You may be surprised to hear that I can only remember maybe once eating meatloaf and I certainly can’t remember if it had egg in it. This dish was chosen with the special condition that there was whole boiled eggs hidden in the middle of the loaf, so when it was sliced when serving, a lovely slice of egg was evident.

This mix was very tasty, the only problem being that the meat mix fell apart a bit while slicing. Maybe we should push down on the mix more, compact the top? Possibly add a bit more beaten egg to combine the meat better? Either way, it was a lovely flavour combination and I would be more than happy to try and perfect this… maybe the host would too? 😉

Meatloaf with Hidden Eggs

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 large size brown onion, finely chopped
8 eggs (2 of these eggs, beaten lightly)
2 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
¼ cup of tomato sauce
1.5kg beef mince
500g sausage mince
1½ cups breadcrumbs
¼ tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 medium carrot, finely grated
5 tablespoons of HP sauce

Hard boil 6 eggs and allow to cool before removing their shells. Heat a large saucepan to medium heat, add the oil and cook the onion for 5-10 minutes, until translucent.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Mix beef and sausage mince using a wooden spoon or by hand. Add the remaining ingredients, including the beaten eggs (excluding the boiled eggs) and mix until well blended.

Spoon half of the mixture into the bottom of 2 or 3 greased loaf tins. Form small indentations for the hard boiled eggs and place eggs into mixture. Smooth the remainder of the mixture into the tin over the eggs.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes, then remove from oven. Remove from the loaf tin and place on a baking tray. Cover loosely with foil to prevent over-browning. Bake in oven for a further 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes. Slice and serve with vegetables.

For the latest family cooking class there was a desire to find the perfect home-made Phad Thai. Although this was a lovely mix (I especially loved the sugar content 🙂 – although this was one of the downfalls for most others), the host of this weeks cooking class was not satisfied with the overall flavours and textures of this dish.

We would certainly try to combine some aspects of this recipe with some other recipes and try to improve on the overall dish.

Any suggestions on things we are missing or how things could be improved would be most welcomed. 🙂 But I’ll give you the recipe in case anyone likes a sweet Phad Thai.

Phad Thai Noodles

Serves: 4-6

375g packet rice stick dried noodles, soaked in cold water for 2 hours or overnight to soften, drain
vegetable oil
½ onion, sliced
500g chicken, cut into small strips
2 tablespoon pickled white radish (optional)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 eggs
2 spring onions, sliced
½ can baby corn pieces
1 carrot, sliced
half bunch Chinese chives, cut into 2.5cm pieces
1 cup bean sprouts
3-4 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts

Sauce
2 tablespoon tamrind concentrate
1 cup sugar
1½ tablespoons fish sauce
½ cup water

Make sauce by mixing ingredients in a saucepan and heating on medium heat, boil for around 15 minutes while preparing the rest of the meal and keep warm.

Heat oil in wok on medium heat and cook onion until transparent and browning slightly. Remove from wok. Cook chicken in batches in the wok and set aside.

Add eggs and stir-fry until scrambled and slightly dry. Remove from pan.

Add some oil and cook spring onions for 1-2 minutes, then add corn, carrot, cooked chicken and onion. Add sauce and noodles and mix. Add chives and bean sprouts and serve with lime wedges, chopped peanuts and ground chilli, if desired.

I’m not sure of the reasons behind Swedish meatballs being chosen for the fifth cooking class… but I’m glad it was! Having never had Swedish meatballs before, I can’t comment on the authenticity of the flavours, but I was very happy with these flavoursome, slightly creamy, very more-ish meatballs. So much so that I did… lick the plate 🙂 .

This is a definite dish to try and can be modified to what you’ve got in the fridge or freezer, the original recipe was modified to include both pork and beef mince as I was told many of the Swedish meatball recipes on the internet varied between different minces and different ingredients. Our meatballs were served with mashed potato and honeyed caramelised onions in kumara (sweet potato) mash, although serve with what you desire, salad, rice or steamed vegetables.

Swedish Meatballs
Recipe from Taste.com.au

Serves: 4

1/2 cup (45g) breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (60ml) cream
500g Heart Smart beef mince (or 350g beef mince + 150g pork mice)
1 small onion, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
3/4 cup (185ml) beef stock
1 teaspoon cornflour
1/2 cup (125ml) cream, extra
Mixed salad leaves and crusty bread, to serve

Soak breadcrumbs in the cream. Add the mince, onion, garlic, allspice, egg and salt. Season with pepper. With wetted hands, shape mixture into small balls.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. In batches, cook meatballs until brown. Drain excess oil.

Return all meatballs to the pan and add the stock. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove the meatballs and cover with foil to keep warm.

Combine the cornflour with a little water and stir into the stock mixture. Heat through until boiling. Reduce heat to low. Add extra cream and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour sauce over meatballs and serve with salad leaves and crusty bread – or serve with mashed potato and veggies, as we did.