Meatloaf is one of those things that I just kept hearing about over the years, mostly from all those America TV shows and movies. After hearing so much about it and how much the Americans seem to love it, I had to give it a try. I’ve never had any meatloaf other than my own, which is based on a number of recipes and some fine tuning to my own tastes, so I’m not entirely sure how close it is to the “traditional meatloaf”. I’ve tried this a few ways; I’ve tried it with beef mince and pork sausage meat, I’ve tried it with just pork mince but the way I prefer to do it is with an equal mix of beef mince and pork mince, with a little bit of bacon for good measure – because everything tastes better with a bit of bacon.
Meatloaf is quite easy to make, most of the time is taken up in the oven. It’s also quite nice cold so you can make it a few days in advance if you need to. Enjoy the recipe and if there are any Americans (or anyone who’s really into meatloaf) reading then please leave some feedback.
Ingredients (Serves 4):
500g Beef Mince
500g Pork Mince
6 Rashers of Smoked Streaky Bacon
1 Slice of Stale Bread
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Large Onion
1 Egg
1 tsp English Mustard
1 tsp Tomato Puree
Small bunch of Fresh Sage
Sea Salt & Pepper
Garlic Potatoes:
750g Potatoes (Maris Piper / Charlotte / Baby New)
Half a head of Garlic
2 Red Onions
100g unsalted Butter
Method:
1. Finely chop the onion, garlic and sage and mix in a large bowl with both types of mince and the slice of bread all crumbled up. Add in some salt and pepper too.
2. Add in the mustard and tomato puree along with the egg and mix well.
3. Now place the mixture into a loaf tin and pack it down firmly. Place the rashers of bacon on top of the meatloaf, ensuring that none of the mix hangs out over the edge of the tin.
4. Cover the meatloaf with tinfoil and place it in a larger roasting tin. Fill the larger roasting tin with boiling water, until it comes to about halfway up the loaf tin. Shove that in a preheated oven at 160C for about 2 hours.
5. Once the 2 hours are up take the meatloaf out of the oven and let it sit on a cooling rack – keep the foil on to ensure that it stays warm (unless you are planning on having it cold)
6. After about 20mins cooling you should be able to slice up the meatloaf, serve with the potatoes.
Garlic Potatoes:
1. Peel your potatoes and cut them into roughly even sizes (typically into quarters) then place the potatoes in a pan of salted water and bring to the boil.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, slice up the red onions, cube the butter and then finely dice the garlic.
3. When you can stick a fork through the potatoes with minimal resistance then your potatoes are done. Drain them and add in the butter along with some salt and pepper.
4. Next add in the garlic and red onions and return the pan to a medium heat. Gently mix the potatoes in the garlic butter. Once the onions have softened it’s done. Check the seasoning and add more if required.
Tips:
Don’t overcook the potatoes, otherwise when you are cooking them in the butter they will end up as mash. That’s why I suggest using Charlotte or Baby New potatoes as they are a bit more waxy and are less likely to fall apart.
Ensure the meatloaf is properly cooked though. If you squeeze it with a fork, the juices should run clear.
Any left over meatloaf can be kept in the fridge and eaten cold in a sandwhich the next day.