Halloween Meatloaf Fun

Man, I am a bad food blogger! I swear, I have cooked in the past 3 months! For Halloween, I made these meatloaf hands. I got the idea from notmartha.com (great website). They used a hand mold to sculpt the shape, but I just did it by hand. I used my standard meatloaf recipe, which you can change to a turkey loaf, added onions for the fingernails and wrist bones and added provolone cheese to create the burnt skin look. Tip: always pull your meat out 5-10 degrees cooler then what you want it to be, it will continue to cook as it rests. Also, you can hide imperfections in the shape of the hand by piping mashed potatoes around it.

Meat Hands (makes 2 hands)

1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/3 cup whole milk
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium celery rib, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

4 sliced of bacon, diced

1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck

1/2 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 onion

4 slices provolone cheese

1/2 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Soak bread crumbs in milk in a large bowl. Meanwhile, cook onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, allspice, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Add to bread-crumb mixture. Add bacon to onion mixture along with beef, pork, eggs, and parsley and mix together with your hands. Shape into 2 hands. Slice onion into a fingernail shape and attach to the meatloaf. Spread ketchup on the top of the hands. Tear provolone and cover the entire meat hand, except the fingernails. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.