As you are accustomed by now, after the translation of the recipe in Romanian, comes the original English one. This is a personal’s Josceline Dimbleby’s variation of the American type of meat loaf from her book “Marvellous Meals with Mince”, 1982. She recommends to try it with baked potatoes, cooked in the oven at the same time, and a green salad or baby carrots. Or all at the same time, I say. You can also check her other recipes I followed, such as beef and anchovy meatballs with soured cream , cheesy fish cakes with spring onions , mousaka with Gruyère cheese . In Romania there is something similar to this recipe, called “drob” and it has a whole egg inside, plus it is made with lamb meat. For a variation, you can follow this traditional drob , but please use Google translate or any other app for translating because it is in Romanian. I chose this recipe over other as I find it very easy to follow and I also learn some interesting facts, too, that are said the way I understand and like. 🙂
Meat Loaf with Blue Cheese Filling
Serves 4-5
Ingredients:
- 450 g/ 1 lb beef mince (please buy good quality beef and mince it at home or at the shop, if you want to)
- 75 g/ 3 oz finely chopped mushrooms
- 50 g/ 2 oz fresh breadcrumbs
- 100 g/ 4 oz streaky bacon, chopped finely
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped finely
- 1 tsp/ 5 ml oregano or thyme
- 3 tbsp / 3×15 ml tomato ketchup (the book mentions this but I find it hard to believe, though I may be wrong too, that it is the ketchup we know today and it might be the tomato juice with pulp made at home or bought)
- 1 large egg (size 1-2), beaten
- salt and black pepper
For the filling:
- 100 g/ 4 oz Danish blue cheese (you can replace with any other blue cheese I guess, if you like)
- 1 tbsp/ 15 ml single cream or top of the milk (I find it hard to understand this top of the milk but probably others do)
- 1 egg, beaten
- a good pinch of cayenne pepper
- 3 tbsp/ 3×15 ml tomato ketchup (same as above)
- a few sprigs of parsley, to garnish
Method:
- In a bowl mix all the ingredients (except those for the filling) together thoroughly and season well with salt and pepper. Grease a 2 lb (1 kg) loaf tin. Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4/ 180°C, 350°F.
- Spoon half the mixture into the bread tin. Crumble the cheese in a small bowl, mix well with the cream or top of the milk and beaten egg and add the cayenne pepper. Spread this on the layer of meat in the tin. Spoon the remaining meat mixture evenly on top. Bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour and then remove from the oven.
- Turn up the oven to Gas Mark 9/ 240°C, 475°F. Loosen the sides of the loaf with a knife and turn it out very gently on to an ovenproof serving dish. Smear the loaf all over with the tomato ketchup and put back into the oven, cooking for 10-15 minutes. Serve garnished with sprigs of parsley.
Enjoy your meal!
Elena G
Sweet Nothings 