Baked Beef & Cheese meatloaf with Baby Arugula tossed in a Pesto Vinaigrette

April 24, 2019:  This was my favourite meal from the entire recent Chefs Plate order!  This was a Baked Beef & Cheese meatloaf with Baby Arugula tossed in a Pesto Vinaigrette.  Described as an “elevated classic,” the homestyle beef meatloaf was baked with a gooey cheese topping and paired with a fresh arugula salad.  A basil pesto vinaigrette was then drizzled over the crispy potatoes and meatloaf. 

This was so easy to make (definitely confirms the difficulty level of “easy”) and has a stated cooking time of 35 minutes.

Nutrition facts for this dish

Ingredients and recipe card delivered straight to your home

Lean ground beef (10 oz)

This was easy to make in part because everything was done in the oven (no need for extra pans to be washed!).

Recipe card with everything that you need to make this dish

Step by step instructions

As with the recent recipes that I’ve made with Chefs Plate involving the oven, make sure you preheat your oven to 450° F first.

First, bake the one-inch cut-up pieces of potatoes and put them in the oven for 28 minutes.  Since you’ll be tossing them halfway, set the timer for 10 minutes (as this is the perfect time to put in the meatloaf, so that both the potatoes and meatloaf can be baked together).

Baking the potatoes

Preparing the meatloaf to be baked

Next, prepare and bake the meatloaf.  For the meatloaf, combine the beef, Meatloaf Spice Mix (garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, Worcestershire powder, breadcrumbs), half of the mustard, half of the cheese, and two tablespoons of water, as well as salt and pepper together.  On a baking sheet (we used aluminum foil), put the beef mixture together and form it into a one-inch thick loaf with your hands.  Bake this meatloaf on the upper rack of the oven for 20 minutes.

Everything cooked in the oven for this recipe

While the potatoes and meatloaf are cooking in the oven, make the basil pesto vinaigrette and salad dressing.  Stir together the container of pesto, remaining vinegar, and one tablespoon of oil for the basil pesto vinaigrette.  Whisk together half of the vinegar, remaining mustard, half a teaspoon of sugar, and two tablespoons of oil for the salad dressing.

Basil pesto vinaigrette made

Salad dressing for the salad

Once the oven has beeped to let you know it’s done baking, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the meatloaf and return it back to the oven for about 2 minutes for the cheese to melt.

Cheese on top of meatloaf to be melted

And then finally, toss the salad with the salad dressing, slice up the meatloaf, and serve it with the potatoes and arugula salad on your plate.  Drizzle the basil pesto vinaigrette over your meatloaf and potatoes, and it’ll be ready to eat.  I love these easy recipes!

Such a generous portion!

Not only was this recipe so simple to make, but it was also 100% delicious!  This was my first time making meatloaf.  I enjoy meatloaf but rarely eat them (I don’t often see it served in restaurants).

When cooking, it didn’t seem like the portion was going to be very big (especially since there was only one potato included), but after plating it, the portion turned out to be very generous and definitely filling for two people.

Serves two meat lovers

The basil pesto vinaigrette was delicious

The meatloaf was so tender and moist yet not salty.  It was so delicious.  The meatloaf definitely was the perfect pairing with the light arugula salad.  The crispy potatoes were also great (been eating so much more potatoes recently with these Chefs Plate selections coincidentally).  The basil pesto vinaigrette was a tangy and tarty sauce that went nicely with the meatloaf (great pairing!).

This was a really straight-forward and delicious recipe created by the Chefs Plate team.  I hope they have more meatloaf recipes in the future (or similar recipes)!

If you want to try Chefs Plate for yourself with four free plates, click this link.  You can choose from a list of six dishes (from a weekly changing menu) and will receive all of the ingredients and recipe cards to cook the dishes in the comfort of your own home.  The free plates will be deducted from your checkout cart automatically.  Happy cooking!