Meatloaf is a very traditional American meat dish. But it’s fast becoming popular in New Zealand because it’s easy to make and it can be used across two meals.
Linda cooked this one tonight and it looked and tasted so good I just had to share it with you.
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium brown onions chopped
- 500 g italian pork sausages
- 1 kg beef mince
- 2 cups of stale breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 egg
- 8 rindless middle cut bacon rashers
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Preheat your oven to 180˚C. Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat; add onion and cook while stirring until soft. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool.
Squeeze the sausage meat from the casings into a large bowl. Combine this with the mince, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, parsley and egg. Season well with salt and pepper. Using your hands mix it all up really well. Do this until it’s sticky!
Place a wire rack in a baking dish and lay the bacon vertically across the rack alternating the eye end of the rasher. Place the beef mixture along the bacon and shape it into a cylindrical loaf. Bring the bacon up and over to cover and wrap the beef. Alternatively you can use a loaf tin. Lay the bacon across the tin, place the mixture in and pull the bacon up and over to wrap. Either way will work.
Combine the balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. Brush this mixture over the meatloaf.
Bake for about an hour basting every 15 minutes with the glaze. If you are doing this in a tin the mixture will shrink with cooking. This is a good indication that it’s cooked. You’ll need a very sharp knife to cut the loaf if it’s still hot, or wait until cool and then the slices are more likely to retain their shape.
Serves about 4 people across two nights. Delicious and very filling. Enjoy!
