I love
Belinda Jeffery’s user-friendly recipes - when I read them I feel she is in the kitchen
suggesting how to make appealing flavoursome meals. Her instructions are
so easy to read and always result in something delicious.
I have
adjusted Belinda Jeffery’s Lamb original meatloaf recipe to create smaller
faster-cooking mini meatloaves. The spices work so well with the fresh mint and
almonds. Any left overs (!) they are perfect for lunch the next day
– either sliced up with salad or part of a very filling sandwich.
Makes 8
mini loaves. I allow 1 each for regular
appetites and 2 for a Wilbur sized hunger.
Preparation: Sauce:
20 minutes including cooking
time
Cooling
time for sauce: 30 minutes
Preparation: Meatloaf:
5 minutes
Oven Cooking
time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
50 gram
Toasted slivered Almonds or pinenuts (TIP: toast these first before starting recipe)
1
tablespoon Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 large
onions, finely chopped
3
garlic cloves, finely chopped
2
tablespoons finely chopped or fresh grated ginger
2
tomatoes, finely chopped
1/3 cup
Tomato paste
2
teaspoons sea salt
½
teaspoon ground nutmeg
1
teaspoon ground cinnamon
2
teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon
ground coriander
Shake
ground pepper
2
teaspoons dried mint
Sliced
Red Chilli – none, ¼ or whole - depends
on how much you like
½ cup
golden sultanas
½ cup
Honey
¼ cup
white Wine vinegar
500
gram Lamb Mince
Handful
each of chopped parsley and chopped Mint
1 – 1 ½
cups fresh white breadcrumbs TIP: fresh
breadcrumbs make the meatloaf lighter in texture
1 egg –
beaten
Topping
1
tablespoon honey
1
teaspoon lemon juice
100
gram slivered almonds or pinenuts – do NOT toast first
Method
First
lightly toast your nuts in a large dry pan. Set aside to cool.
Re-use
the pan, heat olive oil and add onion to gently fry to soften.
After 5
minutes, add the garlic and ginger. Stir regularly.
Add
tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, spices, sultanas, honey and vinegar. Bring to
boil, then simmer for 5 – 10 minutes until mixture is thick and rich. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
Remove from
heat and allow to cool for 30 minutes in a large bowl.
Preheat
oven to 180 oC.
Prepare
and line a shallow oven tray.
Prepare
the topping by mixing the honey and juice. Reserve. Keep nuts separate at this
stage.
To the
tomato mix, add the minced lamb, nuts, fresh mint, parsley, 1 cup fresh
breadcrumbs – combine well.
Mix the
beaten egg through the mixture.
If it
feels too wet, gradually add a little more of the reserved breadcrumbs until
mix can be shaped into soft log shapes. Divide the mix for 8 mini loaves – TIPS and HINTS: it is
important to shape them gently without compressing the mix too harshly.
Compressed meat will cook in an undesirable hard textured loaf.
Place
the loaves on the tray and bake for 20 minutes.
After
20 minutes, remove loaves from oven and brush some of the honey/juice mix over
each loaf.
Scatter
nuts on top and gently press so they adhere.
Lightly dab the nuts with the remaining juice.
Don’t
worry if you don’t do the final brush – it will still cook okay.
Return
the loaves to the oven for a final 10 minutes.
Depending on your oven you may want to increase to 200 oC for final
browning. Check after 5 minutes they are
browning not burning on top.
When
cooked, remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
Serve
with your choice of green salad or vegetables.
Enjoy! Colleen
thank you! made it last night after sent to my twitter follow. tasty and good to make the small size just had one for my lunch now bak to work thanks
ReplyDeletelooks great guys love the little dish
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