primary Stage” and the “Secondary Stage” of wine making. We also spent some time with Clarifying your wine and now I’m going to teach you the easiest and best ways to bottle and store your homemade wine.
The amzchef Juicing machine.
Sponser’s for this Post
I was approached by a marketing department to advertise a few products for them. I only agreed to help them because these are directly related to the wine making and storing process.
In the first video of this series, I mentioned that it wasn’t a good idea to blend your fruit but a juicer could be used. So, I looked into this Juicer and it’s exactly what you need for a higher juice yield, when you’re making wine.
This particular machine uses an auger, much like an auger in a meat grinder. Fruit is dropped through the top until it reaches the re claimer and the the auger takes over by feeding and pressing the fruit into the juicer; which separates the pulp from the juice. Both of which are still needed to make your wine so, DO NOT throw the pulp out. Just add them to the bucket the way I demonstrated, in that first wine making video, using the press.
You can purchase one of these Juicer’s HERE using this temporary 20% off Discount code: CX37QTNA
I also received a BODEGA wine cooler from the same marketing group. Again, I’m waiting for the links and discount codes for it as well but, these refrigeration units are ideal for anyone that doesn’t have a basement or a wine cellar; where it’s most often cooler than the rest of the house.
Anyone that can’t afford those kinds of luxuries can possibly find it worth their while to pick up a unit like this to store their wine instead. These units maintain an efficient and stable environment, for wine, set at an exact and constant temperature and runs on only 95 watts of power.
Dark and light wines will vary with different temperatures and your personal tastes will, of course, play a roll in that but this cooler, in particular, ranges between 41° and 68° Fahrenheit in the settings. Warmer temperatures can be set for the red wines and colder chills for the whites.
Personally, I don’t buy wine. I make it. Wine can be very expensive to buy but, in my opinion, it doesn’t make my wine-making any less valuable and it’s worth protecting. I put a lot of work into my process and there’s nothing more valuable in this world than time.
If you’re not into wine or making wine, clearly something like this doesn’t make sense for you. But, if you’re like me and you’re really finding the joy in picking up a hobby like this, that you can enjoy all year long, a wine cooler can really protect your investment.
You can purchase this Wine Cooler HERE with this temporary 20% off discount code: BSLX-77LMQT-CVG9AT
PMGK Homemade wine, bottled and stacked on wine racks in a wine cooler.
Bottling and Storing
In this tutorial, I show you how to bottle wine from a 1 gallon carboy to 750 ml wine bottles. I demonstrate how to siphon and cork the wine using a cheap wine siphon and a Portuguese wine corker. I show you how easy it is to spruce up your bottles with cheap pvc shrink wrap and labels. I also advise you on the type of conditions and environment that is more suitable for wine by demonstrating the use of a wine cooler.
You need to know, however, the proper temperatures that each wine should be properly stored. Though, it would be nice to have a cool basement, a wine cellar or, indeed, a wine cooler like the one I’m advertising, sometimes none of these things are practical. So, let’s dive into next best practice’s.
Dark places are you’re best friend when it comes to the preservation of wine. This means under desks, in corners or closets. Even boxed up will make all the difference. Light, sunlight, in particular, will destroy the wine. That’s why most wines are placed in dark green or brown bottles and wine coolers are made with double pane smoked glass, for protection.
Vibration or constant movement needs to be avoided and heat. So, a basement may be dark and humid for your wine, but if it’s being stored near a furnace or heater, you’re going to quickly ruin your wine. Also, placing a wine cooler in a garage to store your wine, is another bad idea.
Wine bottling, corking and labeling materials for properly storing wine.
Most garage’s lack insulation and, in the Spring, Summer and Fall months, can quite possibly be warmer than any other room in your house. Though you may be thinking,”Hence, the refrigerator”, it’s a bad idea and here’s why.
A compressor will be constantly battling the temperature of the garage to maintain the temperature of your wine. A 30° variance will make your cooler work harder and quite possibly blow the motor, void the warranty and, most likely, ruin you’re wine before you even discover it.
Wine bottles should be stored on their sides. Everyone knows this but do they know why? It keeps the cork wet which in turn keeps it expanded for a tighter fit. The last thing you need is oxygen slipping into your wine and turning it into vinegar.
Any wine should be stored at a minimum of 70° Fahrenheit and much lower for some reds and most white wines and or champagne. 55° F is a nice happy medium and the average temp many red wines should be stored at. 41° F on up is optimal for most light wines and, of course, your own personal tastes will be a factor as well. Many of the tannin’s in darker wine’s can effect the flavor if they’re not stored at the right temperatures so, you can refer to this chart if you’re worried about it.
Wine Serving Temperature Chart
How to make Wine part 4 – Bottling and Storing Wine video tutorial by PoorMansGourmetKitchen
