New-Wave Loco Moco

I bet you're looking at the photo above thinking, "What the hell is that square thingy that looks like food?" Well my friends, that is a Loco Moco. Now I know it looks nothing like the typical Loco Moco that's served at restaurants and fast-food joints all over the islands of Hawaii, but I had a last-minute dinner party to prepare and due to work responsibilities and other mundane errands I had to make, I completely forgot to go to the supermarket. 

So as I find myself doing more often these days, I raided my fridge in search of ingredients I could use to whip up something elegant, or at least presentable and fit enough for a dinner party. Leftover ground beef? Check. Eggs? Check. Rice? Yep, lots of that. 

Immediately I thought Loco Moco! With the instant gravy mix I had sitting in the back of the cupboard behind the cans of spam ( just 3 days before its expiration date ), I had all the ingredients necessary to make this old Hawaiian favorite. But I couldn't just nonchalantly throw this together for a dinner party could I? 

So I got to thinking again, to try and figure out how I could amp it up to a level of dinner party presentability. As you can see, I've simply layered the rice and hamburger into a mold. The rest is pretty much standard Loco Moco, with the addition of some colorful garnish to make it look like haute-cuisine. 

In the end, it turned out well and my friends raved about the dish, however in regards to taste, it's really just your typical Loco Moco. Maybe next time I'll change it up a bit, perhaps spiking the gravy with some tabasco or something. At least I had fun with this in the kitchen. 

Ingredients 

2 cups steamed rice

2 cups ground beef

1/f cup fine bread crumbs

5 eggs

1 packet gravy mix

salt and pepper

2-3 shakes worcestershire sauce

Instructions

1.Cook the rice

2.Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.

3.Put ground beef in bowl with 1 egg, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Mix with hands until combined. 

4.Prepare the mold by greasing all sides with a little oil or butter. You can also use a non-stick mold. 

5.Add a tablespoon of cooked rice into the bottom of the mold. Flatten with back of spoon. 

6.Add a tablespoon of ground beef mixture and place on top of the rice layer. Flatten with spoon.

7.Repeat the rice layer, followed by another layer of meat mixture. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon.

8.Back in overn for 35 minutes or until meat is done.

9.Make the gravy by following packet instructions. You can opt to use homemade gravy if you like. Add Worcestershire sauce to taste.