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Meatloaf stuffed with cooked ham and cheese slices

17/11/2023

The meatloaf stuffed with cooked ham and cheese slices is a very tasty and popular second course. Here’s how to prepare it.

Ingredients

  • 500 g of ground meat (you can use beef or a mix of beef and pork)
  • 100 g of cooked ham
  • 100 g of cheese slices
  • 1 egg
  • 50 g of breadcrumbs
  • 50 ml of milk
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Chopped parsley to taste
  • A pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Preparation

  1. Begin by soaking the breadcrumbs in milk for a few minutes to soften them.
  2. Finely chop the onion and garlic and sauté them in a pan with a drizzle of oil until they become translucent.
  3. In a large bowl, put the ground meat, incorporate the egg, the previously soaked breadcrumbs, the sautéed onion and garlic, chopped parsley, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg, if you like.
  4. Mix all the ingredients well until the mixture is homogeneous.
  5. Roll out the meat mixture on a sheet of parchment paper to form a rectangle about 1-1.5 cm thick.
  6. Distribute the slices of cooked ham and cheese on the rectangle of meat, leaving a free edge of about 2 cm on all sides.
  7. Using the parchment paper, roll up the meat onto itself to form the meatloaf, sealing the edges well.
  8. Gently transfer the meatloaf to a baking dish, brush it with a little oil and bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 50-60 minutes or until the surface becomes golden brown and the meat is completely cooked in the center.
  9. Let it rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Curiosity

Meatloaf is a very versatile dish that lends itself to numerous variations; for example, you can enrich the filling with vegetables such as spinach or artichokes, or try making a “Mediterranean” version by adding chopped olives and sun-dried tomatoes to the mixture. Moreover, if you have leftovers, it is also excellent the next day, perhaps reheated and served with a fresh salad. Its name probably derives from the fact that it is a large meatball, that is, a preparation of ground meat in the form of a ball, only in the case of meatloaf, as suggested by the suffix “-one”, it is a large meatball, flattened and baked in the oven.