Originally published on September 15, 2014
I love my job. I work at a small restaurant here in town, and it’s not only a lot of fun, I also learn an immense amount about food while I’m there. I work under a great sous chef who recognizes my enthusiasm for cooking and he’s always asking me questions like, “have you ever made such-and-such before?” or “have you ever tried this?” And sometimes he stops with the questions and just offers me great ideas and advice on things I can make right at home – and then put on my blog, of course. The idea for stuffed meatloaf was his, and it excited me because, well, we all know how much I love meatloaf, and that I’m always looking for ways to shake up this classic dish. The idea of what to stuff it with was on me. Things always seem to work out for me when I go Italian and the best way to do that was to stuff it with some ricotta and spinach, and load up the actual loaf itself with all kinds of Italian flavour. It was delicious and trust me when I say the picture does not do it justice.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 pound medium ground pork
1 onion, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1 cup bread crumbs, plus 1 cup
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried dill
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 package frozen spinach, thawed, drained, with any tough stems removed
Salt
Pepper
Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease the sides of a loaf pan with oil.
2.) Place bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl, mix, and let sit for 5 minutes to allow time for the bread to soak up that milk. In a large bowl place ground beef, ground pork, grated onion and garlic, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and dried herbs. Season generously with salt and pepper and mix lightly so that all the ingredients are combined, but the meat is not overworked.
3.) To make the ricotta mixture, place ricotta cheese in a medium-sized bowl. Squeeze any remaining moisture out of the spinach, and add to ricotta. Season lightly with salt and pepper and mix ingredients together thoroughly.
4.) Lightly press half of the meat mixture into the loaf pan. Directly down the centre, leaving an inch of edge along the sides of the meat, make a small well. Do this by gently pressing the meat mixture down and up so that the stuffing has a small space to sit on. Fill this space with the spinach and ricotta mixture, mounding it slightly.
5.) Place the remaining 1/2 of the meat mixture on top of the bottom layer and the stuffing mixture. Make sure the meat covers the stuffing entirely, pressing it down over top the other layer of meat and the stuffing.
6.) Place bread crumbs into the melted butter and give them a minute or two to completely soak up the butter. After the butter has been absorbed, spread the bread crumbs over top of the meatloaf,making sure to cover the top of the loaf.
7.) Place the meatloaf into the oven and bake for 60 – 75 minutes, until its bubbling along the sides and is completely cooked through. Check on it periodically and if its browning too quickly on top, loosely cover with aluminum foil.
8.) Remove from oven and let the loaf rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
9.) Serve and enjoy!