When you think of a layered dish like a cake or casserole, you probably imagine something with all of the ingredients layered horizontally. Well, what about taking a different angle – say, vertically? This recipe features a hearty savory pie made with vertical layers of perfectly seasoned ground beef and silky smooth mashed potatoes. As if that doesn’t sound delicious enough, this dish gets finished off with a heavenly melted camembert core. Show up to the next family dinner with this vertical layer meatloaf pie, and your relatives’ jaws are sure to drop as soon as they catch a glimpse of the cross section!
Vertical Layer Meatloaf Pie with Bacon, Mashed Potatoes, and a Camembert Core
Equipment
- Springform pan
- Baking tray
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 4.5 cups bread crumbs
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp marjoram
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp pepper
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tbsp onion powder
- 5.5 lbs potatoes, peeled & cooked
- 3 eggs
- 0.33 cup corn starch
- salt, pepper & nutmeg to taste
- 2 x 8 oz camembert wheels
- 4 oz bacon, chopped & fried
- 0.25 cup crispy fried onions
Instructions
- For the meatloaf layers, mix the ground beef together with the herbs, spices, bread crumbs, and eggs. Grease a baking tray and spread the ground beef mixture on it so that it forms an even layer slightly less than an inch thick. Cover the baking tray with plastic wrap, transfer it to the freezer, and freeze the meatloaf layer for 2 hours.
- For the mashed potatoes, peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water. Once the potatoes become tender, drain them and mash them, then stir in the eggs, corn starch, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. For the camembert core, cut off the top of both camembert wheels.
- Press the open ends of the 2 camembert wheels together and place them in the center of an 11-inch springform pan.
- Spread a layer of mashed potatoes evenly around the edge of the camembert wheels.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and take the meatloaf layer out of the freezer. Using a pizza cutter, cut the meatloaf layer into even strips so that they're each roughly as thick as the height of the springform pan.
- Wrap a strip of the meatloaf layer around the first layer of mashed potatoes, then spread a layer of mashed potatoes around the outside of the layer of ground beef.
- Repeat this process 4 more times until the entire springform pan is filled. Place the ring around the springform pan and secure it in place.
- Spoon some mashed potatoes on top of the vertical layer meatloaf pie, then smooth them out evenly.
- Transfer the springform pan to the oven and bake the vertical layer meatloaf pie at 325°F for 2 hours. Top everything off with pieces of fried bacon and crispy fried onions, then dig in while the camembert core is still melted.
VIDEO
Once you catch a glimpse of the ooey, gooey camembert core in this vertical layer pie, you’ll be dying for a slice. Between its layers of seasoned ground beef, silky mashed potatoes, and its cheesy center, this delicious new comfort food can’t be beat.