I like leftovers. I love having yesterday’s dinner for lunch because something warm and satisfying is often better than a pb&j that got squashed in my purse. While Ryan was in South Africa, I decided I didn’t want to cook every night of the week so I wanted to make something that would yield a lot of leftovers. Meatloaf seemed like a hearty and delicious option. And this recipe fit the bill. I had it for a few days of lunch, and there was even some left over for Ryan to eat when he returned to London tired and hungry.
In my search for a tasty meatloaf recipe, I came across one from Yotam Ottolenghi. To be honest, I’m intrigued and intimidated by Ottolenghi recipes. Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli chef based in London. He has multiple restaurants and many cookbooks. His food tends to be influenced by Israeli and Mediterranean flavors. And he’s well known for creating delicious vegetable based recipes. Obviously I’ve ignored the vegetable part and gone straight for the meaty recipes.
For my birthday last year, Ryan and I went to his restaurant on Upper Street and it was very good. I also felt, it was slightly hyped up. I was expecting to have my mind blown by the food, but everything was served small plate style, and it was kind of expensive and overall I felt that the cost didn’t match up to my expectation. But, I will say the dessert was amazing. The window display overflowed with dessert options, each looking so tempting it was hard to choose. My overall takeaway of the experience was that everything we ate was a combination of interesting and unusual textures and flavors.
And the same is true for the recipes in his cookbooks. When I was first learning to cook, I wanted to get ideas about how to do more with vegetables. I borrowed his book Plenty
So when I came across this meatloaf recipe, I was nervous. I read through the recipe and thought, yeah I can do this. Sure, it has some ingredients I wouldn’t usually put in meatloaf, like cinnamon or pine nuts. But, I was willing to try something new. And in fact, I think this is a perfect starter Ottolenghi recipe. Even though the ingredient list is a bit long, it includes items that are all familiar and seasonings you probably already have in your house. I think this recipe will push you out of your comfort zone, but only just the right amount. I thought the texture and combination of this meatloaf was fantastic and really different from the usual slab you’d get at a diner. This recipe also made me receptive to trying other Ottolenghi recipes. This one went well, so I feel confident enough to go back to Plenty and try to tackle some more complex recipes and learn to do awesome things with vegetables.
The original recipe (found here) includes recipe for a yogurt-tomato salsa. I didn’t make that, but you might want to consider it. The first day I made this the meatloaf was so moist that I didn’t need any gravy, ketchup, salsa, or sauce. It was delicious just plain. But as with all meatloaf, after a few days in the fridge it started to get a little dry and would have benefited from the salsa. Since I didn’t make it, I just used barbecue sauce and that was delicious as well.
Finally, this recipe asks you to grate some tomatoes and an onion. I highly, highly, highly recommend using a food processor. I grated the onion using a box grater and started profusely crying. Seriously, I had to stop occasionally because I couldn’t see. Use a food processor and save yourself!
Messy level: The assembly for this recipe is fairly straightforward. You mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then press it into a large pan. It’s the prep where you get messy. You’ll need to do a fair bit of chopping and then the grating requires a food processor which is more equipment to clean. The actual food won’t get everywhere as you cook, but you will have a pile of dishes at the end.
- 150g/ ⅔ cup bulgur wheat
- 400g/ 14 oz ground lamb (if you go for a full pound of meat that's ok)
- 400g/ 14 oz ground beef (if you go for a full pound of meat that's ok)
- 1½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 medium onion, peeled and roughly grated
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 20g/ ¾ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
- 20g/ ¾ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
- 60g pine nuts, roughly chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, cut in half and roughly grated (discard the skins)
- olive oil
- Put the bulgur in a medium bowl. Cover with 2 cups of warm water and let soak for 15 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Line a 8x12" pan with parchment paper.
- Drain the bulgur and press it to squeeze out excess moisture.
- In a large bowl, add the bulgur, lamb, beef, allspice, cinnamon, salt, grated onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, pine nuts, and grated tomato. Mix well until everything looks evenly distributed.
- Transfer the mixture to your prepared pan. Use your hands to press the mixture down so it is tightly packed and even across the pan.
- Brush the top of the meatloaf with a little bit of olive oil (less than 1 tablespoon should do it).
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until brown on the top and cooked through.
- Let cool slightly, then serve.
superb…..