The other night, I made meatloaf. Sadly, I failed to remember that I didn’t have either Worcestershire sauce or ketchup to use in it. So, I made do with a combination of dark soy sauce, anchovies and tomato jam. Yep, I finally found a way to use some of my tomato jam from last summer’s experiment.

The goal in making meatloaf was to have leftovers for sandwiches. Well, that wasn’t a problem. We still have about 1/2 of a meatloaf left over. I’m still happy, though. Meatloaf sandwiches are fantastic. And my new meatloaf sandwich creation is easily my new favorite way to eat the stuff.

Brian calls it a kind of patty melt. I just call it good. It’s a slice of meatloaf topped with caramelized onions and mushrooms placed between two slices of a potato roll that have blue cheese dressing spread on them. The combination can’t be beat. The sandwich is what you would expect from a great brew pub. It certainly isn’t healthy, but I’m not worrying. It’s not like I eat it very often.

The sauteed onions and mushrooms put the sandwich over the top. The method is one I learned from my friend’s father, John, while visiting them in Carmel, Calif., a couple of years ago. We had a fantastic dinner of steak topped with onions and mushrooms, homemade onion rings and a nice bottle of wine. John said a chef friend of his had given him lots of cooking tips, including this one, over the years. While you’re sauteing an entire onion and 1/2 pound of mushrooms in a tablespoon or so of olive oil (or butter) add a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar. Let it reduce, and you have yourself pretty much the best accompaniment to your steak. Or, in my case, meatloaf sandwich.

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