This is a great recipe to use up mince or bread. Bread is NZ’s top food item to be thrown out, in fact 15,174 tonnes per year of it, costing an astounding $62,589,440, with beef amounting to  $45,825,926 per year thrown out.

I’m making a double recipe, one in a meatloaf pan and another in an oven dish.
This recipe is for ONE Meatloaf.

Meatloaf

You will need:
Clean hands 
Chopping board + knife
Large bowl 
Spoon
Zester/Grater 
Dish/Pan lined with baking paper (so you can lift it out easily – if you have a meatloaf pan they have a liftable draining board built in)

Ingredients

Serving Size: Makes enough for 5 portions, with some to have cold the next day

500g beef mince 

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped – any type of onion will do but I like red onion

1 carrot, grated

1 zucchini, grated 

1 cup breadcrumbs – make your own here

1 large egg/2 small

salt and pepper, to taste 

½ cup smoky BBQ sauce plus another 2 tbs of BBQ sauce for the glaze

3 dried bay leaves (or fresh if you have a bay tree)

Method

Preheat the oven to fan bake 190°C

Put all the ingredients (in order, as listed) in a bowl, except for the BBQ sauce and bay leaves.

Mix all together with clean hands (take your rings off) or use a spoon if you don’t like the squidgy feeling.

Once mixed well add, the ½ cup of BBQ Sauce and mix in again (you can do this all in one step but it’s a little more squidgy on the hands).

Pack firmly into your prepared meatloaf pan or form into a 20cm sausage shape in the prepared baking dish.

Use the remaining BBQ sauce to glaze the top of the meatloaf, using the back of a spoon.

Place the three bay leaves top to bottom along the middle to make it look pretty.

Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbling on the sides of the pan and the meatloaf feels firm to the touch.

A meatloaf pan has a draining board at the bottom of the pan to drain the juice: lift out the meatloaf once cooked and rested.

If you’re using an oven dish style, tilt your dish to get rid of any excess juice.

Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes so it firms up, but still serve warm.

Excellent with mashed spuds and Sweet + Sour Red Cabbage – peas are yummy too.

It’s beaut’ the next day cold with relish. 

Tips & Swaps:

SWAP: Instead of BBQ sauce use the Ten Minute Tomato Sauce, or a general tomato sauce mixed with Worcestershire sauce for that tang.

TIP: Cook one meatloaf or two: making one for the freezer is so darn handy when you can’t be bothered to cook.