Main - Beef, pork and blue cheese meatloaf with apple sauce (Lord Dennis James)

Published: Friday, 14 September 2007, 5:24PM

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large Spanish onion, chopped.
• 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped.
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped.
• 3 tbsp butter.
• 3 or more dashes of tabasco sauce, to taste
• 500g of lean minced beef
• 500g of minced pork
• 150g of sausage meat
• 2 tsp of Dijon mustard.
• 240g of milk
• 1 tsp of dry sage
• 2 tsp of herbs de Provence
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 3 lightly beaten eggs
• Danish blue cheese.
• 250g of streaky bacon.
• fresh ground black pepper, to season
• 1 dry bay leaf

APPLE SAUCE
• 1 large cooking apple
• 1 medium onion
• butter
• splash of calvados.

 CHEESE SAUCE
• 300 ml of milk
• butter
• plain flour
• bunch fresh chives
• grated strong cheddar cheese
• 10 jersey royal potatoes
• mini cauliflowers
• bag of sugar snap peas

METHOD

PRE HEAT OVEN TO  200 DEGREES CELSIUS

1. Chop the onions and peppers and sauté in butter for 5 minutes then add the tabasco. 
2. In a food processor, mix together the minced beef, minced pork, sausage meat, Dijon mustard, milk, dry sage, herbs de Provence, black pepper, garlic, sautéd onion and peppers, eggs and crumbled cheese.
3. Take  a 1lb/450g loaf tin, smear butter on the inside surfaces, place one bay leaf in bottom of tin and place bacon around the inside of the tins.
4. Spoon the mixture into the tins and press down, smooth flat with a fork.
5. Cover filled tins with foil and place into centre of pre heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius and bake for 40 minutes.
6. For the apple sauce, finely chop the onion and apple. Sweat the onions in a pan with a knob of butter. When they’re soft add the apple and gently cook until apples are cooked through. Add sugar and seasoning to taste. Then add the calvados. Finally, mash with a fork.
7. Remove the loaf tin from the oven, remove the foil cover and return to oven for 10 minutes.
8. Again remove from oven, drain off juices and turn loaf out onto a baking tray, return to oven for at least 10 minutes until loaf is cooked. Then allow to stand for approx 5 minutes.
9. For the cheese sauce, in a pan melt a knob of butter and add the plain flour to make a roux. Add the milk slowly and stir, then add a small amount of cheese (25 to 50g) and a sprinkle of chives.
10. Add cauliflower, peas and potatoes to separate pans of water to cook.
11. To serve- slice the meatloaf and place on plate arrange the cauliflower head, sugar snaps and jersey royal potatoes around, drizzle the cheese sauce on the cauliflower and serve with dollop of apple sauce.