Bourbon BBQ Meatloaf

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium red or yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
• 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
• 1/4 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup BBQ sauce, homemade or store-bought
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the chopped onion, carrot, celery, red pepper, and garlic into a food processor, and pulse until everything is finely minced. Scrape the vegetables into a large skillet with the olive oil.
2. Set the skillet over medium heat and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until the vegetables have softened and most of their moisture has cooked off.
3. Give the vegetables a few minutes to cool before you mix them into the meatloaf. Cooler is much easier to work with, and also keeps those eggs from turning into an accidental little scramble.
4. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a large bowl with all the other meatloaf ingredients, then use your hands to mix everything together thoroughly. Press the mixture into a 9x5 loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60 minutes, or until the center of the meatloaf registers 160 degrees F.
6. While the meatloaf is in the oven, make the glaze. Combine the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan and bring them to a simmer over low heat. Let the mixture simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, until it makes big bubbles and is thick enough to coat the back of a spatula or spoon. It will thicken more as it cools.
7. When the meatloaf has about five minutes left to bake, spoon 1/4 cup of the glaze over the top and let it finish cooking.
8. Let the loaf rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out and serve, or just serve it straight from the pan. Put the remaining glaze on the side so people can drizzle it over their slices.
9. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for a few days. To freeze it, slice the meatloaf first and freeze the slices individually wrapped, rather than freezing the whole loaf, which is much harder to defrost later. Warm slices in a medium-heat skillet with a drizzle of oil until heated through, 4 to 5 minutes.