meatloaf with lots of flavor
this meatloaf recipe is always a hit in our house. the final dish is finished in a tomato sauce which compliments the meatloaf well.
Ingredients for 6
- 1 1/3 pounds of lean, finely ground beef
- 3 1/2 ounces of white bread (or bread crumbs)
- 3 1/2 ounces of Parmesan cheese
- 3 1/2 ounces of Mortadella
- 1/2 cup of whole milk
- 1 egg
- 1 can (14 oz) of peeled whole tomatoes
- handful of parsley
- ground nutmeg
- salt and ground black pepper
how to prepare, taken from the video
Start by soaking the bread in the whole milk, you may need a little more milk depending on what kind of bread you use. it’s important that all the bread has absorbed the milk.
Putting that aside begin to chop-up the mortadella into small pieces, rolling the slices together make it easier to cut up.
Next chop-up the parsley.
Then add them both into the bowl with the ground beef.
After the mortadella and parsley, add in the parmesan cheese and one egg.
Now strain the bread and add it in as well.
Finish the polpettone mix by adding in some ground nutmeg, pepper and a little salt.
With all the ingredients ready begin to mix them by hand, kneading everything together well, making sure that the ingredients are well distributed within the beef.
Next take half the mix and form a loaf shape and gently roll it in some flour making sure it’s lightly coated.
I’m making two smaller size meatloafs, i find this way they cook faster than one large one. I also like the presentation of two smaller ones.
Now it’s time to saute the meat loafs by cooking them in a large frying pan with some olive oil. Doing this helps seal up the meat loafs so they can slowly cook later and not loose anything.
Gently turn the meat loafs so they brown all the way around. This may take 10-to-15 minutes.
Once they’re good and browned all the way around add in a can of crushed peeled tomatoes, stirring the tomatoes around the meat loafs.
Then put the lid on and let them simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes turn them over and let them simmer for another 20 minutes without the lid until they are done.
They’re ready to serve.
it's about italian food
and sharing how we make it from our kitchen in florence, italy. we enjoy cooking and learning new recipes and hope you will too. buon appetito, and thanks for stopping by. more
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what does 'al dente' really mean
to the tooth, or so your teeth can feel it. ‘dente’ means tooth in italian and ‘al’ means ‘too’ in this case. when eating spaghetti if the center is slightly hard the teeth will feel it.
tomatoes and history
History and distribution of tomatoes from wikipedia. In italy it reads “Eventually the peasant classes discovered that it could be eaten when more desirable food was scarce”. More desirable foods must of been meat dishes.
season to taste
Taste is important, following recommendations of a recipe are good but not always the way you may like it. Look over the ingredients to see which are going to add more seasoning than others, like bacon or pancetta which will add a saltly flavor when cooked.
farm fresh
If you live in a city or town that has local farmstands or a store that sells locally grown produce it’s worth the extra trip. some of the best produce we’ve been lucky to cook with has come from some of these small growers and sellers.
