Sausage Stuffed Meatloaf

We all love meatloaf, especially when it is accompanied by gravy and mashed potatoes. I took advantage of the cooler weather to make this comfort food for dinner, using up mushrooms in the gravy and a roasted red pepper, some mini bocconcini and fresh spinach as well as the ground beef and two Italian sausages.

It sounds like a lot of items to use in one meal, but they all worked together really well, and by leaving the sausages whole and stuffing the meatloaf with them, I extended the ground beef to feed four, plus lunch for one the next day. The slices of meatloaf looked great on the plate, with the sausage in the middle, instead of just crumbled up and mixed in with the ground beef, which was my original plan. The extra work was well worth it!

Start off by combining:

2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Add:

1 pound lean ground beef

Using your hands, mix until well combined.

On a piece of parchment paper, use your fingertips to press the ground beef mixture out to a rectangle that is about 12" X 8", and no more than 1/2" thick.

Cover the ground beef with:

4 thin slices of prosciutto

Cover the prosciutto with another piece of parchment paper.

Flip the whole thing over and peel off the top sheet of parchment, leaving you with the prosciutto on the bottom and the ground beef on the top.

Cover the ground beef with a layer of fresh spinach. I used baby spinach.

Peel the casing from:

2 Italian sausages

Place the sausages in the middle of the ground beef, on top of the spinach, as shown.

Add:

1/4 cup mini bocconcini
1 roasted red pepper, diced

Using the parchment paper to help, roll the ground beef and prosciutto up to enclose the sausage. Pinch the ground beef where the edges meet to seal the filling in. Pinch the ends to seal them as well.






Turn the oven on to heat up to 350F.

Place the meatloaf, still on the parchment paper, into an ovenproof dish.

Bake until the sausage and ground beef are fully cooked, and the prosciutto is golden and crisp. This took about 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow the meatloaf to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.






I cut the meatloaf into 1" thick slices, and served it with garlic and cheese mashed potato, asparagus, as well as onion and mushroom gravy.

• The meatloaf can be made with other ground meat such as pork, veal, turkey or chicken. You can also use a mixture of two or more ground meats.
• The sausage can be crumbled up and combined with the ground meat if you want the flavour of the sausage, without the work of stuffing the meatloaf.
• The spinach can be cooked and chopped, and then combined with the meat, along with the bocconcini and roasted red pepper as another way to save time. Place the meatloaf into a lined loaf pan and bake.
• Chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, rosemary can be added to the ground meat mixture. Other flavours such as chipotle peppers, corn, sundried tomatoes or tapenade can also be added. Try spices such as fennel seeds, chili flakes or ground cumin.
• Large bocconcini can be diced; grated cheese such as mozzarella or Asiago can be used.
• The prosciutto is optional, but it added a nice crunch and helped to hold everything in a nice roll. Bacon or ham can be used instead.
• The meatloaf can be assembled up to two days ahead of baking; keep it well wrapped and refrigerated. It can also be frozen; defrost before cooking.