Gochujang-glazed meatloaf with delicata squash

Name: Gochujang-glazed meatloaf with delicata squash
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: 10 oz ground beef; 1 egg; ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs; 2 scallions, thinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart; 3 tbsp ketchup; 2 tsp gochujang; 1 delicata squash, halved, seeded and cut into half-inch pieces; 1 red onion, cut into half-inch wedges; 1 tbsp sesame oil; 1 tbsp ponzu; 1 tsp sesame seeds; olive oil, salt, pepper

Fifteen minutes of prep, and the squash needs no peeling whatsoever.

At a Glance

Time

35 min

Serves

Story

Delicata squash is the one you do not peel. Its skin is thin enough to go tender in twenty minutes and it holds the half-moons together, so you get an edge with some chew against a soft middle. Peeling it costs you ten minutes and a set of slices that collapse into mush on the pan.

Ingredients

10 oz ground beef
1 egg
¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
2 scallionsthinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tsp gochujang
1 delicata squashhalved, seeded and cut into half-inch pieces
1 red onioncut into half-inch wedges
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp ponzu
1 tsp sesame seeds
olive oilsalt, pepper

Method

Two trays, two racks, one temperature. The glaze is split so half of it never sees the oven.

Oven to 450°F, racks in the upper and lower thirds.
Squash and onion onto a sheet pan with the sesame oil, salt and pepper. Toss, spread out, and onto the lower rack for 21 to 23 minutes.
Stir the ketchup with as much gochujang as you want. Season. Set half aside.
Line a second pan with foil and oil the middle. Mix the beef, scallion whites, panko and egg, seasoned, with a light hand. Shape into a loaf about 7 by 3 inches. Spoon the unreserved glaze over it. Upper rack, 16 to 18 minutes, to 160°F. Rest at least 2 minutes.
Roasted vegetables into a bowl with the scallion greens and the ponzu. Toss.
Slice the loaf, spoon the reserved glaze over the slices and scatter the sesame seeds. Vegetables alongside.

Reserving half the glaze is not fussiness. Glaze that has been in a 450 degree oven has lost its sharpness, and the raw spoonful at the end is what makes it taste of gochujang rather than of sweet ketchup.

On the pass