In her rather quirky new lifestyle-meets-cookery book Easy Tasty Italian (pub Quadrille £20), Laura Santtini says that meatloaf (or polpettone – literally ‘big meatball’) is one of her favourite dishes. In this recipe, which appears here with permission, the meatloaf is given a real Italian flavour with the addition of red wine, garlic, prosciutto and Parmesan cheese. The meatloaf is served with a rich sauce made from tomatoes and roasted red peppers. Laura Santtini suggests that, if you prefer, you can use the recipe to make lots of tasty little meatballs, which can be shallow fried – or added to a tomato sauce and served with spaghetti.
Italian Meatloaf with Tomato Sauce - Recipe
Ingredients
For the meatloaf
- 75g butter
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- Splash of red wine
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 200g fine beef mince
- 200g fine pork mince
- 200g fine veal mince
- 70g prosciutto crudo, very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 large egg
- 3 slices of white bread, ground into breadcrumbs in a blender
- Handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
For the rich tomato and red pepper sauce
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
- Two 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
- 200g roasted red peppers (commercial or fresh)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- ½ cinnamon stick
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and fry until soft and just beginning to colour. Splash with the red wine and cook for a couple of seconds over a high heat until the alcohol has evaporated.
- Place all the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add the fried onion mixture and use your hands to work all the ingredients together rather like a large burger mix. Season, but be careful not to add too much salt, as the flavours are already fairly salty. (As it is inadvisable to eat raw pork, Laura Santtini suggests that you make a small patty of the mixture and fry it to be able to taste that the seasoning is right.) When the seasoning is right, add the mixture to a buttered 20-23cm loaf tin.
- Place in a deep roasting pan, pour 2-3cm of boiling water around it from a kettle and cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, until the juices run clear when pierced with a skewer. If you see that the top is burning before the loaf is cooked right through, cover it with foil. Note: Instead of foil, any leftover prosciutto can be used to protect the top of the meatloaf towards the end of cooking. Some minced meat releases a lot of water, drain this throughout the cooking.
- While the meatloaf is in the oven, make the sauce: heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan, add the onion and garlic, and fry until soft and glassy but not coloured.
- Add the tomatoes and the peppers, breaking the latter up with your hands as you add them. Season and cook on a low heat for 15-20 minutes.
- When the oil begins to separate from the tomato, blend with a hand blender or in a processor. Return to the pan and add the vinegar, sugar and cinnamon stick. Season and cook uncovered on a low heat for a further 25 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking and adding a little water if it becomes too thick.
- To serve, cover the loaf tin with a hot serving plate, turn both tin and plate upside down together; tap the sides to remove the meatloaf from the mould. Cut the meat loaf into slices and serve with the sauce.
Rebecca Ford - I'm a UK based freelance travel writer and photographer - and the country I most like to visit is Italy. That's not just because of the ...
