”You have to taste a culture to understand it.”

– Deborah Cater

Spinach, bell pepper and cheese stuffed meatloaf

Step by step video tutorial
Serving Size:
1 meat roll
Time:
Prep time: 45 min
Bake time: 50 min
Difficulty:
Medium

Ingredients

  • 500 g / 1.1 lbs ground beef
  • 1 egg
  • 1 medium carrot (about 80 g / 0.18 lbs)
  • 1 medium onion (about 100 g / 0.22 lbs)
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 150 g / 1 cup frozen spinach
  • 1 tbsp cream cheese
  • 150 g / 0.7 cups grated cheese (I use Cheddar, Mozzarella, Gouda or similar)
  • 1/2 small red bell pepper (about 60 g / 0.13 lbs)
  • Spices:
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/3 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp dried thyme

Directions

  1. Grease a big casserole dish and heat the oven to 200° C / 430° F.
  2. For the filling, defrost the spinach in either microwave or in a small pan on the stove and try to get it as dry as possible. Let the spinach cool. Once it has cooled, add to it the cream cheese and about 1/4 tsp salt, and mix well.
  3. Cut the bell pepper in thin slices. Cut the curly ends off and cut them in small cubes.
  4. Add the egg and all the spices to the meat.
  5. Chop / blend onion, garlic and carrot. I almost blend them so that they give flavour and moisture to the meat, but are not in noticeable pieces. Add the onion, garlic and carrot to the meat and mix everything well.
  6. Cut a clean plastic bag (cutting off the bottom and cutting open one of the sides) so that if forms a rectangle. Put it on the table with the narrower end towards you.
  7. Put the meat on the plastic bag and flatten it into a shape of a rectangle.
  8. Spread the grated cheese on about two thirds of the meat closer to you.
  9. Put the spinach in one strip a few cm from the end closest to you. Leave a few cm from both sides without the filling as the filling will be pushed to the sides when rolling the meat, as well as if you want to be able to close the ends of the meat roll.
  10. Arrange the bell pepper strips on the spinach and sprinkle the bell pepper cubes over the rest of the meat.
  11. With the help of the plastic bag, roll the meat. When rolling, press the meat so that the roll is firm and there are no empty gaps.
  12. Move the roll to the casserole dish and make sure there are no cracks in the roll and it is smooth as the cracks might open while baking.
  13. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for about 30 min. Remove the aluminium foil and bake for another 20 more minutes till the meatloaf has browned and looks cooked.
  14. Remove the meat roll from the casserole dish to decorate an serve. And enjoy!