Behold, The Italian Meat Bowl
I have always been a fan of over-the-top dishes. The more audacious the better. A few years ago, I came up with the "Italian Meat Bowl". It's an Italian meat loaf shaped like a bowl, covered in spaghetti and sauce, then topped with grated Parmesan. I've also tried using less pasta, topping it with mozzarella, and baking it for a few minutes to melt the cheese. That version had the best presentation, but dried out the pasta and had too much meat. This version, with a heaping pile of spaghetti, has the best ratio of meat to pasta. Behold, the Italian Meat Bowl...
Read on for the recipe and more pics.
To make this monstrosity, mold your Italian meat loaf like this. I used about a half pound of ground chuck and followed a recipe close to this one.
After you bake it for 10 minutes at 350, ladle some sauce into the bowl.
Then you top it with spaghetti (don't rinse it!), more sauce, and Parmesan. Here's another angle.
--Spanno
Don in AZ on July 09, 2008 at 04:49 PM
Nothing wrong or odd about that at all. In fact, it looks darn appetizing!
jpt on July 09, 2008 at 05:51 PM
Sign me up.
K T Cat on July 09, 2008 at 06:38 PM
Nauseating.
Randy Rager on July 09, 2008 at 07:28 PM
Sure, to a frilly little pantywaist that likes-a the cats. Meanwhile, all the real men are celebrating another culinary success.
Randy Rager on July 09, 2008 at 07:29 PM
Sure, to a frilly little pantywaist that likes-a the cats. Meanwhile, all the real men are celebrating another culinary success.
K T Cat on July 09, 2008 at 07:32 PM
Yo, Mr. Randy "Pansy" Rager, after a few snorts of my catnip cigar, I can rip your arms off!
:-)
Seriously, I looked at this picture after having eaten some lasagna.
Horrible.
Edinaroxy on July 09, 2008 at 07:34 PM
What a great idea! I am going to try this real soon. Thankyou for the idea I love the way it looks.
Edinaroxy on July 09, 2008 at 07:35 PM
What a great idea! I am going to try this real soon. Thankyou for the idea I love the way it looks.
Tinian on July 09, 2008 at 08:08 PM
Looks good, but it needs some hot Italian sausage to make it complete.
Ken Church on July 09, 2008 at 09:28 PM
I understand that the chef, once having completed his dirty work, was overtaken with apoplexy, fell to the floor and gagged to death in a pool of drool. His dying words were, "God, it tasted like Mom's cooking!!"
Ken Church on July 09, 2008 at 09:29 PM
I understand that the chef, once having completed his dirty work, was overtaken with apoplexy, fell to the floor and gagged to death in a pool of drool. His dying words were, "God, it tasted like Mom's cooking!!"
Randy Rager on July 10, 2008 at 06:39 AM
Sure thing, sugartits. Whatever you say.
Smitch on July 10, 2008 at 09:30 AM
You could use a big muffin tin (for big muffins, not a big tin) and make smaller but more bowl-like meatbowls. Meatcups? Cupmeats? Doesn't have the play on words like meatbowl.
Anyway, maybe with a deeper bowl, you could mix pasta in the sauce and do your baked pasta idea.