Greek-Style Meatloaf With Roast Potatoes (Rolo Kima)

 

 

This Greek-style meatloaf makes for a tasty and filling main course, soft and juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside, accompanied by mounds of perfectly roasted, spicy potatoes.

Any leftovers are delicious served cold with a salad, or with crusty bread, cheeses and lashings of chutney, or in a sandwich, with an additional flavour burst of good mustard or wobbly homemade mayonnaise ( the only sort permissible in my opinion!).

The mincemeat mixture is quite versatile, and can be used for burgers, or, replace the oregano with mint, and you can make yummy keftedes, Greek meatballs.

If you’re pushed for time, the mixture can be prepared the day before and covered, it keeps well in the fridge for two or three days.

 

Ingredients for Greek meatloaf with roast potatoes

 

 

1 kilo minced beef or pork, or mixture of both

5 Eggs

2-3 large onions finely chopped or grated, or chop in food processor

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

100g breadcrumbs (or stale bread, soaked in water, and then water squeezed out)

Dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste (preferably fresh ground black pepper, and sea salt)

About 300ml Olive oil

2-3 kilos potatoes, peeled

Juice of 1 large lemon

1 cup of water

 

Method

 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C

Hard boil 4 of the 5 eggs

Put the mince, together with the chopped onions, 1 of the 2 cloves of garlic, (thinly sliced or chopped), the bread crumbs, 1 of the 5 eggs, 1 heaped tsp of oregano, salt and pepper to your taste, and mix well.

 

 

The best way to mix this, is how the Greeks do it, get your hands in there and mix and squeeze, really get those flavours mingling.

Pull the mixture together into the centre of the bowl, form into a rough ball, and transfer to a large roasting tin.

Tip-before placing mixture in  the roasting tin, I spread a little olive oil over base of tin, this helps stop mixture sticking to the tin whilst maneuvering it into shape.

 

 

Using your hands, form the meat mixture into an oblong, about 2 centimetres thick, flattening it with your hands, pushing and pulling, until you have a reasonably even surface.

Place the shelled, hard boiled eggs along the centre of the meat.

 

 

Carefully pull the edge of the meat which is furthest away from you, over the eggs, press it down slightly, making sure all four eggs are covered.

 

 

Whip the tin around, and repeat the process with the other edge of the meat, completely covering all the eggs, pinch the ends, to seal.

Gently smooth out the surface with your hands, carefully and slowly, turn the roll you have created, over, so the seal, where the two edges of the meat joined, is on the bottom of the tin, this will help avoid the meatloaf cracking open during cooking, and exposing the eggs.

An alternative way to cook this tasty  meatloaf, is to place the mincemeat mixture, without the eggs,  into a loaf tin, lined with greaseproof paper. This recipe is enough for two standard sized loaf tins, press mixture well into tin and cook in oven at same temperature as above, and for the same length of time.

Be careful not to fill the loaf tins to the very top, leave a gap of about two centimetres, as the meat cooks, fat and juices will bubble and boil over, it’s maybe a good idea to place an oven tray, lined with greaseproof paper below the loaf tins, to catch any spillage, and make for easy cleaning later.

 

 

Now, peel the potatoes, cut into quarters, or cubes, whichever you prefer, and place around the meatloaf.

Pour the lemon juice, the olive oil, and water over the potatoes.

Sprinkle potatoes with salt, pepper and a couple of teaspoons of oregano, thinly slice the remaining garlic clove, add to potatoes and mix well, again, using your hands, is the best way to make sure all surfaces of the potatoes are covered in oil and seasoning.

 

 

Place in the centre of the oven,and cook for about one and a half hours.

Keep an eye on it, every twenty minutes or so, if it looks like it maybe drying out, add more water, to prevent potatoes sticking to the bottom of the tin and at the same time, turn the potatoes, so they become evenly browned.

Baste the meatloaf with juices from the tin, there is no need to turn meatloaf, in fact, don’t even think about it, there is a good chance it will break in half, you know how I know this don’t you? Yes, that has happened to me!

When the meatloaf and potatoes are nicely browned, remove from oven.

 

 

Serve with salad, tzatziki (garlic yogurt) and crusty Greek bread.

 

 

Enjoy!