This Shiitake Meatloaf recipe is a modification of NomNom Paleo’s Asian meatballs. I have made it several times before and it was delicious. The only gripe I have is that making 36 little balls took a while.

The good thing with the little balls is that they cook faster than a big chunk of meatloaf. But, given the choice between waiting around and making 3 dozen round balls. I’ll choose the waiting around. That way, I can use my time to do something else.

Since I’m limiting the recipes to 5 ingredients, I only picked the 5 essential ingredients. (such as the meat, you can’t have meatloaf without the meat)

Ingredients:

• 2 pound of Ground Meat (beef, pork, turkey, or bison or any ground meat you have on hand, I’m using 1 pound of beef and 1 pound of pork)
• 1 chopped Onion (medium sized)
• 1 chopped Sweet Potato (small sized)
• 1-1.5 cup chopped Shiitake Mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp of Fish Sauce
• Salt and Pepper

I am using more Shiitake Mushrooms than the original recipe.  Why? Because I like the smell and texture of it and I have half a freezer full of it. So, I want to use them up so badly (Ha!) Plus, Shiitake Mushroom has many health benefits.  (No wonder my mom always made sure that I have a ton of it)

With my cooking I’m not very strict in following certain recipes. I often adjust it to my preference (or situation). In my opinion, cooking should be easy and flexible.  This way, we are more inclined to cook (which is healthier than buying take out)

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 375F
• Put the ground meat in a big bowl (it is okay to combine two different kind of meat, really! The food police will not arrest you)
• Chop the Shiitake Mushroom in the food processor and put it the big meat bowl.

• Chop the Sweet Potato and put it in the big meat bowl. (Don’t bother peeling the sweet potato, you won’t see and taste the skin. Besides, it’s good for you. But you need to wash it well)

• Chop the Onion and put it in the big meat bowl (Don’t bother rinsing the food processor in between chopping, they’re all going to the same bowl)

• Pour 2 Tbsp of Fish Sauce, add some salt and pepper.
• Mix everything well (You can use your hand but I’m using my mixer, because I don’t like getting my hands dirty and smelly. Yes I’m weird like that).

• Transfer to meatloaf pans.

• I happen to have some Prosciutto so I’m putting some on top. You can also put bacon. This step is optional.

• Bake for about 30 minutes until everything is cooked.

Tips:

• Buy good quality fish sauce, because good quality fish sauce tastes so much better and can make your dish delicious just by itself. Good quality fish sauce also doesn’t have additives.  Notice that the only seasoning I have here are fish sauce, salt and pepper. If you don’t want to fuss with a lot of different seasoning you need to make sure the ones that you use pack a lot of flavors.
• This meatloaf goes well with my mashed fauxtato recipe.