Ingredients
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500 g potatoes, peeled and diced
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2 tablespoons milk
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salt and pepper, to taste
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2 tablespoons olive oil
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1 red chili pepper, chopped (deseeded or not, your choice)
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1 clove garlic, peeled,and chopped
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750 g ground pork or 750 g ground veal (preferably equal parts of the three)
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3/4 cup white breadcrumb
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1 egg, beaten
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1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
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6 -8 spinach leaves, washed,dried,stems and tough bits removed
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2 tablespoons honey
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8 tomatoes (1 for each person being served)
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4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (1/2 clove for each tomato being prepared)
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1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
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1 onion, peeled and chopped
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200°C.
- FOR THE MEATLOAF:
- Boil potatoes till tender; drain.
- Add milk and salt and pepper to taste; potatoes should still be pretty dry, but hold together enough to work with in a later step.
- While the potatoes are boiling, add oil to a frying pan and saute the onion, pepper, and garlic till tender, but not brown (about 3-5 minutes); take off heat and allow to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine the onion mix, minced meat, breadcrumbs, basil and egg; add salt and pepper to taste and mix very well (use your hands).
- Place half of the meat mixture in a baking dish, shaping it into a rather wide loaf with a flattened top (since you will be stacking the other ingredients above).
- Take half of the mashed potatoes, and make a level layer of them above the meat base (once again, hands work best).
- Cover the potato layer with the spinach leaves.
- Cover the spinach with the mozzarella, again making a level layer.
- Cover this with the remaining potatoes, once again leveling.
- Finish off with the remaining meat, molding and shaping it to not only cover the top, but down the sides as needed to keep the stacks together.
- Bake for 20 minutes, glaze the top with honey, and continue baking for 20 to 25 more minutes.
- Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing.
- FOR THE TOMATOES:
- Just as you are placing the meatloaf in the oven, wash tomatoes, and slice in half horizontally.
- Remove the pips and juices with your fingers.
- Sprinkle the tomato cavities with salt, then turn them upside down on a paper towel (this will help remove extra juices which would tend to make them mushy when baking).
- After fifteen minutes, place the tomato halves right side up on a non-stick baking sheet.
- Place the garlic slivers in the tomato cavities (at least two per cavity) and drizzle with olive oil (to taste, but I recommend about 1/2 tsp per tomato).
- At the time that you glaze the meatloaf with the honey, place the tomatoes in the oven (thus, bake for 20-25 minutes).