Our family enjoys my Neopolitan Meatloaf, especially on a cold and rainy day. This recipe is best described in two words... Comfort Food! Notice how the recipe cleverly inserts spinach into the works. That's GENIUS! I found this recipe years ago in Woman's Day magazine and it can be found here:
http://www.womansday.com/recipefinder/neapolitan-meat-loaf-121663
I have altered the Woman's Day recipe a bit to better suit our needs. I have increased the amounts of the ingredients in order to have one of those wonderful, Cook Once/Eat Twice meals. I'm crazy about that concept. It's kind of like a little present, just for me, when I go to the freezer and find that I have our dinner entree' already prepared.
I should also mention here, especially with all of the recent news regarding the use of "Pink Slime" in ground beef, that I buy mine at Costco, and from what I can learn online, Costco does not use that disgusting stuff! Thank goodness. I don't cook with ground beef very often, but I certainly do not want that gak mixed in.
So here is my version of ...
Neopolitan Meatloaf
Serves: 8
Total Time: 1 hr 35 min
Prep Time: 25 min
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons cooking oil
- 2/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 2/3 cup finely chopped red pepper
- 2 large cloves of minced garlic
- 3 large eggs
- 3 slices of firm white bread
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- salt and pepper
- 1 16 oz. bag frozen chopped spinach, thawed.
- 1 1/2 cups (6 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- about 15 very thin slices (about 4 oz.) of salami (We prefer hard salami.)
So let's begin. Place the chopped spinach in a colander to drain off any liquid. Then squeeze it dry. This step is important. You want your chopped spinach to be somewhat flaky.
Cut up the three slices of bread. I used Cracked Wheat Sourdough here but any firm white bread will do.
I like the cubes to be small, under a half inch square.
Place three eggs in a large mixing bowl and whisk.
Add the bread cubes to the whisked eggs, mix and set aside.
Meanwhile, saute' the chopped red pepper and onion in the oil. Add the two cloves of minced garlic.
Cook for about five minutes, stirring often, until lightly browned and soft. Remove from heat.
Next, add the two pounds of ground beef to the egg/bread mixture in the large bowl. Add the onion/pepper mixture and mix everything together, using your hands. Really get in there and mix it up. No photo necessary here, we all know what mixed up meat loaf looks like, don't we?
Pat out the meat mixture on a sheet of foil until it measures about 19" by 10".
And yes, I am just geeky enough to use a measuring tape to get it just right.
Then begin layering the chopped spinach, then the grated mozzarella.
Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.
The final layer is the salami slices. Then roll up the entire works, jelly-roll style,
beginning at the shorter edge. Be sure to seal the edge and the ends, otherwise the
cheese will make it's Houdini-esque escape while the meatloaf cooks.
At this point, the thing is huge!, kind of like the "Meatloaf That Ate Chicago", so carefully place the loaf in a baking dish and pop this monster in the oven set at 350 degrees for 70 minutes. Let it stand for about 10 minutes when it comes out of the oven.
Slice, serve and enjoy!
We like to have this with roasted red potatoes and green beans or asparagus, stir-fried with a tiny bit of olive oil along with some fresh garlic.
Top that off with a green salad and you have a delicious, hearty meal.
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