Meatloaf with Spicy Tomato Sauce

MEATLOAF

Serves 4

250g minced beef
10-12 streaky rashers, stretched with the back of a knife if they’re short
4 streaky rashers, finely chopped
1 fat garlic clove, crushed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
Couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
Couple tbsps tomato sauce
Tsp dried oregano
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

• First, fry off the chopped rashers and allow to cool on kitchen paper. In the same pan gently fry the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent but not brown, allow this to cool also.
• Put your mince into a bowl add a handful of the breadcrumbs, the egg, tomato sauce, oregano, Worcestershire and seasoning. To this add the cooled onion and bacon and combine well – I find it easiest to use my hands for this. If it is still too wet add more breadcrumbs. To test your seasoning is ok you can fry off a small pattie to taste now.
• In the meantime, line a greased 2lb loaf tin or dish with the remaining streaky rashers leaving some overhang on the edges of the dish. Spoon in the mince mixture, spread it out and press it down firmly and cover over with the overhanging rashers. Put the dish into a bain marie (basically a larger roasting dish with the water between a quarter and half the ways up the tin) and cover loosely with foil. Place into a preheated oven at 180C/fan 160C for approximately an hour and half.
• You want the mince to be fully cooked but juicy so every now and then empty out the fat that will accumulate in the dish. For the last half hour take the foil off and take the loaf out of the dish and place onto the foil on a separate tray so that the rashers colour and crisp up on the 3 sides. Let it sit for 10 or 15mins while before you slice it, it’s nicer and slices easier when cooler.
  
• I either serve this with cubed, crispy potatoes or pasta with a spicy tomato sauce. It is also nice the next day thinly sliced with a smear of the tomato sauce in a sandwich.

Spicy Tomato Sauce 

This sauce is simple. Just gently fry off some chopped onion, chopped red chilli, (as much or as little as you like only you know how much heat you can take!) and chopped garlic. Add a tin of tomatoes, couple tbsp tomato purée, good pinch of dried oregano, tbsp each of Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar, couple tsps of sugar and plenty of seasoning. Let the sauce bubble away until nice and lusciously thick. Blend to a smooth and thick sauce and eat!

Some Recent dinner pics - recipes to follow

Chickpea & Vegetable Enchiladas

Meatloaf with Spicy Pasta

Beef Chilli

When I'm in the mood for something spicy I find a beef chilli can go a long way. It's a quick enough dinner to cook as well. You'll need:

• Minced Beef
• Onion, finely chopped
• Garlic, finely chopped
• Chilli Powder
• Chilli Flakes
• Paprika
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Coriander
• Tinned Tomatoes
• Tomato purée
• Splash of Worcestershire sauce
• Splash of Balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper
• Mix of chopped peppers, red, yellow & green

I fry off the mince and strain out any excess fat that comes off it. Then add the rest of the ingredients including a tin of water. Bring to the boil and let it bubble for around 20mins.

At this stage, I'd taste it for heat and spices. If needs more of anything add it in, its probably wise to be cautious with spicing at the beginning.  You can add but you can't take away. The longer this cooks the better it gets and is even nicer on the second day, so give it at least an hour. I don't add the peppers until near the end of the cooking time, I like them to have a bit of bite and texture to them.

I ate it on a flat bread with some crunchy salad and grated cheese. Very moreish indeed and pretty healthy too, once you don't add extra oil.

Steak & Cheese Sub

We got some steak on offer in Dunnes Stores tonight and found some tasty looking soft baps in Aldi so we decided on a Steak and cheese sub. It's kind of inspired by the Subway steak and cheese except we know exactly what is going into this one!

Thinly sliced green peppers and red onions with a spicy mayonnaise. I mixed some Sriracha with light mayo.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I marinaded the steak in olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and sliced garlic. The garlic was meant to be a background tone so that's why I left it fairly big and it was left behind in the dish and not cooked with the steaks.
 

Mr. Chops had jalapenos with his sub but I didn't. I'm not a fan of jalapenos and when Mr. Chops has stuff hot, he has it really hot!!!!
 
I cooked the steaks for longer than normal as I'd usually have them medium but for a sub I think that they have to be slightly over medium. It took about 5mins to cook the steak and while they were sizzling in the pan I toasted the soft buns in the oven. I slit the buns open and put a good grating of Wexford mature cheddar into them with a good grating of Parmesan on top and let them heat in the oven. The buns got the same amount of time in the oven as the steaks got on the hob.
 
To assemble the sub, smear a big swipe of sauce across the base, then layer on in this order: steak, red onion, peppers, jalapenos and finally lettuce. Then spread your chops as wide as possible to get the biggest bite you can, fairly delicious I tells ya. So delicious, Mr. Chops now wants to do his version! Imitation is the highest form of flattery I've heard.
 
 

 
Mr. Chops Steak & Cheese sub
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is mine, only difference is there's no jalapenos. The sauce on top was an afterthought, there was a little left and I hate waste!!!

Spiced Beef Patties

I think I see a pattern developing! We like spice in this house and it seems to creep into a lot of our meals. I suppose it's the fact that I'm dieting I'm trying to find as many ways as possible to make my dinners exciting and flavoursome. So last night it was some Spiced Beef Patties.

Mix some beef mince with big pinches of paprika, cumin, chilli powder, chilli flakes, tomato sauce or puree, finely chopped garlic, a small handful of breadcrumbs to bind and plenty of salt and pepper. Shape into patties and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. Cook them straight from the fridge they'll hold their shape better.

Fry the patties in some oil until cooked through about 15mins or so. Serve either with pitta breads or a flatbread (again!!!) and some chargrilled peppers, onions and a spoonful of mayonnaise.

Food hugs!

Stew again today. As I said Mr. Chops did the dindins yesterday and am I glad he did. I know its hardly the spirit of the blog to not cook but a girl is entitled to a couple of days off every now and then. Well maybe staying up watching the Emmys wasn't the best idea either. Mr. Chops is now very content with his nice feed and even Doggie Chops is chilling out. It was a flavour-filled mince stew. Homely and comforting to the last.

Mr. Chops fried off some mince, drained the excess fat off it, then added roughly chopped potatoes, carrots, onions, dried mixed herbs, a veg and a beef stock cube, Chef brown sauce, tomato sauce, lashings of salt & pepper and a enough water to just cover the meat. The mixture can be left to bubble quietly away on the hob for as long as you like and is better eaten the next day. Have it with a nice crusty roll or really fresh white sliced bread that's been generously buttered.

Tonight's dinner

Well it was made last night by the Mr. Chops but the overnight resting did it nothing but favours. It was a delicious, heartwarming beef stew. It basically consisted of:


Stewing beef - Onions - Large chunks of carrots - Baby new potatoes - Couple of tsps Dried mixed herbs (Goodalls brand) - Couple tsps Dried parsley - Vegetable stock, to cover meat - Dashes of balsamic & Worcestershire sauce - Tomato sauce - Chef's brown sauce - Bay leaves - Salt & Pepper - Pinch of nutmeg

All cooked slowly for about 3 hours until the meat is breaking apart and the veg are lovely and soft.

We made proper gluttons of ourselves and had some stoneground brown bread with lashings of butter on top. I couldn't finish it all and I'm stuffed now so I'm only slowing making my way through some rosé.