Frank Davis New - Full Recipe

	Who says meat loaf always has to be fashioned into the shape of a concrete block or St. Joe Brick? Why can't a delicate ground beef mixture be gently patted into muffin tins and succulently roasted into individual "meat muffins?" Well, I'm here to tell you that they can be. . .'cuz I do it all the time! Want to run a batch past your family for size? Here's the recipe, complete with the dripping gravy!
Ingredients:
The Mini-Muffin Mix 3 lbs. lean ground beef 1 cup finely diced onions 1/2 cup finely sliced green onions 1/2 cup finely diced celery 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper 4 cloves finely minced garlic 1/4 cup finely minced parsley 3 whole eggs 1-1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs 1/2 cup Half-N-Half Cream 1/2 can Campbell's Chicken Broth 3 tsp. Frank Davis Beef Seasoning 1 tsp. crushed sweet basil 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. coarse-ground black pepper The Pan-Dripping Gravy Drippings from the mini-muffins 1/4 cup all purpose flour 2/3 cup finely sliced green onions 2 cloves finely minced garlic 2 Tbsp. finely minced parsley 1-2 cans Campbell's Chicken Broth 1/2 tsp. Kitchen Bouquet (if needed) Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions:
First, take a large stainless steel or glass bowl and put all of the meat mix ingredients into it. Then work everything together with your hands—a spoon won't give you the blending consistency you'll need to get a uniform mixture. Ideally, you want to take your time and create a texture that's pliable—not dry, yet not too wet either. Actually, when you can pick out a wad of meat and easily roll it to slightly smaller than tennis ball size without it sticking to your hands, you've got it right! Next, take the muffin tins you’re going to use (and if they’re Teflon-treated, all the better) and coat them liberally with Pam, Vegelene, or your favorite anti-stick vegetable spray. Then, when the meat mix is ready, lightly dip your hands in a little bowl of water and roll out a dozen "meatballs," one for each of the muffin cups in the tin. If some of the cups come up short, just add a little extra meat mixture to the tops and pat them down; if some come up too overstuffed, simply pinch off the excess and drop it back into the mixing bowl. Note: Don’t make mega-muffins by over-heaping the tins or the drippings will run all over your stove as they bake! Speaking of the stove, all that’s left once the muffin tins are filled is to and slide them onto the center rack of a preheated 350 degree oven and bake them for about 15 to 20 minutes. Be careful not to overcook them or they’ll completely dry out! Ideally, you want the muffins light, tender, and juicy! Now when their done to perfection, take a meat fork, remove them from the individual tins, set them on a warming platter, and pour off all the drippings into a 2-1/2-quart saucepan. Then sprinkle in the flour and, with a wire whip, whisk it over medium-high heat--stirring constantly--until you form a smooth brown roux. When the mixture reaches the color you want, remove the pot from the burner and stir in the onions, garlic, and parsley to flavor it and cool it down. At this point, begin adding the chicken broth to the roux to form your gravy, stirring it in thoroughly to get the consistency you desire (you may or may not want to add all the broth, and you may or may not need the Kitchen Bouquet). One word of caution here: if you pour the broth into the pot before the roux has had a chance to cool down, it could splatter and burn you! When you’re ready to eat, serve the warm meat muffins (two per person is a nice portion) alongside some homemade mashed potatoes and some smothered green beans. Of course, it goes without saying that the entire plate should be liberally ladled with the pan-dripping gravy. You might want to fine-tune the gravy seasoning by adding a touch of salt and a little crushed red pepper flakes to the pot before you serve it.
Chef's Notes:
Because you don't want an oily gravy, I don't suggest you use regular ground meat in this recipe. Lean ground round, ground chuck, or ground sirloin are your ultimate choices. Ideally, 10 per cent fat in the ground meat give you perfect flavor and texture in the muffins.
It's the Half-N-Half and the chicken broth that produces a light and tender meat muffin. Add as much to the meat mixture as you need-a little at a time-to get a pliable texture that holds the meat and bread crumbs together.
Because canned chicken broth contains some salt, I suggest you only add salt to the gravy right before you serve it.
Use the Kitchen Bouquet only in the event that you didn't brown your roux enough and you want a slightly darker gravy.
To make fresh bread crumbs, you take several slices of fresh sliced bread and run them through your food processor until they turn to fluffy crumbs.
We've done the mashed potatoes and the smothered green beans on the show many times before, so they should both be in your recipe files. If somehow you missed them, call my assistant Rob Wilson at 529-6424 and ask him to mail or fax them to you. They are not available on the website!
You can get my beef seasoning at your supermarket or you can order it from my website-the address is www.frankdavis.com.