Crispy Bacon-wrapped Pork Loaf by the Destitute Gourmet

Well MK, I'll take your Nigella meatloaf and raise you a Destitute Gourmet pork roll/meatloaf recipe!

Sophie Gray writes as the Destitute Gourmet and is a New Zealand institution.  I have 3 of her cookbooks  (they are my most frequently used cookbooks) and follow her on Facebook as well.  Her recipes make the most of small amounts of more "expensive" ingredients like meat, and she has many tips for stretching the budget and pantry to feed a family.

This recipe for pork loaf is delicious and like Nigella's meatloaf is fantastic cold on sandwiches the next day (if it lasts that long).  I even made this one Christmas as part of our Christmas Day lunch.  Delicious.

Serves 4-6

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp oil
4 slices bread
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp mustard powder or wholegrain mustard
1-2 tsp dried sage
500g pork mince
4-6 rashers of bacon with rind removed

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil until soft and set aside.
3. In a large bowl tear the bread slices into pieces and add the egg, salt, pepper, milk, mustard, sage,  onions and garlic.  Mix with a fork until soft and mushy.
4. Stir in the pork mince.
5. Lay a sheet of foil on the bench and arrange the bacon slices side by side on top of the foil.
6. Scoop the pork mixture along the middle of the bacon row and spread it into a log.
7. Lift the sides of the foil and wrap them around the pork so the bacon encloses the sides of the 'loaf'.
8. Shape into a loaf by smoothing the sides (with the foil still wrapped around).
9. Gently loosen the foil and invert the loaf into a shallow baking dish.
10. Remote the foil (the foil is only to help wrap the bacon around the loaf and shape it).
11. Wash the foil carefully and reuse it for something else.
12. Bake the loaf at 200C for 40 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced with fork.

Enjoy!

Nigellas excellent meatloaf

We watched this meal being cooked on Nigella Lawson's cooking program last night. It looked amazing and I will be attempting to cook it tonight. Photos to follow if it goes well. I love recipes with eggs as we have plenty of freshies every day.

She writes.......

"As far as gravy goes, I am happy just to have the juices that drip from the meatloaf as it cooks, and not least because the whole point of this meatloaf for me is that I can count on a good half of it to eat cold in sandwiches for the rest of the week. (And you must be aware - it is my duty to make you aware - that a high-sided roasting tin makes for more juices than a shallow one.)"

Ed's mother's meatloaf

SERVES 8-10

BUT FEED FEWER AND HAVE LEFTOVERS

4 large organic eggs

4 onions, 500g total

5 x 15ml tablespoons duck fat or butter

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes or 1/2 teaspoon pouring salt

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

900g beef mince, preferably organic

100g fresh breadcrumbs

225g thin-cut rindless streaky bacon, or

275g American-style bacon

KITCHEN KIT

1 x large roasting tin

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Bring a pan of water to a boil and then boil 3 of the eggs for 7 minutes. Refresh them in cold water.

Peel and chop the onions, and heat the duck fat or oil in a thick-bottomed frying pan. Cook the onions gently, sprinkled with the salt, for about 20-25 minutes or until the onions are golden and catching in the fat. Remove to a bowl to cool.

Put the worcestershire sauce and beef mince into a bowl, and when the onion mixture is not hot to the touch, add it to the bowl and work everything together with your hands.

Add the remaining raw egg and mix again before finally adding the breadcrumbs.

Divide the mixture into 2, and in the tin make the bottom half of the meatloaf by patting half the mince mixture into a flattish ovoid shape approximately 23cm long. Peel and place the 3 hard-boiled eggs in a row down the middle of the meatloaf.

Shape the remaining mound over the top of the eggs and pat into a solid bloomer-loaf shape. Compress the meatloaf to get rid of any holes, but don't overwork it.

Cover the meatloaf with rashers of bacon, as if it were a terrine, tucking the bacon ends underneath the meatloaf as best you can to avoid its curling up as it cooks.

Bake for 1 hour, till the juices run clear, and once it's out of the oven let the meatloaf rest for 15 minutes. This should make it easier to slice. When slicing, do it generously, so everyone gets some egg. Pour meat juices over as you serve, or do what you will, gravywise.

MAKE AHEAD NOTE

The meatloaf can be assembled, covered and kept in fridge for 1 day. Then bake as in recipe.

QUICK BBQ GRAVY

If you wanted to make enough gravy to cover the whole shebang hot, then either make an onion gravy (see last week and at you.co.uk) and pour the meat juices in at the end, or fashion a quick, stove-top BBQ gravy. By that, I mean get out a saucepan, put in it 50g dark muscovado sugar, 125ml beef stock, 4 tablespoons each of dijon mustard, soy sauce, tomato paste or puree, and redcurrant jelly and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, to taste. Warm and whisk and pour into a jug to serve.

Well that was a work up but so worth it...the meatloaf was really juicy and tasty wiht the baked spud in jacket and that gravy in the recipe which was rich but a really great accompaniment!

Birthday brownies

Calum requested brownies instead of cake to celebrate his first decade on earth so I ve just made these little beauties. I've made more complicated ones but this recipe is straight forward and quick/ simple (Cal made these ) and so delicious just had to add them to our blog. Courtesy Bill Grangers 'Bills basics' 2011


Here's how you make em:



Ingredients:

350 g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
80 g cocoa powder
60 g plain flour
1teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
200g unsalted butter melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g dark choc roughly chopped



What to do:


Preheat oven to 160 C
Line 22 cm square tin with baking paper
Stir together dry ingredients
Add eggs vanilla and butter
Mix well
Add chopped choc
Pour into tin and bake for 40- 45 mins
Leave to cool slightly in tin. Turn out onto wire rack. Cut into squares n serve.
We just had warm with cream......mmmmmmmmmmmmmm



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