Avocado Meatloaf

My husband, always the wit, described this as "not nearly as disgusting as one might think," We have very strict standards for meatloaf in our house. Meatloaf contains hamburger, rice krispies, ketchup and chopped onion. These standards were laid down 50 years ago, by my mother-in-law and are not to be messed with. So serving meatloaf with avocado is something close to a heresy. Or so he thinks.
This is just a normal meatloaf recipe, (not enough onion or ketchup, I think) except for the mashed avocado one adds at the end. The instructions say not to overbake it, because that will give the avocado an acid taste. Thankfully, we avoided the acid taste, although it was hard to estimate cooking times because the recipe said to cook them in a muffin pan, to get individual little meatloaves, and I cooked mine in one large loaf.
The gravy, which also contained avocado, was interesting. It instructed the cook to brown the flour in a heavy dry frying pan, but not to burn it. This is tricky. I had never browned flour before. You sprinkle it into the frying pan, put the pan on moderately high heat, and stir it constantly. When the pan gets really hot, take it off the gas and keep stirring. That's when the browning takes place.
It gives the gravy sort of a burned taste which is obliterated by the avocado. Avocado gives the gravy a thick, creamy consistancy. This is one of those "What are we going to do with all those gd____________ (fill in the blank here with your produce of choice) recipes." While most of us are not troubled with avocados to the extent that we need to invent recipes to deal with the excess, this makes a nice change from the rice krispies. But only once. Back to school tomorrow. The little nephew of The Big Snow failed to materialize.

Avocado Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf
1 egg well beaten
1 pound ground round steak
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons celery tops, finely chopped
1/4 cup catchup
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup soft breadcrumbs
1 avocado, peeled and roughly mashed
2 tablespoons parsley
Gravy
3 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/4 cup flour
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon Cheddar Cheese
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
few drops lime juice or lemon juice
1/2 avocado, peeled and roughly mashed

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine all the meat loaf ingredients, mix well and spoon into well-greased twelve-hole muffin tins. Bake twenty minutes. Do not overcook or an acid taste will develop from the avocado.
3. Meanwhile, melt one tablespoon of the butter for the gravy and saute the onion in the butter slowly until transparent. In a separate small dry skillet, brown the flour, stirring constantly, but do not allow flour to get too brown or to scorch. Add remaining butter, mix well and cool.
4. Add wilted onions to cooled flour mixture. Stir in the broth, cheese, pepper, Worcestershire and lime or lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring until thickened.
5. Add the avocado to gravy just before serving. Reheat if necessary, but do not overheat or an acid flavor will develop. Serve gravy over meat loaves.
Makes four to six servings.