Earlier in the week I took delivery of some organic minced beef and minced pork from the farm. Pre-packaged mince used to come in 500 g packs, now they are in 400 g packs.
Whilst I am on the subject, I bought a pack of 12 sausages from Waitrose a few weeks back (for the kimchi and fennel sausage rolls) and the pack size, which used to weigh in at 800 g, is now 720 g. Thinking about it, 12 sausages probably used to weigh 900 g (roughly equivalent to 2 pounds imperial weight = 6 sausages to 1 pound).
Generally I am not keen on this sleight of hand. I would prefer paying more for what I am used to, instead of paying roughly the same price and getting 20% less of a product. The granola and crisps I buy are still in the same-sized packaging but the contents have very little company inside that large space.
Chocolate bars and blocks of butter, which come neatly wrapped, are the easiest to disguise. I have been caught out several times trying to make a cake with e.g. 100 g of chocolate and 250 g of butter, only to find a bar of chocolate is now 90 g, and butter is now 200 g.
It’s Friday night and I want something simple for dinner. I had bought the meat to make Joshua McFadden’s Pumpkin Bolognese (from his wonderful book Six Seasons, page 385). Midway through the afternoon, as I was tidying the cookbooks on the shelf, thoughts turned to Antonio Carluccio’s Meat Loaf in Tomato Sauce.
It is possible to reduce the weight measurements of the entire recipe but I have been making this meatloaf for so long that the numbers are stuck in my head. Instead, I roughly chopped up some cooked Crown Prince squash and made up the weight to the usual 1 kg. Hence it is an 80%-of-meat loaf.
The adjusted recipe is below. For ease of execution I baked the meatloaf in the oven and made the sauce separately, adding in the cooked pasta at the last minute.
Provided your guests eat meat this is a retro crowd-pleaser, served perhaps with some garlic bread and a simple salad. I added some cherry tomatoes and herbs from the garden, which have been really struggling in the heatwave and then in the intense rain. The weather, though, has been very good for the chillies.
For the Meatloaf:
(serves 6, with leftovers)
400 g minced pork
400 g minced beef
200 g cooked squash
150 g bread crumbs made from stale bread
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
60 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon red miso
freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs, lightly beaten
You will also need a 2 lb loaf tin, oiled a little
For the Tomato Sauce:
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
2 sticks of celery
2 carrots
(The above all finely chopped)
1 red chilli, sliced
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 x 400 g cans of chopped tomato
1 can in volume of cherry tomatoes
any herbs you have to hand, chopped
1 tablespoon red miso
large pinch of sugar (optional)
freshly ground black pepper
300 g dried pasta (I used linguine)
How to Make:
Preheat the oven to 160 C fan/ 180 C.
Mix the minced pork and beef together with the squash, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt, miso, pepper and eggs. Thoroughly mix everything so that the meat is well incorporated.
The mixture should stick together and you can now form it into a large oval meatloaf.
Place the meatloaf in the oiled loaf tin. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
Whilst the meatloaf is baking, make the tomato sauce.
In a large saucepan, fry the chopped onion, garlic, celery and carrot in the olive oil. Fry until softened, then add the tinned and cherry tomatoes, chilli, herbs and seasonings.
Cook the sauce over a medium heat for around 30 minutes. Cook the pasta whilst the sauce is simmering.
When the meatloaf is ready, remove it from the oven. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out and slicing.
To serve, place some pasta and sauce along with two slices of the meatloaf on a plate. Any extras (garlic bread, salad or vegetables) entirely optional. A little grated Parmesan on the side would be nice.
Form the meat into an oval then place in a loaf tin for cooking
