This is quick and easy way to shake up “meat loaf night” a bit. I call it a Greek Style meat loaf because the seasonings used gives the meat loaf a Gyro-esque taste. And it’s mine, so I can call it what I want. 🙂 I paired it with a couple of greek side dishes as well. I’d serve a nice Shiraz with this. Enjoy.
Menu
Greek Meat Loaf
stuffed with Feta cheese and tomatoes
Rosemary Lemon Potatoes
Fresh Spinach
Shopping List
1 pound 90-10 ground beef
1 pound lamb ( if queasy about using lamb, use buffalo or split the beef and pork)
1 pound pork sausage
Fresh (frozen works fine) spinach
2 lemons
4-6 ounces of feta cheese
3 ripe tomatoes
1 onion, medium
1 small tub Greek plain yogurt
1 large egg
Bread crumbs, unflavored
2 cans small white potatoes
1 can small halved artichoke hearts
fresh rosemary
dried marjoram
dried rosemary
garlic powder
onion powder
Greek Meat Loaf
Preheat the oven to 350 f
Place the 3 pounds of meat into a large bowl. Add in 1 and a half tablespoons of the garlic powder, marjoram and dried rosemary. It’s a 1:1 ration on the 3, so go up or down depending on how much meat you end up using. Dice the onion and one tomato and mix in. Once all is mixed together well, add in the egg and yogurt and mix again. Slowly add in about a handful of bread crumbs. You want some in there to absorb the fat, but too much and it will dry things out.
Dice the remaining 2 tomatoes and set aside. Take half of the meat loaf mixture and place in a large sized glass baking dish. 9×13 works. Mold it into a loaf then form a groove down the middle. Add the tomatoes and feta cheese into the groove, and cover with the remaining meat loaf mixture. Continue to form it into a standard loaf, making sure that the seams are sealed to keep in the cheese. Place on a center rack and bake for 90 minutes or until the internal temp of the loaf is 170-180 degrees.
Options: Place bacon strips over the top of the loaf prior to baking. Also, experiment with stuffing mixtures, Diced olives, Cilantro (Coriander), eggplant strips, or cucumber slices would all work well.
Rosemary Lemon Potatoes
Dead simple this one, but man is it tasty. Drain and cut the potatoes into quarters. On the smaller ones, leave whole. Drain the artichoke hearts. Pat all dry with a kitchen towel. Take about 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and chop. Do this to taste, some folks really love rosemary, others like it in smaller doses. Zest one lemon and set aside. Heat a good sturdy fry pan and add olive oil to cover the bottom. When smokin’ hot, add the potatoes and artichoke hearts. Make sure they are bone dry, or it will get messy. Once you get a nice golden brown crust on the potatoes, transfer to a bowl. While still hot, drizzle with a little more olive oil, add the rosemary, lemon zest and salt and pepper. Toss. Optional is to add in some chopped italian parsley or cilantro.
Fresh Spinach
Nothing to this one. Cook the spinach any way you like. Sauté, boil, whatever. Add in a little oregano, salt and pepper and a light squeeze of lemon juice. Done.
kali oreksi!
Gregor
Check out Leftover Meatloaf for ideas, if you have any left over that is.