Meatloaf often gets a bad rap as the dried out, tasteless dinner from our childhoods, but Meike Peters is striving to change that. Author of the James Beard Award–winning cookbook, Eat in My Kitchen: To Cook, to Bake, to Eat, and to Treat, Peters adores meatloaf, especially when eaten cold the next day—and with her version, we can see why.
To brighten things up, she adds thinly sliced leeks, plenty of crushed garlic, and a smattering of fresh thyme, rosemary, and oregano to her recipe. But the real kicker here is the layer of melty mountain cheese stuffed in the middle of the tender ground beef. Peters suggests using a nice, nutty Gruyère, but any aromatic hard cheese will do. The gooey, cheesy middle transforms this relic of a recipe into a luxe, comforting meal that's guaranteed to turn you into a meatloaf lover, not a hater. Make it tonight.
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Hilary Deutsch is digital media coordinator at the James Beard Foundation. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.
